You are on page 1of 12

International Journal of Hospitality Management 30 (2011) 689700

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Hospitality Management


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhosman

The impact of advertising on patrons emotional responses, perceived value, and


behavioral intentions in the chain restaurant industry: The moderating role of
advertising-induced arousal
Sunghyup Sean Hyun a,1 , Wansoo Kim b, , Myong Jae Lee c,2
a
Department of Tourism and Convention at Pusan National University, Jangjeon-Dong, San 30, Kumjung-Gu, Busan 609-735, Republic of Korea
b
Department of Tourism Management, College of Business Administration at Dong-A University, 1 Bumin-dong (2 Ga), Seo-gu, Busan 602-760, Republic of Korea
c
The Collins College of Hospitality Management at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, 3801 West Temple Avenue, 79B, Pomona, CA, 91768, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Keywords: The purpose of this study was twofold: to investigate the structural relationships between patrons emo-
Advertising tional responses induced by advertising, their perceived value, and their behavioral intentions in the
Emotion chain restaurant industry; and to investigate which attributes of advertising bear the strongest impact
Perceived value
on behavioral intentions. Based on the literature review, six evaluative dimensions of advertising were
Behavioral intentions
derived: relevant news, brand reinforcement, stimulation, empathy, familiarity, and confusion. Theoret-
Chain restaurant
ical relationships between these six evaluative dimensions and patrons emotional responses, perceived
value, and behavioral intentions were derived based on the literature review. Following the collection and
analysis of data obtained from chain restaurant patrons, it was found that four dimensions of advertising
in particular (relevant news, stimulation, empathy, and familiarity) have a signicant impact on inducing
emotional responses in patrons. Among the four dimensions, stimulation was found to bear the most sig-
nicant effect on patrons emotional responses. It can thus be stated that advertising-induced emotional
responses positively inuence patrons perceived value. During this study, it was found that the level of
arousal induced by advertising plays a moderating function in the relationship between patrons emo-
tional responses and hedonic value. The possible interpretations of these ndings and their managerial
implications are discussed in the latter part of this article.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction restaurant marketers therefore require a practical model for


linking successful advertising attributes and patrons behavioral
Historically, it has been strongly believed that advertising inu- intentions.
ences customers behavioral intensions (Lewis, 1981). For this However, our understanding of how advertising inuences
reason, chain restaurant companies invest tremendous amount of patrons behavioral intentions is relatively weak within the chain
expenditure on advertising. For example, T.G.I. Friday invests $71 restaurant industry. A major stream of marketing studies exists
million in advertising annually, Red Lobster spends $90 million, that has postulated that advertising induces emotional responses
and Applebees invests $126 million (Advertising Age, 2006). As in customers and impacts their behavioral intentions (e.g. Holbrook
the chain restaurant business environment becomes ever more and OShaughnessy, 1984; Olney et al., 1991; Lazarus, 1982; Stout
competitive, advertising expenditures are increasing correspond- and Leckenby, 1986; Stout and Rust, 1993; Chang, 2006; Geuens
ingly. In this competitive climate, it is critical to understand and De Pelsmacker, 1998; Duncan and Nelson, 1985; Stern, 1992;
the ways in which advertising effectiveness can be maximized Zajonc et al., 1974; Macinnis and Park, 1991; Ellsworth, 2003). How-
in order to induce patrons positive behavioral intentions. Chain ever, advertising is composed of a variety of complex dimensions
and attributes, such as information regarding a product, entertain-
ment factors, and elements that induce emotional involvement
(Schlinger, 1979a). It is therefore critical to assess which spe-
This work was supported by Pusan National University Research Grant, 2010. cic attributes of advertising bear the strongest impact on chain
Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 10 2409 3583; fax: +82 51 200 7435.
restaurant customers emotional responses and behaviors, and to
E-mail addresses: shyun@pusan.ac.kr (S.S. Hyun), warooo@dau.ac.kr (W. Kim),
maximize advertising effectiveness accordingly. Moreover, it is
mjlee@csupomona.edu (M.J. Lee).
1
Tel.: +82 51 510 1856; fax: +82 51 512 1853. widely accepted that the impact of emotional responses on behav-
2
Tel.: +1 909 869 3646. ioral intention is mediated by customers perceived value (Finucane

0278-4319/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2010.10.008
690 S.S. Hyun et al. / International Journal of Hospitality Management 30 (2011) 689700

et al., 2000; Schwarz, 1990; Bruner, 1957; Johns and Saks, 2005). by conducting content-analytic rating tasks. Based on selected
Emotional response, then, is the factor that modies the customers informed judges ratings of advertising content and their emotional
perceived value, and behavior is largely inuenced by the perceived responses, it was concluded that advertising content induces emo-
value (Schwarz and Clore, 1988; Zajonc, 1980). tional responses, thus causing viewers to form an attitude towards
By combining the theoretical background, three hypotheses the brand.
can be formulated: advertising induces emotional responses in Later studies have empirically supported this theoretical
chain restaurant patrons; patrons emotional responses inuence relationship. For example, Olney et al. (1991) examined the
perceived value; and the perceived value inuences behavioral relationships between advertising content, consumers emotional
intentions. Consequently, the purposes of this study are to inves- responses, and consumers attitudes towards a brand by analyzing
tigate the structural relationships between patrons emotional selected informed judges evaluations of advertising content and
responses induced by advertising, their perceived value, and their their emotional responses. Based on hierarchical regression analy-
behavioral intentions in the chain restaurant industry; and to inves- sis, they found that advertising content signicantly inuences two
tigate which attributes of advertising bear the strongest impact on dimensions of emotional responses: pleasure and arousal. Based
behavioral intentions. on the theoretical and empirical background, the rst hypothesis
is derived:

2. Literature review Hypothesis 1. Relevant news in advertising inuences patrons


emotional responses.
2.1. Evaluative dimensions of advertising
2.1.2. Brand reinforcement
Advertising is composed of complex dimensions and attributes Brand reinforcement refers to the reinforcement of existing
(Schlinger, 1979a). Researchers have proposed various evaluative customers positive attitudes towards a brand (Schlinger, 1979b).
dimensions of advertising as well as measures to explain those Keller (1999) stated that the aim of brand reinforcement is to
dimensions (Leavitt, 1970; Schlinger, 1979a; Wells, 1964; Wells strengthen existing customers favorable attitudes towards a brand,
et al., 1971). Among them, Schlingers (1979a) viewer response thus creating strong, positive, and unique brand associations in
prole (VRP) has been in the spotlight of advertising research for their minds. The role of brand reinforcement has been empha-
many years. Schlinger quantied the consumers subjective feelings sized by previous branding studies since in many cases increased
after viewing advertising and proposed six evaluative dimensions sales result in many cases from strengthening the brand association
of advertising: relevant news, brand reinforcement, stimulation, and brand loyalty of existing customers (Joyce, 1967). Brand rein-
empathy, familiarity, and confusion. These six dimensions were forcement via advertising can be achieved when consumers view
empirically tested and the reliability of the testing was veried advertising as representative of the ways in which they actually
in later studies (e.g. Stout and Rust, 1993; Strasheim et al., 2007; experience the brand (Schlinger, 1979b). In contrast, advertising
Lipstein and Neelankavil, 1982). Currently, these six dimensions are does not reinforce customers positive attitudes if the advertising is
widely accepted by academic researchers and advertising agencies perceived as remote from customers actual experiences with the
(e.g. Chen and Wells, 1999; Strasheim et al., 2007). brand. Negative reinforcement may even occur when customers
feel that advertising is exaggerated or dishonest.
During the process of viewing advertising, emotional responses
2.1.1. Relevant news
occur as reactions to the advertising (Stout and Leckenby, 1986),
Relevant news indicates that advertising provides relevant
which in turn inuence customers attitudes towards a brand
information regarding a product (Schlinger, 1979b). The funda-
(Aaker et al., 1986). This theoretical relationship between brand
mental role of advertising is information delivery (Holbrook and
reinforcement and emotional response was further tested by later
OShaughnessy, 1984), through which customers receive relevant
empirical studies. For example, Stout and Rust (1993) exam-
news about a product/service prior to deciding whether or not
ined the relationship between brand enforcement and consumers
to consume it (Anderson and Renault, 2006). This prior infor-
emotional responses. They analyzed responses provided by 208
mation inuences customers product selections and behavioral
consumers towards seven advertisements and found signicant
intentions (Schlinger, 1979a). For this reason, the question of what
correlation between the dimension of brand reinforcement and
content should be included in advertising has been a key one in
consumers emotional responses. The following hypothesis is
research addressed by previous studies (Resnik and Stern, 1977).
therefore proposed regarding the relationship between brand rein-
Researchers (e.g. Schlinger, 1979a; Stout and Rust, 1993) have pro-
forcement and consumers emotional responses:
posed that the following content must be included for effective
advertising: the advantage of the product/service; product infor- Hypothesis 2. Brand reinforcement in advertising inuences
mation that is not known by current consumers; the products patrons emotional responses.
impact on consumers everyday lives; and the uniqueness of the
product. 2.1.3. Stimulation (entertainment)
Relevant news in advertising induces emotional responses in Stimulation (or entertainment) in the advertising context indi-
consumers (Stout and Leckenby, 1986). The theoretical background cates that the advertising is pleasurable, enjoyable, and fun to
of this relationship is the model of the emotional process pro- watch (Schlinger, 1979b). It is commonly argued that entertain-
posed by Holbrook and OShaughnessy (1984). According to this ing and/or humorous advertisements attract consumers attention,
model, consumers emotional responses occur when some mes- therefore increasing the effectiveness of the advertisement (e.g.
sage, information, or relevant news triggers a cognitive appraisal Sternthal and Craig, 1973). Moreover, interesting advertising tends
in consumers minds. In this sense, the cognitive appraisal of the to be remembered more vividly and longer in consumers memo-
information/message is a key antecedent of emotional responses ries (Spotts et al., 1997). Everyday, many consumers are exposed
(Lazarus, 1982). Similarly, Holbrook and Batras (1987) commu- to hundreds of advertisements, the majority of which are quickly
nication model further supports this relationship. In this model, forgotten. For this reason, entertainment has long been considered
when consumers view advertising, the information contained in an important advertising strategy in maximizing advertising effec-
the advertising induces emotional responses, thus creating an tiveness (Madden and Weinberger, 1982). The amount of money
attitude towards the brand. This model was empirically tested that is spent every year by companies in order to develop humor-
S.S. Hyun et al. / International Journal of Hospitality Management 30 (2011) 689700 691

ous advertising further supports this argument. More than $150 2.1.5. Familiarity
billion is spent on advertising annually, between 10 and 30% of Advertisers frequently employ repetitive adverting strategies in
which is devoted to creating humorous advertising (Weinberger order to increase consumers familiarity with an advertising cam-
et al., 1995). paign (Tellis, 2004). To this end, consumers may be exposed to
Moreover, entertainment has recently become a factor that con- the same or similar advertising for several months or even years,
sumers expect when they view advertising. Coulter et al. (2001) and it may be scheduled in the same advertising time slots every-
conducted in-depth interviews with 14 consumers in order to day, evening, week, or weekend. Through this strategy, viewers
examine the subjects expectations of and reactions towards adver- can develop a sense of familiarity with the advertising, thereby
tising. They found that entertainment is an important value that enhancing the effectiveness of the campaign. The theoretical back-
consumers seek from advertising. The entertainment dimension in ground of this repetitive advertising strategy is the relationship
advertising is more emphasized more now than ever before in tele- between familiarity and positive emotional response (e.g. Zajonc
vision commercials as technology, such as remote control channel et al., 1974). It is widely accepted that familiarity is signicantly
changing (zapping) and fast forwarding (zipping), has allowed con- related to positive emotional responses, such as approval of an
sumers to change channels more easily whenever advertising does advertisement. Zajonc et al. (1974) conducted an experiment with
not interest them (Gulas and Weinberger, 2006). 96 consumers in order to examine the effects of repeated exposure
Another important role of entertainment in advertising is its to advertising and consumers emotional responses. In the experi-
ability to generate positive emotional responses. Previous studies ment, the consumers were shown a series of photographs and were
(e.g. Chang, 2006) postulated that positive emotional responses then asked to rate their familiarity with and emotional responses
occur in reaction to entertainment in advertising. Entertaining to the images. Based on subsequent data analysis, it was found that
advertising generates positive feelings in customers, thus induc- consumers familiarity level with an image is signicantly related
ing positive emotional responses (Geuens and De Pelsmacker, to positive emotional responses. Similarly, in a later experiment
1998). This theoretical argument was tested by later empirical conducted by Macinnis and Park (1991), consumers indicated pos-
studies. For example, Chang (2006) examined the ways in which itive emotional responses towards familiar songs in advertising.
entertaining advertising can change consumers emotional states, Signicant correlation was found between the level of familiar-
thus inuencing behavioral intentions. Based on the results of an ity with the songs in the advertising and its likability. However,
experiment conducted with 152 participants, he concluded that some researchers (e.g. Schlinger, 1979b) have argued that familiar-
entertaining advertising can positively enhance consumers emo- ity could be a factor that induces negative emotions. For example,
tional states, thus enhancing ad believability, ad approval, and consumers who are overexposed to the same advertising may tire
brand favorability. Similarly, Duncan and Nelson (1985) exam- of it and experience irritation. In light of these ndings, it is critical
ined the ways in which entertaining radio advertising inuences to further examine how familiarity with advertising can inuence
consumers emotional responses. They analyzed 157 respondents consumers emotional responses.
responses towards advertising, and found that entertaining adver-
tising bears a signicant impact on emotional responses such as Hypothesis 5. Familiarity with advertising inuences patrons
ad approval, approval of the product, and irritation. Based on the emotional responses.
theoretical and empirical background, the following hypothesis is
derived: 2.1.6. Confusion
Confusion refers the degree to which viewers feel that an adver-
Hypothesis 3. Entertainment in advertising positively inuences tisement is difcult to follow (Schlinger, 1979b). Advertising is a
patrons emotional responses. communication tool, and advertisers seek to deliver their message
via advertising (Belch and Belch, 2001). Therefore, communication
clarity (the ease with which advertising communicates effectively
with the viewer) is an important evaluative criterion. In many cases,
2.1.4. Empathy advertising attempts to convey an excessive amount of informa-
Empathy in advertising indicates the extent to which view- tion and is overly complex, making it difcult for viewers to easily
ers participate vicariously in events, feelings, and behaviors that comprehend the advertisers intention. Confusion in advertising
are shown in advertising (Schlinger, 1979b, p. 41). Abrams (1988) results in a perplexed viewer who must expend greater effort in
explained that empathy occurs when a viewer feels an emotional an attempt to follow the advertising, which therefore induces a
connection with a person, object, or activity depicted in adver- negative emotional response (Ellsworth, 2003). In a similar vein, it
tising. However, when advertising depicts an unrealistic event, or is widely accepted in consumer behavior literature (e.g. Horowitz
the event portrayed in advertising is deemed in poor taste by the and Reidbord, 1992) that confusion leads to negative emotional
viewer, empathy does not occur (Schlinger, 1979b). When a con- responses.
sumer empathizes with advertising, he or she imagines being a
character in the advertising and feels an emotional involvement Hypothesis 6. Confusion in advertising negatively inuences
with what is occurring. This process helps to create positive beliefs patrons emotional responses.
about the product or service portrayed in the advertising (Stern,
1992). Therefore, a viewers empathy leads to emotional responses 2.2. Emotional responses towards advertising
relevant to the situation in the advertising (Murry and Dacin, 1996).
Moreover, in a state of high emotional involvement, the consumer Emotional responses to consumption have been dened as
tends to remember the advertising for an extended period of time. the set of emotional responses elicited specically during prod-
These ndings can aid in maximizing the effectiveness of adver- uct usage or consumption experiences, as described either by
tising. The following hypothesis is therefore proposed regarding the distinctive categories of emotional experience and expression
the relationship between empathy in advertising and consumers or by the structural dimensions underlying emotional categories,
emotional responses: such as pleasantness/unpleasantness, relaxation/action, or calm-
ness/excitement (Westbrook and Oliver, 1991, p. 86). Based on
Hypothesis 4. Empathy in advertising inuences patrons emo- this denition, this research denes emotional responses towards
tional responses. advertising as the set of emotional responses elicited specically
692 S.S. Hyun et al. / International Journal of Hospitality Management 30 (2011) 689700

during advertising viewing, as described by the structural dimen- Baker, 1996; Bagozzi et al., 1999). Arousal therefore refers to the
sions underlying emotional categories. intensity or strength of any points on the pleasure/displeasure
Emotional responses towards advertising have been exten- continuum (cf. Russell, 1980). As such, the same degree of pleas-
sively studied in advertising research (e.g. Edell and Burke, 1987; ant or unpleasant feelings can have different effects on customers
Stayman and Aaker, 1988). The mainstream of advertising research value perceptions depending on the intensity of the feelings and
posits that emotional responses towards advertising modify con- on customers arousal levels. Specically, arousal has been shown
sumer behavior (Erevelles, 1998; Bagozzi et al., 1999; Derbaix to amplify the impact of pleasure on perceived value as well as
and Vanhamme, 2003; Zeelenberg and Pieters, 2004; Hicks et al., on satisfaction (Mattila and Wirtz, 2000). Mattila and Wirtz (2000)
2005). Although previous studies concur that emotional responses found that highly arousing and pleasant pre-consumption environ-
towards advertising have a considerable impact on consumers ments resulted in higher customer satisfaction ratings with service
behavioral intentions, they fail to explain the specic ways in experiences than low-arousal pleasant environments did. This phe-
which advertising induces emotional responses and in which emo- nomenon is applicable to the context of this study, since advertising
tional responses inuence behavioral intentions (Bign et al., 2005; is a pre-consumption factor similar to an environment, and since
Ladhari, 2007). both value and customer satisfaction are post-consumption evalua-
In literature in the eld of psychology, it is widely accepted tions that encompass cognitive and affective aspects (Oliver, 1997;
that a positive emotional response consists of two dimensions: Giese and Cote, 2000).
pleasure and arousal (e.g. Mehrabian and Russell, 1974; Russell,
1980; Russell et al., 1989; Wirtz and Bateson, 1999; Mattila and Hypothesis 8. The level of arousal induced by advertising
Wirtz, 2000; Chebat and Michon, 2003; Bign et al., 2005; Yksel, enhances the inuence of pleasure on perceived value.
2007). This stream of psychology research has its roots in Russells
pleasure-arousal model (1980), in which 28 emotion-denoting 2.3. Perceived value
adjectives were scaled. Through a multi-dimensional scaling proce-
dure based on perceived similarities among the emotion-inducing It is apparent that achieving greater value is preferred by each
adjectives, it was revealed that the 28 terms were denable in exchange party in the business context. Therefore, in order to
terms of a two-dimensional, bipolar space: pleasure and arousal. remain competitive in the market, a company must be able to
Later studies (e.g. Russell et al., 1989) further supported that these provide a greater net value to the customers than its competitors
two dimensions of emotion have adequate reliability, convergent do (Ravald and Grnroos, 1996). In recent years, value has been
validity, and discriminant validity. Mehrabian and Russell (1974) recognized as a key factor in better understanding consumer behav-
dened pleasure as the degree to which a person feels good, happy, ior and thus gaining a competitive advantage (Gallarza and Saura,
contented, or joyful in a particular situation. Likewise, they dened 2006). Despite the central position of the value concept in contem-
arousal as the degree to which a person feels excited, alert, stimu- porary marketing, it has often not been clearly dened in studies
lated, awake, or active in a given situation. of the subject (Snchez-Fernndez and Iniesta-Bonillo, 2007). As a
It has been argued that pleasurable responses elicited during result, various approaches to the value concept have emerged and
the viewing of advertising positively inuence patrons perceived been utilized in various studies. Among them, the hedonic versus
value. Bagozzi et al. (1999) argued that emotion and cognition utilitarian value dichotomy (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982) is one
may be best thought of as separate but interacting mental func- of the most-used classical approaches, along with the acquisition
tions mediated by separate but interacting brain systems. This versus transaction value difference (Monroe, 1979; Gallarza and
argument suggests the possibility that a positive emotion can Saura, 2006).
lead to a positive evaluation (i.e., cognition) of an object. This The utilitarian value as perceived by customers represents an
outcome is more likely when little processing is required to com- offerings usefulness in efcient, task-specic, and economical
prehend information because in such situations, emotional content terms (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982). The hedonic value as per-
can be processed directly and can inuence the viewers attitude ceived by customers refers to an overall feeling that is derived from
towards the object (Bagozzi et al., 1999). This could be espe- an offerings uniqueness or symbolic meaning, or from the emo-
cially true in the food service context, in which patrons may feel tional arousal and imagery it evokes (Holbrook and Hirschman,
little need to carefully process information in light of the low 1982). In short, the utilitarian value reects a practical trade-off
product prices and of their frequent patronage of a particular between benets and sacrices that are involved in an exchange
restaurant. for an offering, whereas the hedonic value reects an experiential
Furthermore, a positive mood tends to permit greater pro- trade-off of these elements.
cessing of uplifting information while inhibiting the processing of Based on a comprehensive review of literature, Cronin et al.
negative information due to the motivation to maintain a positive (2000) reported that value has been widely shown to directly con-
mood (Wegener et al., 1995). In light of this nding, it has been tribute to customer behavioral intention (e.g., Sirohi et al., 1998;
shown that, when viewers are preconditioned to experience pleas- Sweeny et al., 1999). Furthermore, their study proved that value,
ant moods due to advertising, their positive feelings are likely to along with customer satisfaction and quality, directly promotes
transfer to their evaluations of the perceived value in the actual customer behavioral intentions. The elements of behavioral inten-
consumption. Indeed, prior research suggests that consumers may tion in the study included making positive statements about a
utilize their affective expectations to categorize consumption expe- company, recommending the company to others, and revisiting the
riences (Wirtz et al., 2000). company. There is abundant evidence, therefore, that indicates the
positive and direct effects of value on behavioral intention, even
Hypothesis 7. Pleasurable responses towards advertising posi-
when customer satisfaction and quality are combined in a struc-
tively inuence patrons perceived value.
tural model. Although the value concept in Cronin et al.s (2000)
Recent research on the brain suggests that arousal is an inte- study did not take into account the hedonic versus utilitarian value
gral part of emotion and is apparent in neural systems in the brain dichotomy, recent evidence to support the positive effects of both
(Bagozzi et al., 1999). For instance, Lazarus (1982) argues that peo- utilitarian and hedonic value on behavioral intentions has been
ple cannot experience emotion without physiological activity such reported in the restaurant industry (cf. Ha and Jang, 2010). Ha and
as arousal. In other words, the degree of pleasure or displeasure Jang (2010) veried that both utilitarian value and hedonic value
combines with arousal to produce different types of emotion (e.g., positively affect the behavioral intentions of restaurant customers,
S.S. Hyun et al. / International Journal of Hospitality Management 30 (2011) 689700 693

Evaluative
Dimensions of
Advertising

Arousal
Relevant
News Perceived
Value
Ha Emotional H8a
Reinforceme Responses
nt H2 Utilitarian
Value H9a

Stimulation H3 H7a
Pleasure Behavioral
Intentions
H4 H7b
Empathy

H9b
Hedonic
H5 Value
Familiarity H8b

H6

Confusion
Arousal

Fig. 1. Proposed conceptual model.

both directly as well as via customer satisfaction. Taken together, Patrons who had been exposed to the chain restaurant brands
the following hypotheses are convincing: advertising in the three months prior to the study. This crite-
rion was designated in light of existing empirical studies (e.g.
Hypothesis 9a. Patrons utilitarian value positively inuences Walker et al., 1997) that have veried that subjects tend to retain
behavioral intentions. good recall of emotional memories from the past three months,
but gradually experience a loss of memory intensity beyond this
Hypothesis 9b. Patrons hedonic value positively inuences
point.
behavioral intentions.

After reviewing the responses, those with missing infor-


3. Proposed model mation and extreme answers were eliminated. Consequently,

In Fig. 1, the hypothesized relationships relevant to this study Table 1


are identied. Expanding on the theoretical and empirical back- Sociodemographic prole of respondents.
grounds, this study proposes 12 hypotheses in total. The proposed
Sociodemographic variable n Percentage
model hypothesizes that the advertising of chain restaurant brands
Gender
induces patrons emotional responses. As such, the emotional
Male 202 46.7
responses will impact patrons perceived value, thus inuencing Female 231 53.3
behavioral intentions. During this process, the level of arousal Income
induced by advertising plays a moderating function in the relation- Under $25,000 54 12.5
ship between emotional responses and perceived value. $25,000$39,999 89 20.6
$40,000$54,999 72 16.6
$55,000$69,999 71 16.4
$70,000$84,999 48 11.1
4. Methodology
$85,000$99,999 34 7.9
$100,000$149,999 48 11.1
4.1. Sample $150,000 and over 17 3.9
Race
Caucasian/White 393 90.8
One of the research members contacted an online marketing
African-American 16 3.7
company with a large pool of national restaurant patron panels. Asian 7 1.6
To qualify for participation in the survey, patrons were required Hispanic 6 1.4
to be at least 18 years of age and to dine out at a chain restau- Other 11 2.5
rant at least once per week. Consequently, the number of qualied Education level
Less than high school degree 6 1.4
samples was limited to 11,790. A self-report questionnaire was
High school degree 78 18.0
randomly distributed to 11,790 chain restaurant consumers by the Some college, but no degree 117 27.0
online market research company in 2010. Respondents were asked Associates degree 47 10.9
to select the single chain restaurant brand that he or she had visited Bachelors degree 120 27.7
Graduate degree 65 15.0
most recently, and to answer all questions based on their experi-
ences with that particular brand. From the responses collected, only Mean age = 54.8 years old
respondents who satised the following requirement were selected Note: The various totals indicate the total numbers of respondents with valid
for further participation in the study: responses.
694 S.S. Hyun et al. / International Journal of Hospitality Management 30 (2011) 689700

Table 2
Conrmatory factor analysis: items and loadings.

Construct and scale item Standardized loading

Valuative dimensions of advertising


Relevant news
The chain restaurant brands advertising showed me that their food has certain advantages. 0.714
From the chain restaurant brands advertising, I learned something about their food that I didnt know about before. 0.647
The message in their advertising was important to my everyday dining habits. 0.824
The advertising introduced me to food I think Id like to try. 0.832
The advertising gave me a new idea about my everyday dining habits. 0.894
The advertising made me think that I might try this restaurants food just to see if its as good as they say. 0.852
Brand reinforcement
What they said about the menu was dishonest. 0.902
The advertising made exaggerated and untrue claims about the menu. 0.852
As I viewed the advertising, I thought of reasons why I would not dine out there. 0.744
As I viewed the advertising, I thought that the advertised brand is a dependable, reliable one. 0.794
As I viewed the advertising, I thought that the chain restaurant is a good brand, and I wouldnt hesitate recommending it to others. 0.787
Stimulation
The advertising was lots of fun to watch and listen to. 0.766
The enthusiasm of the advertising is catchy it picks me up. 0.830
The advertising was playful. 0.756
The characters or people in the advertising captured my attention. 0.849
The advertising was exciting. 0.819
Empathy
I felt as though I was right there in the advertisement, experiencing the same thing. 0.920
The advertising was very realistic and reected my true everyday dining habits. 0.890
I liked the advertising because it was personal and intimate. 0.811
The advertising was unrealistic and farfetched. 0.924
The advertising irritated me it was annoying. 0.849
Familiarity
I am very familiar with the advertising. 0.986
Ive seen the advertising before. 0.788
Confusion
The advertising was too complex. I wasnt sure what was going on. 0.949
It required a lot of effort to follow the advertising. 0.958
I was so busy watching the screen, I didnt listen to the words. 0.848
Emotional responses
Pleasure
Pleased/annoyed 0.835
Contended/melancholic 0.805
Hopeful/despairing 0.842
Relaxed/bored 0.869
Happy/unhappy 0.902
Perceived value
Utilitarian value
The food portion was enough to satisfy my hunger. 0.707
I liked the variety of menu choices in the restaurant. 0.758
I liked the restaurants healthy food options (such as a low-fat menu). 0.542
The food is served at the right temperature. 0.830
The cost of eating in this chain restaurant was reasonable. 0.790
Generally, this chains restaurants are in convenient locations. 0.559
Hedonic value
The interior design of the chain restaurant was pleasing to me. 0.706
The restaurants mood felt exotic. 0.782
The restaurants layout and look were fun and unique to me. 0.787
I prefer eating out at this chain restaurant, because its a wonderful place that gives me a good feeling. 0.894
Eating out at the restaurant is fun and pleasant. 0.883
Behavioral intentions
I would like to dine out in this chain restaurant again. 0.859
I would recommend the restaurant to my friends or others. 0.932
I would say positive things about this chain restaurant to others. 0.965

Note: All factors loadings are signicant at p < 0.001. Bold gures represent rst-order factor loadings.

433 usable responses remained, for a usable response rate Emotional responses were measured with 11 items employed by
of 3.7%. Ladhari (2007) and Mehrabian and Russell (1974);
Perceived value was measured with 20 items adapted by Ha and
4.2. Measures Jang (2010) and Park (2004), Hyun (2009);
Behavioral intentions were measured with three items adapted
In order to measure the constructs in the proposed model, val- from Zeithaml et al. (1996);
idated scales from the literature review were adapted to the chain
restaurant setting, as follows: Pleasure was measured using a ve-item, ve-point seman-
tic differential scale. The bipolar adjectives employed were
Evaluative dimensions of advertising were measured using 44 pleased/annoyed, contented/melancholic, hopeful/despairing,
items under six constructs employed by Schlinger (1979a) and relaxed/bored, and happy/unhappy. Exploratory factor analysis
Stout and Rust (1993); was then conducted to determine the uni-dimensionality of this
S.S. Hyun et al. / International Journal of Hospitality Management 30 (2011) 689700 695

construct. The pleasure scales Cronbach alpha was .933, thus con-
rming that pleasure is a one-dimensional construct.

Behavioral
Arousal was measured using a six-item, ve-point seman-

intentions
tic differential scale. The bipolar adjectives employed were

0.959
0.669
0.492
0.452
0.434
0.247
0.296
0.545
0.846
0.716
excited/calm, stimulated/relaxed, frenzied/sluggish, jit-
tery/dull, awake/sleepy, and aroused/unaroused. The arousal
scale had a Cronbach alpha value of .848, thus conrming that this

Hedonic value
construct is one-dimensional.
The other items were assessed on ve-point Likert-type scales
ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The ini-

0.921
0.255
0.639
0.318
0.750

0.671

0.513
0.069

0.708
0.200
tial questionnaire was prepared and a pre-test was conducted with
10 graduate and undergraduate students and 1 faculty member in
the hospitality and tourism management department. The ques-

Utilitarian
tionnaire was revised, and a pilot test was then conducted with 43

0.886
0.696
0.551
0.423
0.524

0.425
0.562

0.716
0.309

0.500
value
undergraduate students in an undergraduate-level management

Note. AVE: average variance extracted estimate, CFI: comparative t index, IFI: incremental t index, TLI: Tucker-Lewis Index, RMSEA: root mean square error of approximation.
class in a major university in southwestern Virginia. In order to
assess the reliability of the measurement scales, Cronbachs alpha

Pleasure

0.952
was estimated. All of the Cronbachs alpha values were higher than

0.673
0.214
0.663
0.375
0.269

0.316

0.297
0.207

0.450
.7, which is the threshold (Hair et al., 1998). The nalized version
of the questionnaire was distributed to chain restaurant patrons by

Confusion
an online market research company in 2010.

0.959
0.257

0.683

0.181
0.609
0.013

0.220

0.043

0.088
0.005
5. Data analysis

Familiarity
5.1. Descriptive statistics

0.857
0.233

0.255
0.076

0.064

0.048
0.072
0.095

0.061
0.040
Table 1 shows the respondents demographic prole. The sam-

Empathy
ple (n = 433) in the analysis was 46.7% male (n = 202). Their mean

0.953
0.748
0.116

0.466
0.141
0.275

0.188
0.408

0.101
0.004
age was 54.8 years, ranging from 23 to 87 years of age. All of the
respondents dined out at a chain restaurant at least once per week.
With regard to per-visit expenditures at the chain restaurant, 52.7%
Stimulation

of respondents answered that they spent, on average, less than $10

Goodness-of-t statistics: 2 (899) = 1879.141, p < .001, 2 /df = 2.09; CFI = .942; IFI = .942; TLI = 0.936; RMSEA = .050.
per person per visit; 33.2% spent $10 to $20 per person per visit;
0.921
0.698

0.179
0.011

0.013
0.065

0.440

0.408
0.204
0.001
13.2% spent $20 to $40 per person per visit; and 0.9% spent more
than $40 per person per visit.
The majority of respondents were Caucasian (90.8%), and half of
the respondents possessed bachelors or graduate degrees (27.7%
reinforcement

for the former and 15.0% for the latter). In terms of income, the
respondents were fairly evenly distributed, with the largest group
0.329b
Brand

0.912

0.748

0.551
0.255
0.492
0.011

0.076
0.609
0.046

(20.6%) reporting an income between $25,000 and $39,999 and the


smallest group (3.9%) reporting an income of $150,000 or more;
54.5% reported incomes higher than $40,000.
Relevant

0.923a
0.108c
0.487
0.166

0.453
0.484
0.563
0.448
0.054
0.066
news

5.2. Conrmatory factor analysis

To ensure the uni-dimensionality of the scales measuring each


0.637
0.669
0.648
0.774
0.797
0.846
0.725

0.662
0.846
0.500
AVE

construct and to validate the measurement model, conrmatory


factor analysis (CFA) was conducted. The CFA results indicated
a good model t. The CFA Chi-square was 1879.141 with 899
3.52 (0.79)
2.73 (0.32)

1.89 (0.83)
3.51 (0.84)
1.78 (0.79)
3.45 (0.72)
3.95 (0.63)
3.43 (0.79)
3.09 (0.75)

4.08 (0.81)
Mean (Std

degrees of freedom (p < .001), with CFI = .942, IFI = .936, TLI = .942,
Composite reliabilities are along the diagonal.

Squared correlations are below the diagonal.


dev.)

and a root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = .050.


Descriptive statistics and associated measures.

The values of CFI, IFI, and TLI ranged from 0 to 1 with a value
close to 1.00, indicating good t (Byrne, 1998). The RMSEA should
Correlations are above the diagonal.

be less than .10; however, ideally it should fall between .04


and .08 (Turner and Reisinger, 2001). Table 2 shows the specic
No. of
items

elements of advertising (relevant news, brand reinforcement, stim-


6
5
5
5
2
3
5
6
5
3

ulation, empathy, familiarity, and confusion), those of emotional


Behavioral intentions
Brand reinforcement

responses (pleasure and arousal), those of perceived value (utili-


tarian value and hedonic value), and those of behavioral intentions
Utilitarian value
Relevant news

Hedonic value

employed in this study, together with their standardized factor


Stimulation

Familiarity

loadings.
Confusion
Empathy

Pleasure

The factor loadings were equal to or greater than .542. All factor
Table 3

loadings were signicant at p < .001 with the t-values (not shown)
a

ranging from 9.223 to 40.070.


696 S.S. Hyun et al. / International Journal of Hospitality Management 30 (2011) 689700

Evaluative
Dimensions of
Advertising

Arousal
Relevant
News
Not significant
Perceived
Value
.336(5.427) Emotional
Reinforceme Responses
nt H2 Utilitarian
Value .676 (11.202)

Stimulation .387 (6.450) .622 (9.853)


Pleasure Behavioral
Intentions
.277 (4.255) .724 (14.580)
Empathy

.293 (7.745)
.097(2.712) Hedonic
Value
Familiarity

Significant
H6

Confusion
Arousal

Note: 1. Numbers in parentheses are the t-values. 2. Numbers outside of parentheses are the standardized path coefficients.
3. Dotted lines indicate nonsignificant paths (p < .05).

Fig. 2. The results of the proposed model.

Table 3 shows the descriptive statistics and associated measures at p < .001. Thus, discriminant validity between brand reinforce-
for the constructs. The convergent and discriminant validity of the ment and empathy was conrmed. The resulting 2 difference for
scales were tested using conrmatory factor analysis (Anderson the brand reinforcement and utilitarian value was 906.663 (df = 9),
and Gerbing, 1988). As stated above, all indicators loaded on which was signicant at p < .001, thus conrming the discriminant
the proposed constructs were signicant at p < .001. The average validity.
variance extracted (AVE) was greater than the .50 cut-off for all In summary, all of the constructs discriminant validities were
constructs (Bagozzi and Yi, 1988). Based on high factor loadings on strongly supported by the data analysis. Internal consistency of the
the intended variables and AVE estimates, convergent validity for scales was examined using composite reliabilities. Hair et al. (1998)
the measurement-scale items was achieved (Fornell and Larcker, have suggested a threshold value of .70 All of the composite reliabil-
1981). ities were higher than .7, indicating adequate internal consistency
In order to achieve discriminant validity, the squared correlation (Table 3).
(R2 ) between a pair of constructs should be lower than the AVE for
each construct (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). All of the squared corre- 5.3. Structural model
lations (R2 ) between pairs of constructs were lower than the AVE for
each construct with the exception of two pairs: (1) brand reinforce- A structural model was estimated, and t indices provided
ment and empathy and (2) brand reinforcement and utilitarian by AMOS indicated that the model had an acceptable t. The
value (Table 3). According to Bagozzi and Yi (1988), in this case, Chi-square was 2270.522 with 919 degrees of freedom (p < .001),
discriminant validity between the pairs should be re-examined with the CFI = .919, IFI = .920, TLI = .913 and a root mean square
by combining them into a single construct and then performing error of approximation (RMSEA) = .058. Values of CFI, IFI, and TLI
a 2 difference test on the values obtained from the combined and ranged from 0 to 1 with a value close to 1.00, indicating good
uncombined models. t (Byrne, 1998). The RMSEA should be less than .10; however,
With regard to the brand reinforcement and empathy pair, the ideally, it should be between .04 and .08 (Turner and Reisinger,
resulting 2 difference was 912.68 (df = 10), which was signicant 2001).

Table 4
Standardized parameter estimates for structural model.

Paths Standardized t-Value Hypothesis


estimate

H1 Relevant news pleasure 0.346 5.427 Supported


H2 Brand reinforcement pleasure 0.052 0.897 Not supported
H3 Stimulation pleasure 0.387 6.450 Supported
H4 Empathy pleasure 0.277 4.255 Supported
H5 Familiarity pleasure 0.097 2.712 Supported
H6 Confusion pleasure 0.042 0.812 Not supported
H7a Pleasure utilitarian value 0.622 9.853 Supported
H7b Pleasure hedonic value 0.724 14.580 Supported
H8a Arousals moderating function between pleasure and utilitarian value Not supported
H8b Arousals moderating function between pleasure and hedonic value Supported
H9a Utilitarian value behavioral intentions 0.676 11.202 Supported
H9b Hedonic value behavioral intentions 0.293 7.745 Supported
S.S. Hyun et al. / International Journal of Hospitality Management 30 (2011) 689700 697

Fig. 2 shows the standardized path coefcient and t-values. H1 value was .496 (p < .001). In contrast, for the low-arousal group,
(which proposed a positive relationship between relevant news the path coefcient was .808 (p < .001). In summary, pleasure was
and pleasure) was supported by a positive standardized coef- more effective in enhancing the perceived hedonic value in the
cient of .346 (t = 5.427, p < .001) (Table 4). H2 (which proposed high-arousal group rather than in the low-arousal group.
that brand reinforcement positively inuences pleasure) was not
supported (t = .897, p = .370). H3 (which proposed a positive rela-
6. Conclusion
tionship between stimulation and pleasure) was supported by a
positive standardized coefcient of .387 (t = 6.450, p < .001). H4
The purposes of this study were twofold: to investigate the
(which suggested a positive relationship between empathy and
structural relationships between advertising, emotional responses
pleasure) was supported by a positive standardized coefcient
induced by advertising, patrons perceived value, and behavioral
of .277 (t = 4.255, p < .001). H5 (which suggested that familiarity
intentions in the chain restaurant industry; and to investigate
directly inuences pleasure) was supported by a positive standard-
which attributes in advertising bear the strongest impact on
ized coefcient of .097 (t = 2.712, p < .05). The impact of confusion
patrons behavioral intentions. Based on the literature review, six
in advertising on emotion was not supported. H6 (which proposed
evaluative dimensions of advertising were derived: relevant news,
that confusion negatively inuences pleasure) was not supported
brand reinforcement, stimulation, empathy, familiarity, and confu-
(t = .812, p = .417).
sion. Two dimensions of emotional responses were adapted from
Data analysis indicates that emotional responses towards adver-
the existing literature: pleasure and arousal. Two dimensions of
tising have a strong impact on perceived value. It was revealed
perceived value were proposed: utilitarian value and hedonic value.
that pleasure is a factor that strongly inuences both utilitarian
Theoretical relationships between six evaluative dimensions of
and hedonic value. H7a (which proposed a positive relationship
advertising, two dimensions of emotion, two dimensions of per-
between pleasure and utilitarian value) was supported by a posi-
ceived value, and behavioral intentions were derived based on the
tive standardized coefcient of .622 (t = 9.853, p < .001). H7b (which
literature review.
suggested that pleasure directly inuences hedonic value) was sup-
ported by a positive standardized coefcient of .724 (t = 14.580,
p < .001). 6.1. Advertising and patrons emotional responses
Lastly, based on the results of the data analysis, it was found that
consumers perceived value is signicantly related to behavioral Data analysis reveals which attributes in advertising have the
intentions. H9a (which proposed a positive relationship between most signicant impact on inducing positive emotional responses
utilitarian value and behavioral intentions) was supported by a and which aid in creating patrons positive behavioral intentions.
positive standardized coefcient of .676 (t = 11.202, p < .001). H9b A positive relationship (.336, p < .001) between relevant news and
(which suggested that hedonic value directly inuences behavioral pleasure was found, indicating that relevant news is a strong fac-
intentions) was supported by a positive standardized coefcient of tor in inducing positive emotional responses. Based on the existing
.293 (t = 7.745, p < .001). literature regarding consumer behavior, when a consumer obtains
relevant product information that he or she has sought in advertis-
5.4. The moderating effect of arousal ing, the consumer experiences pleasant emotions and is thus more
inclined to try the product (Anderson and Renault, 2006; Holbrook
In order to examine the moderating effect of arousal, a multiple- and Batra, 1987; Lazarus, 1982; Olney et al., 1991; Schlinger, 1979a;
group analysis was conducted (Byrne, 2001). Respondents were Stout and Leckenby, 1986). This research extends this theory by
divided into two groups (a low-arousal group and a high-arousal empirically testing the argument in the chain restaurant indus-
group) by using a moderator score. The moderator score (arousal try context. Therefore, when chain restaurant marketers develop
score) was calculated as the sum of the six arousal scale items. advertising, they should seek to effectively emphasize relevant
Multiple-group analyses were then conducted with a hierarchi- food/service/facility information that satises consumers needs
cal approach that compared two sub-samples selected based on in these regards. For example, information that is not known by
the mean split of the moderating variable (Chandrashekaran and current consumers, such as the advantages of a low-fat or healthy
Grewal, 2003). To test the differential effects of arousal between menu, indications of reliable service, news about interesting events,
high- and low-arousal groups, the Chi-square difference between information about appealing facilities, assurances of superior food
constrained and unconstrained models was investigated with quality, a description of the menus impact on patrons everyday
regard to the difference in degrees of freedom (Anderson and dining experiences, and information regarding the uniqueness of
Gerbing, 1988). the product, should be included as appropriate in the advertising.
First, the moderating function of arousal in the relationship These relevant news items about elements such as menus, ser-
between pleasure and utilitarian value was assessed (H8a). The vice, and facilities can induce a positive emotional response, thus
coefcient for the path (between pleasure and utilitarian value) was helping to creative positive behavioral intentions towards a chain
compared between high- and low-arousal groups. The Chi-square restaurant brand.
difference between the constrained model and the unconstrained In contrast, it was revealed that the brand reinforcement fac-
model was not signicant at .05 level (2 = .104 > 20.5 (1) = 3.84, tor in advertising does not have a signicant impact on inducing
df = 1). This result indicates that the effect of pleasure on utilitarian patrons emotional responses (t = .897, p = .370). For many years,
value is not signicantly different across arousal levels, which did marketers believed that brand reinforcement factors in advertis-
not support Hypothesis H8a. ing strengthened existing customers favorable attitudes towards
Second, the moderating function of arousal in the relation- the brand and created positive emotional responses, thus induc-
ship between pleasure and utilitarian value was assessed (H8b). ing positive behavioral intentions (Aaker et al., 1986; Keller, 1999;
The Chi-square difference between the constrained model and the Stout and Leckenby, 1986; Stout and Rust, 1993). For this rea-
unconstrained model was signicant at .05 level (2 = 8.005 > son, marketers have sought to develop truthful advertising that
20.5 (1) = 3.84, df = 1). Thus, hypothesis 8b was supported. This ts perceptions of how patrons actually experience a given brands
nding indicates that the effect of pleasure on hedonic value was products and/or services (Schlinger, 1979b). However, this study
statistically different across arousal levels. With regard to the high- found that this theoretical argument does not apply to the chain
arousal group, the path coefcient between pleasure and hedonic restaurant context.
698 S.S. Hyun et al. / International Journal of Hospitality Management 30 (2011) 689700

One possible interpretation of this nding is that, in the food ser- advertising, thus enhancing its effectiveness. Based on these nd-
vice setting, patrons may recognize that some advertising does not ings, chain restaurant marketers should seek not only to develop
accurately reect their actual experiences, but may believe that this advertising with relevant news and entertainment factors, they
dissonance results from their personal preferences. For example, if should also attempt to increase patrons sense of familiarity with
the taste of a meal in chain restaurant differs from what customers the advertising. Specically, showing the same advertising cam-
anticipated based on viewing advertising, customers may regard paign for several months and scheduling spots at the same time
that the reason for the difference between expectations and actual everyday could be a good strategy. Utilizing a familiar theme (e.g.
experience is due to their personal preferences. In other words, dif- a well-known movie, famous novel, etc.) in advertising could also
ferent patrons could experience a variety of reactions even while be an effective strategy.
eating the same dish. Therefore, chain restaurant marketers do not In contrast, it was revealed that the dimension of confusion
necessarily strictly adhere to accurate advertising. At times, they in advertising does not bear a signicant impact on emotional
may include more appetizing food images in advertising than what response in the chain restaurant context (t = .812, p = .417). Accord-
will actually be served to customers and may romanticize the din- ing to the existing theoretical background, communication clarity
ing setting and atmosphere as compared to the actual restaurant. in advertising should be highly correlated to positive emotional
In chain restaurant advertising, patrons do not necessarily feel that responses, because confusion induces feelings of perplexity and/or
such advertising representation is inaccurate or dishonest. irritation in the viewer (Ellsworth, 2003; Horowitz and Reidbord,
The results of data analysis indicate that stimulation bears a 1992). However, according to the data analysis, this theory was not
strong impact on inducing patrons pleasurable responses (.387, supported in the research undertaken for this study in chain restau-
p < .001). Researchers and practitioners have strongly postulated rant settings. In general product advertising, companies often
that entertaining and/or humorous advertisement attracts con- attempt to include signicant amounts of information regarding
sumers attention (e.g. Sternthal and Craig, 1973) and generates their product (e.g., fuel efciency, torque, warranty, etc.) which
positive feelings, thus inducing positive emotional responses can lead to confusion in the viewer. However, in the chain restau-
(Geuens and De Pelsmacker, 1998). This study conrmed this theo- rant industry, companies do not tend to create overly complex
retical relationship in the chain restaurant context. Therefore, chain advertising. This studys descriptive data analysis supports this
restaurant marketers should seek to develop advertising that is interpretation, with the mean value of the confusion construct
pleasurable, enjoyable, and fun to watch, since these criteria and at 1.75 (standard deviation = 0.78), indicating that the responding
the experience of pleasurable, positive emotions are what patrons patrons experienced very little confusion when they viewed chain
expect from such advertising. Moreover, it is important to attract restaurant advertising.
and retain patrons attention so that the advertising is not forgotten In summary, based on data analysis, it was found that
rapidly and easily by consumers (Spotts et al., 1997). when chain restaurant patrons view advertising, four particular
For these reasons, the entertainment factor should be included attributes of advertising (relevant news, stimulation, empathy,
in a chain restaurants advertising in order to maximize its effec- and familiarity) induce emotional responses. Among these four
tiveness, (Madden and Weinberger, 1982). For example, it can be elements, the stimulation dimension has the biggest effect upon
a good strategy to employ celebrity endorsers in chain restaurant viewers (.387, p < .001). Furthermore, the pleasant emotional
advertising, because such endorsers can attract patrons attention responses induced by advertising positively inuence the perceived
and be entertaining to viewers (Dean and Biswas, 2001). In addition, value of patrons.
a sweepstake contest could be an effective, entertaining advertising
strategy. For instance, marketers could include crossword puzzle 6.2. Effect of emotional responses on patrons perceived value
relevant to their menu, or provide an opportunity to win a free
trip to Hawaii (Chandon et al., 2000). Through methods such as Data analysis indicates that patrons emotional responses bear
these, chain restaurant marketers can attract patrons attention and a positive impact on utilitarian value (.622, p < .001) and hedonic
generate positive emotional responses. value (.724, p < .001). When patrons experience pleasant feelings
According to the data analysis conducted for this study, the from advertising, they tend to process a greater quantity of uplift-
impact of empathy on emotional response is also signicant (.277, ing information but a lesser quantity of depressing information, in
p < .001). When a consumer empathizes with a person, object, or motivation to maintain their positive moods. These good moods
activity depicted in advertising, he or she imagines being a char- are likely to transfer to the patrons perceived value in the actual
acter in the advertising and feels an emotional involvement with consumption (Wegener et al., 1995). Therefore, when chain restau-
what is being portrayed in the ad. Such emotional involvement rant managers welcome and serve their patrons, it is important
helps to create positive beliefs about the product or service being to maintain the pleasant feelings experienced by customers that
advertised. By inducing empathy, advertising effectiveness can are originally induced by advertising. This process can start when
be maximized (Abrams, 1988). Therefore, when chain restaurant customers enter the parking lot, which can be designed to make
marketers develop advertising, it is important to reect patrons patrons feel welcomed and happy. During peak dining times, enter-
true everyday dining experiences. To this end, marketing research tainment can be provided for patrons waiting to be seated in order
should be conducted to investigate what consumers experience to reduce boredom and help them maintain their pleasant feelings
in their real-life dining experiences, what they might perceive as prior to dining. In addition, having restaurant staff wear amusing
problematic in these experiences, and what they would enjoy or or unique uniforms (such as at Hooters chain restaurants) can pro-
prefer. Such situations should then be reected in the advertising mote the continuation of the positive emotions that customers
in order to enable patrons to feel an emotional involvement when experience when viewing a chains advertising, thus helping to
viewing the advertising. transfer the pleasant feelings into future behavioral intentions.
The results of this study indicate that familiarity also has a The most signicant nding is that, during the process of
signicant impact on inducing patrons pleasant responses (.097, viewing advertising, the level of arousal induced by advertising
p < .05). In psychological terms, familiarity with objects and/or per- plays a moderating function in the relationship between emotional
sons depicted in advertising tends to induce positive emotional responses and hedonic perceived value. In contrast, the moder-
responses (Zajonc et al., 1974). As studies have indicated, when ating function of arousal in the relationship between emotional
patrons experience a sense of familiarity when exposed to adver- responses and utilitarian value was not found to be signicant.
tising, they tend to have positive emotional responses towards the In other words, arousal and pleasure interact in determining cus-
S.S. Hyun et al. / International Journal of Hospitality Management 30 (2011) 689700 699

tomers hedonic value perceptions, but arousal does not play a that attempts to further verify or extend our model with other than
role in determining customers utilitarian value perceptions. This U.S. samples may prove useful.
nding may be related to the cognitive nature of utilitarian value.
Evaluating the utilitarian value of a service or product primar- References
ily involves the processing of information regarding trade-offs
between benets and sacrices (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982; Aaker, D.A., Stayman, D.M., Hagerty, M.R., 1986. Warmth in advertising: mea-
surement, impact, and sequence effects. Journal of Consumer Research 12 (4),
Zeithaml, 1988). For optimal processing of this information, a 365381.
medium level of arousal may be preferable to a high or low level. In Abrams, M.H, 1988. A Glossary of Literary Terms, fth ed. Holt, Rinehart and Winston,
other words, there may be a specic optimal arousal level for cus- Inc., New York.
Advertising Age, 2006. 4th Annual Guide to Advertising Marketing. Retrieved from
tomers utilitarian value perceptions (cf. Sanbonmatsu and Kardes,
http://adage.com/images/random/FactPack06.pdf on January 15, 2009.
1988). As such, the effect of arousal may not be unidirectional with Anderson, S.P., Renault, R., 2006. Advertising content. The American Economic
regard to the relationship between pleasure and utilitarian value. Review 96 (1), 93113.
Anderson, J.C., Gerbing, D.G., 1988. Structural equation modeling in practice: a
review and recommended two-step approach. Psychological Bulletin 103 (3),
6.3. Patrons perceived value and future behavioral intentions 411423.
Bagozzi, R.P., Gopinath, M., Nyer, P.U., 1999. The role of emotions in marketing.
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 27 (2), 184206.
Lastly, according to the data analysis, both utilitarian value Bagozzi, R.P., Yi, Y., 1988. On the evaluation of structural equation models. Journal
(.676, p < .001) and hedonic value (.293, p < .001) bore a signicant of the Academy of Marketing Science 16 (1), 7494.
Baker, J., 1996. The effects of the service environment on affect and consumer per-
impact on patrons behavioral intentions. The major stream of con- ception of waiting time: an integrative review and research propositions. Journal
sumer behavior research indicates that perceived value, induced of Academy of Marketing Science 24, 338349.
by satisfaction and quality, has a positive impact on future con- Belch, G., Belch, M., 2001. Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing
Communications Perspective, fth ed. McGraw-Hill/Irwin, New York.
sumer behavior (Cronin et al., 2000; Hyun, 2010; Sirohi et al., 1998; Bign, J.E., Andreu, L., Gnoth, J., 2005. The theme park experience: an analysis of
Sweeny et al., 1999). This research extends the existing literature pleasure, arousal and satisfaction. Tourism Management 26, 833844.
by testing the theoretical relationships between these factors in the Bruner, J.S., 1957. On perceptual readiness. Psychological Review 64 (2), 123152.
Byrne, B.M., 1998. Structural Equation Modeling with LISREL, PRELIS and SIMPLIS.
chain restaurant context.
Basic Concepts Applications and Programming. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates,
More importantly, patrons utilitarian value has much stronger Inc., Mahwah, NJ.
impact on behavioral intentions (.676) than does hedonic value Byrne, B.M., 2001. Structural Equation Modeling with AMOS: Basic Concepts, Appli-
cations and Programming. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.
(.293). Therefore, in order to maximize patrons perceived utilitar-
Chandon, P., Wansink, B., Laurent, G., 2000. Benet congruency framework of sales
ian value, chain restaurant managers must continuously strive to promotion effectiveness. Journal of Marketing 64 (4), 6581.
improve food quality (e.g., Lo and Lam, 2004), develop new menu Chandrashekaran, R., Grewal, D., 2003. Assimilation of advertised reference prices:
items (Snull, 1999), provide a sufcient portion of food to satisfy the moderating role of involvement. Journal of Retailing 79 (1), 5362.
Chang, C., 2006. Beating the new blues: mood repair through exposure to advertising.
patrons hunger (Ha and Jang, 2010; Park, 2004), and minimize Journal of Communication 56, 198217.
food prices by eliminating unnecessary costs (Law et al., 2008). Chebat, J.C., Michon, R., 2003. Impact of ambient odors on mall shoppers emo-
Furthermore, professional site selection research should be con- tions, cognition, and spendinga test of competitive causal theories. Journal
of Business Research 56 (7), 529539.
ducted when opening a new branch of a chain restaurant (e.g., Chen, Q, Wells, W.D., 1999. Attitude toward the site. Journal of Advertising Research
Soriano, 2002). In addition, to improve patrons perceived hedonic 39 (5.), 2737.
value, chain restaurant managers must seek to enhance overall the Coulter, R.A., Zaltman, G., Coulter, K.S., 2001. Interpreting consumer perceptions
of advertising: an application of the Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique.
perceptions of their customers by providing a sense of their restau- Journal of Advertising 30 (4), 122.
rants uniqueness as embodied in their symbolic meanings and/or Cronin Jr., J.J., Brady, M.K., Hult, G.T.M., 2000. Assessing the effects of quality, value,
the emotional arousal and imagery that they evoke (Holbrook and and customer satisfaction on consumer behavioral intentions in service envi-
ronments. Journal of Retailing 76 (2), 193218.
Hirschman, 1982). Specically, chain restaurant managers should
Dean, D.H, Biswas, A., 2001. Third-party organization endorsement of products: an
invest expenditures into facility renovations and design improve- advertising cue affecting prepurchase evaluation of goods and services. Journal
ments (Kivela, 1997). Marketing research also should be conducted of Advertising 30 (4), 4157.
Derbaix, C., Vanhamme, J., 2003. Inducing word-of-mouth by eliciting surprisea
in order to investigate the colors, types of music, and interior design
pilot investigation. Journal of Economic Psychology 24, 99116.
styles that patrons nd appealing when they dine out. Duncan, C.P., Nelson, J.E., 1985. Effects of humor in a radio advertising experiment.
Since a thorough understanding of the effects of advertising is Journal of Advertising 14 (2), 3364.
critical to achieving marketing success for chain restaurants, and Edell, J.A., Burke, M., 1987. The power of feelings in understanding advertising
effects. Journal of Consumer Research 14 (3), 421433.
since patron behavior is directly related to revenue generation in Ellsworth, P.C., 2003. Confusion, concentration, and other emotions of interest: com-
the industry, the model developed in this study can serve to assist mentary on Rozin and Cohen. Emotion 3 (1), 8185.
restaurant rms in maximizing their advertising effectiveness over Erevelles, S., 1998. The role of affect in marketing. Journal of Business Research 42
(3.), 199215.
the long term and thus in maximizing the shareholder value of Finucane, M.L., Alhakami, A., Slovic, P., Johnson, S.M., 2000. The affect heuristic in
restaurant brands. judgments of risks and benets. Journal of Behavioural Decision Making 13 (1),
117.
Fornell, C., Larcker, D.F., 1981. Evaluating structural equation models with unob-
7. Limitations and future research servable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research 18
(1.), 3950.
Gallarza, M.G., Saura, I.G., 2006. Value dimensions, perceived value, satisfaction
Despite the theoretical and practical implications of this study, and loyalty: an investigation of university students travel behavior. Tourism
two inherent limitations need to be addressed. First, the proposed Management 27 (3), 437452.
Geuens, M., De Pelsmacker, P., 1998. Feelings evoked by warm, erotic, humorous
model was developed based on a thorough literature review. During
or non-emotional print advertisements for alcoholic beverages. Academy of
the review process, the existing theoretical backgrounds were com- Marketing Science Review 19, 132.
prehensively integrated, consequently complicating the model. It Giese, J.L., Cote, J.A., 2000. Dening customer satisfaction. Academy of Marketing
Science Review 2000 (1), 134.
is thus recommended that future studies break down the proposed
Gulas, C.S., Weinberger, M.G., 2006. Humor in Advertising: A Comprehensive Anal-
model into several parsimonious models that would more clearly ysis. ME Sharp, New York.
represent the reality of actual patron behavior. Second, the concep- Ha, J., Jang, S., 2010. Perceived values, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions: the
tual model for the present study was tested with samples collected role of familiarity in Korean restaurants. International Journal of Hospitality
Management 29 (1), 213.
in the United States. Therefore, the extent to which the results are Hair Jr., J.F., Anderson, R.E., Tatham, R.L., Black, W.C., 1998. Multivariate Data Anal-
cross-culturally generalizable is somewhat limited. Future research ysis. Upper Saddle River, Prentice-Hall, NJ.
700 S.S. Hyun et al. / International Journal of Hospitality Management 30 (2011) 689700

Hicks, J.M., Page, T.J., Behe, B.K., Dennis, J.H., Fernandez, R.T., 2005. Delighted Schlinger, M.J., 1979a. Attitudinal reactions to advertisements. In: Eighmey, J. (Ed.),
consumers buy again. Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Attitude Research under the Sun. American Marketing Association, Chicago, pp.
Complaining Behavior 18, 94104. 171179.
Holbrook, M.B., Batra, R., 1987. Assessing the role of emotions as mediators of Schlinger, M.J., 1979b. A prole of responses to commercials. Journal of Advertising
consumer responses to advertising. The Journal of Consumer Research 14 (3), Research 19, 3746.
404420. Schwarz, N., 1990. Feeling as information: information and motivational functions of
Holbrook, M.B., Hirschman, E.C., 1982. The experiential aspects of consumption: affective states. In: Sorrentino, R.M., Higgins, T.E. (Eds.), Handbook of Motivation
consumer fantasies, feelings and fun. Journal of Consumer Research 9, 132140. and Cognition. Guilford Press, New York, pp. 527561.
Holbrook, M.B, OShaughnessy, J., 1984. The role of emotion in advertising. Psychol- Schwarz, N., Clore, G.L., 1988. How do I feel about it? Informative function of affective
ogy and Marketing 1 (2), 4564. States. In: Fielder, K., Forgas, J. (Eds.), Affect, Cognition, and Social Behaviour. C.J.
Horowitz, M.J., Reidbord, S.P., 1992. Memory, emotion, and response to trauma. In: Hogrefe, Toronto, pp. 4462.
Christianson, S. (Ed.), The Handbook of Emotion and Memory: Research and Sirohi, N., McLaughlin, E.W., Wittink, D.R., 1998. A model of consumer perceptions
Theory. American Marketing Association/Lawrence Erlbaum, Chicago/Hillsdale, and store loyalty intentions for a supermarket retailer. Journal of Retailing 74
NJ, pp. 343357. (2), 223245.
Hyun, S., 2009. Creating a model of customer equity for chain restaurant brand Snull, D.N., 1999. Why good companies go bad. Harvard Business Review
formation. International Journal of Hospitality Management 28 (4), 529539. (JulyAugust), 110.
Hyun, S., 2010. Predictors of relationship quality and loyalty in the chain restaurant Soriano, D.R., 2002. Customers expectations factors in restaurants: the situation
industry. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly 51 (2), 251267. in Spain. International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management 19 (8/9),
Johns, G., Saks, A.M., 2005. Organizational Behaviour: Understanding and Managing 10551068.
Life at Work, sixth ed. Pearson Education, Toronto, Canada. Spotts, H.E., Weinberger, M.G., Parsons, A.L., 1997. Assessing the use and impact of
Joyce, T., 1967. Advertisings major role? Bolstering brand loyalty. Advertising Age humor on advertising effectiveness: a contingency approach. Journal of Adver-
(May), 6970. tising 26 (3), 1732.
Keller, K.L., 1999. Managing brands for the long run: brand reinforcement and revi- Stayman, D.M., Aaker, D.A., 1988. Are all the effects of ad-induced feelings mediated
talization strategies. California Management Review 41 (3), 102123. by Aad? Journal of Consumer Research 15 (3), 368373.
Kivela, J., 1997. Restaurant marketing: selection and segmentation in Hong Kong. Stern, B.B., 1992. Historical and personal Nostalgia in advertising text: The Fin de
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 9 (3), 116123. sicle effect. Journal of Advertising 21 (4), 1122.
Ladhari, R., 2007. The effect of consumption emotions on satisfaction and word-of- Sternthal, B., Craig, S., 1973. Humor in advertising. Journal of Marketing 37, 1218.
mouth communications. Psychology and Marketing 24 (12), 10851108. Stout, P.A., Leckenby, J.D., 1986. Measuring emotional response to advertising. Jour-
Law, R., To, T., Goh, C., 2008. How do Mainland Chinese travelers choose restau- nal of Advertising 15 (4), 3543.
rants in Hong Kong? An exploratory study of individual visit scheme travelers Stout, P.A., Rust, R.T., 1993. Emotional feelings and evaluative dimensions of adver-
and packaged travelers. International Journal of Hospitality Management 27 (3), tising: are they related? Journal of Advertising 22 (1), 6172.
346354. Strasheim, A., Pitt, L., Caruana, A., 2007. Psychometric properties of the Schlinger
Lazarus, R.S., 1982. Thoughts on the relations between emotion and cognition. Amer- Viewer Response Prole (VRP). Journal of Advertising 36 (4), 101114.
ican Psychologist 37, 10191024. Sweeny, J.C., Soutar, G.N., Johnson, L.W., 1999. The role of perceived risk in the
Leavitt, C., 1970. A multi-dimensional set of rating scales for television commercials. qualityvalue relationship: a study in a retail environment. Journal of Retailing
Journal of Applied Psychology 54 (5), 427429. 75 (1), 77105.
Lewis, R.C., 1981. Restaurant advertising: appeals and consumers intentions. Journal Tellis, G.J., 2004. Effective Advertising: Understanding When, How and Why Adver-
of Advertising Research 21 (5), 6974. tising Works. Sage Publications, Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA.
Lipstein, B.F., Neelankavil, J.P., 1982. Television Advertising Copy Research Practices Turner, W.L., Reisinger, Y., 2001. Shopping satisfaction for domestic tourists. Journal
Among Major Advertisers and Advertising Agencies: An Advertising Research of Retailing and Consumer Services 8 (1), 1527.
Foundation Survey. Advertising Research Foundation, New York. Walker, W.R., Vogl, R.J., Thompson, C.P., 1997. Autobiographical memory: unpleas-
Lo, A., Lam, T., 2004. Long-haul and short-haul outbound all-inclusive package tours. antness fades faster than pleasantness over time. Applied Cognitive Psychology
Asia Pacic Journal of Tourism Research 9 (2), 161176. 11, 399413.
Macinnis, D.J., Park, C.W., 1991. The differential role of characteristics of music on Wegener, D.T., Petty, R.E., Smith, S.M., 1995. Positive mood can increase or decrease
high- and low-involvement consumers processing of Ads. Journal of Consumer message scrutiny: the hedonic contingency view of mood and message process-
Research 18, 161174. ing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 69 (1), 515.
Madden, T.J., Weinberger, M.G., 1982. The effects of humor on attention in magazine Weinberger, M.G., Harlan, E.S., Campbell, L., Parsons, A.L., 1995. The use of humor in
advertising. Journal of Advertising 11 (3), 814. different advertising media. Journal of Advertising Research 35, 4456.
Mattila, A.S., Wirtz, J., 2000. The role of preconsumption affect in postpurchase Wells, W.D., 1964. EQ, Son of EQ, and the reaction prole. Journal of Marketing 28
evaluation of services. Psychology and Marketing 17, 587605. (4), 4552.
Mehrabian, A., Russell, J.A., 1974. An Approach to Environmental Psychology. MIT Wells, W.D, Leavitt, C., McConville, M., 1971. A reaction prole for TV commercials.
Press, Cambridge, MA. Journal of Advertising Research 11 (6), 1117.
Monroe, K.B., 1979. Pricing: Making Protable Decisions. McGraw-Hill, New York. Westbrook, R.A., Oliver, R.L., 1991. The dimensionality of consumption emotion
Murry, J.P., Dacin, P.A., 1996. Cognitive moderators of negative-emotion effects: patterns and consumer satisfaction. Journal of Consumer Research 18 (1),
implications for understanding media context. Journal of Consumer Research 8491.
22, 439448. Wirtz, J., Bateson, J.E.G., 1999. Consumer satisfaction with services: integrating the
Oliver, R.L., 1997. Satisfaction: A Behavioral Perspective on the Consumer. McGraw- environmental perspective in services marketing into the traditional disconr-
Hill, New York. mation paradigm. Journal of Business Research 44 (1), 5566.
Olney, T.J., Holbrook, M.B., Batra, R., 1991. Consumer responses to advertising: the Wirtz, J., Mattila, A.S., Tan, R.L.P., 2000. The moderating role of target-arousal on
effects of ad content, emotions, and attitude toward the ad on viewing time. the impact of affect on satisfaction: an examination in the context of service
Journal of Consumer Research 17 (4), 440453. experiences. Journal of Retailing 73 (3), 347365.
Park, C., 2004. Efcient or enjoyable? Consumer values of eating-out and fast food Yksel, A., 2007. Tourist shopping habitat: effects on emotions, shopping value and
restaurant consumption in Korea. International Journal of Hospitality Manage- behaviours. Tourism Management 28, 5869.
ment 23, 8794. Zajonc, R.B., 1980. Feeling and thinking: preferences need no inferences. American
Ravald, A., Grnroos, C., 1996. The value concept and relationship marketing. Euro- Psychologist 35 (2), 151175.
pean Journal of Marketing 30 (2), 1930. Zajonc, R.B., Markus, H., Wilson, W.R., 1974. Exposure effects and associative learn-
Resnik, A., Stern, B.L., 1977. An analysis of information content in television adver- ing. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 10, 248263.
tising. Journal of Marketing 41 (1), 5053. Zeelenberg, M., Pieters, R., 2004. Beyond valence in customer dissatisfaction: a
Russell, J.A., 1980. A circumplex model of affect. Journal of Personality and Social review and new ndings on behavioral responses to regret and disappointment
Psychology 39, 11611178. in failed services. Journal of Business Research 57 (4), 445455.
Russell, J.A., Weiss, A., Mendelsohn, G.A., 1989. Affect grid: a single-item scale of Zeithaml, V.A., 1988. Consumer perceptions of price, quality, and value: a means-end
pleasure and arousal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 57, 493502. model and synthesis of evidence. Journal of Marketing 52 (3), 222.
Sanbonmatsu, D., Kardes, F., 1988. The effects of physiological arousal on information Zeithaml, V.A, Berry, L.L., Parasuraman, A., 1996. The behavioral consequences of
process. Journal of Consumer Research 15, 379386. service quality. Journal of Marketing 60 (2), 3146.
Snchez-Fernndez, R., Iniesta-Bonillo, M.., 2007. The concept of perceived value:
a systematic review of the research. Marketing Theory 7 (4), 427451.

You might also like