Customers' Responses to Crowded Restaurant Environments: Cross-Cultural Differences Between American and Chinese

ABSTRACT The study aims at demonstrating cultural differences between Americans and Chinese in terms of customer's perceptions and satisfaction of crowded environments within the context of restaurant settings. It has been noted that culture has a substantial impact on customer affection and judgment, and crowding in service environments is a critical antecedent of customer satisfaction. Considering these main themes, this study examined how cultural differences play a role in predicting customer satisfaction within the crowded restaurant setting. With the use of customers from the two different cultures in an experimental study, participants' responses to similarly crowded environments in a restaurant were compared. It is revealed that customer perceptions of crowdedness negatively influence their satisfaction, but the relationships vary depending on customer's cultural background. Cultural differences also appear to be substantial in predicting customer satisfaction.