Links between cue combinations of physical environments and consumer satisfaction in themed restaurants from a systematic approach–avoidance perspective

Customer satisfaction with themed restaurants is predominantly influenced by all the perceivable cues of the physical environment, purposefully designed by service providers through the strategic deployment of signs, symbols, and embedded ideologies to establish brand identity, attract consumers, and stimulate the growth of added value. Due to epidemic prevention and control practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, the awareness of personal protection in public spaces prone to crowding has increased. In addition to the previous hedonic cues, hygiene or safety cues should be emphasised to minimise customers’ perceptive insecurity and simultaneously convey a desirable service spirit, to achieve the goal of improving consumers' overall environmental satisfaction. However, there is little understanding of the causal rules between comprehensive physical environmental cues and consumer satisfaction from a systematic ‘approach–avoidance’ perspective in the post-pandemic period. This study aimed to identify the relationship between the physical environment cues of themed restaurants and consumer satisfaction using aggregated case analysis (ACA) and the rough set approach (RSA). A total of 14 key conditional attributes of themed restaurants and the key characteristics of each attribute were extracted using ACA. Subsequently, 13 decision-making rules were established using RSA. The findings contribute to the research on cause-and-effect relationships between physical environments and consumer satisfaction with themed restaurants and would help decision-makers select efficient interventions to improve the quality of such restaurants based on user satisfaction.