Social Media’s Influence of the Restaurant Industry

Reginald Terry

Introduction• The purpose of the study is to investigate

social media’s role on the restaurant industry and how it influences customer satisfaction.

• To show the relationship between social media and customer satisfaction.

LiteraturesThe perceived influence of user reviews in the hospitality industry (Ong, 2012).This article shows the influence of user reviews can help with consumer decisions in their choice of restaurants. They conducted studies on consumers who read and created customer reviews on specific sites such as Yelp.com and noticed that people looked at specific things about the restaurant and made their decisions based on what they read of these reviews. They also found out that consumers do rely heavily on positive reviews when reading them. What they did see is that many of the consumers use the online reviews to narrow down their choices but not make a selection

H1: Customers favorable reviews positively

influence restaurant choice decision  

LiteraturesA Study on the Influence of Word of Mouth Communication in the Facebook Audience of Restaurants (Nunes & Lucian, 2014 ).This article shows how using word of mouth on Facebook can influence the decision making process of people looking for a good restaurant. Their conclusion shows that word of mouth communication is a very effective tool on Facebook in suggesting and recommending restaurants.

H2: Word of mouth communication from family/friends positively influences restaurant choice search.

Literatures Why people use Yelp.com: An exploration of uses and gratifications (Hicks, Comp, Horovitz, Hovarter, Miki, & Bevin, 2012).This article is about how the use of user generated sites like Yelp.com can influence customer satisfaction. The researchers looked at customer attitudes and behaviors and found that people use Yelp.com for information-seeking purposes, entertainment and just to pass time. They found that there was a greater usage for restaurant seekers than any other.

H3: Word of mouth communication positively

influence restaurant choice.

ModelFavorable Review

WOM from 3rd party

Restaurant Choice

WOM from family & friends

Method• Sample- 20 participants consisting of

friends, family, and students and staff of North Carolina Central University.

• Survey questionnaire with 12 research questions and 4 demographic questions.

• The sample consisted of 12 females and 8 males with age ranges from 18-36 years olds.

Result (1) Customers favorable reviews positively influence restaurant

choice decisionN Mean S.D Min. Max.

TripAdvisor.com 20 2.7 1.26074 1.00 5.00

Yelp.com 20 2.65 1.26803 1.00 5.00

Q5 20 3.8 1.28145 1.00 5.00

Total 20 3.05 1.27007 1.00 5.00

Result (2) Word of mouth communication from family/friends positively

influences restaurant search. N Mean S.D Min. Max.

Q8 20 1.5 .51299 1.00 2.00

Q9 20 3.2 1.20852 1.00 5.00

Q10 20 3.3 1.08094 2.00 5.00

Q11 20 3.1 1.29371 1.00 2.00

Total 20 2.78 1.02404 1.20 3.50

Result (3)Word of mouth communication positively influence restaurant

revisitN Mean S.D Min. Max.

Q12 20 1.5 .50262 1.00 2.00

Q7 20 1.5 .51299 1.00 2.00

Q1 20 2.4 1.14248 1.00 5.00

Writing a review 20 3.6 1.14248 1.00 5.00

Total 20 3.0 1.10019 1.00 3.50

Conclusion and Implications• All hypotheses were supported• Favorable reviews positively influence

choice decisions• Word of mouth positively influences

restaurant search• Word of mouth positively influences

restaurant revisit • Suggest more sample to use random

sampling • Utilize different social media sites (i.e.

Instagram, Pinterest) • Track consumer participation to increase the

number of users.

Point Possible

Point Earned

Cover Page 0.5 0.5Introduction 1 1Literature (H1) 3 3 Good match with literatures

and hypotheses.Literature (H2)Literature (H3)Methodology 1 1 Missing data collection

procedureResult (H1) 3 2.5 Must be mentioned values of

question same as codebook not Just list Q1, Q2, etc.

Result (H2)Result (H3)ConclusionImplication

1.5 1.5 Need to mention limitation or suggestions of the future research.

TOTAL 10 9.5 + bonus point –model (.5)10/10