Food, Beverage, and Service Quality: Does Culture Impact Satisfaction with University Food Services?

ABSTRACT

Cross-cultural and service quality research supports the theory that culture impacts customer satisfaction from a variety of service settings; however, a domain that has yet to be explored is culture's impact on satisfaction with food and beverage service quality in university food services. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare four unique groups of students: Asian, Latin American, Indian, and Canadian/UK to measure if any differences were evident between the groups in satisfaction levels of services and product (food and beverage) offerings at a southeastern university. A total of 141 of the 342 international students completed a survey which consisted of 31 items that resulted in a six-factor solution. MANOVA testing indicated that there was a significant difference between cultural groups ratings of the factors, Wilks' λ = .594, F (18, 249.4) = 2.80, p < .001. Tests of between subjects effects indicated that significant differences existed in three of the six factors: Food Dislikes, F (3, 93) = 8.52, p = .008; Drinks, F (3, 93) = 17.7, p = .003; and Price, F (3, 93) = 9.02, p = .049.

KEYWORDS:

• University food service
• international students
• food and culture
• service quality