Int. J. Services and Standards, Vol. 5, No.

4, 2009

291

Service quality in the USA and mainland Chinas

fast-food restaurants
Hong Qin*
College of Business Administration,
University of Texas-Pan American,
1201 West University Drive,
Edinburg, TX 78539, USA
Email: Hqin@utpa.edu
*Corresponding author

Victor R. Prybutok and Daniel A. Peak

College of Business Administration,
University of North Texas,
Information Technology and Decision Sciences Department,
P.O. Box 305249,
Denton, TX 76203, USA
Email: Victor.Prybutok@unt.edu
Email: Daniel.Peak@unt.edu
Abstract: This study involves a cross-cultural examination of a modified
service performance (SERVPERF) instrument as well as measures of food
quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions.
Specifically, the attribute recoverability was incorporated into the survey
instrument and empirically refined and validated in the setting of the fast-food
industry in both the USA and China. Additionally, several potential antecedents
of customer satisfaction in fast-food restaurants were assessed service
quality, food quality and perceived value. Finally, the direct and positive
relationship between behavioural intentions and customer satisfaction was
examined in the context of our model in both countries.
Keywords: behavioural intentions; customer
recoverability; services; standards; service quality.

satisfaction;

fast

food;

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Qin, H., Prybutok, V.R.
and Peak, D.A. (2009) Service quality in the USA and mainland Chinas
fast-food restaurants, Int. J. Services and Standards, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp.291315.
Biographical notes: Hong Qin is an Assistant Professor in the College of
Business Administration at the University of Texas-Pan American. She has
published in Quality Management Journal and the Decision Sciences Institute
conference proceedings, and has presented her research at the INFORMS
Annual Meeting and the DSI Annual Meeting. Her research interests include
service operations, quality control, supply chain management.
Victor R. Prybutok is a Regents Professor of Decision Sciences in the College
of Business at the University of North Texas. He is an ASQ certified quality
engineer, certified quality auditor, certified quality manager, and served as a

Copyright 2009 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

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H. Qin, V.R. Prybutok and D.A. Peak

Texas Quality Award Examiner in 1993. He has authored over 90 journal
articles, several book chapters and more than 70 conference presentations in
information systems measurement, quality control, risk assessment and applied
statistics.
Daniel A. Peak is an Associate Professor of Information Technology in the
College of Business at the University of North Texas. He has more than
25 years of IT consulting and planning experience working for managers
and executives of Fortune 500 companies, and has won and participated in
numerous production and research grants. He has published in Informing
Science, Information and Management, Journal of Computers and Information
Systems, Information Systems Management, and others.

Introduction

Although the fast-food industry has existed since the ancient Romans, the modern
fast-food industry is only a century old. Ever growing in popularity, worldwide fast-food
consumption has accelerated over the past several decades, having achieved a global total
of 80.3 billion transactions in 2006 with forecasts reaching 86.4 billion by 2011
(Datamonitor, 2007). The US and Chinese economies account for the vast majority of
those fast-food transactions.
The USA, which possesses a 14.6 trillion-dollar economy the largest in the world
also contains the worlds largest fast-food market, having generated 63.1% of the global
fast-food market revenues (Datamonitor, 2007; CIA World Factbook, 2009). China,
which possesses a 7.8 trillion-dollar economy and a 1.3 billion population the largest
population in the world and four times larger than the USA population (CIA World
Factbook, 2009) contains the worlds largest potential fast-food market. This potential
is supported by Chinas prodigious two-decade average of double-digit economic growth.
Its gross domestic product and national industrial output have advanced at 11% and
10.3%, respectively (Datamonitor, 2007). As their standard of living continues to
improve, the Chinese people are demonstrating a complementary affinity for fast food.
With Chinese citizens preparing fewer and fewer home-cooked meals (Cullen
et al., 2008), Fast-Food Restaurant Revenue (FFRR) has increased in recent years having
reached nearly 35 billion dollars in 2006 an increase of 27.2% over 2005 (Asia Market
Information & Development Company, 2007). Still, Chinese fast food represents only
9.8% of the outside meals, compared with 84.5% in the USA (Datamonitor, 2007).
The relatively lower market share of Chinese fast food suggests a significant business
opportunity for fast-food restaurants (FFRs) that operate globally, such as McDonalds
that opened 125 new Chinese restaurants this year and plans 150 more in 2009 (China
Economic Review, 2008), as well as for domestic FFRs, such as Chinese fast-food
teahouses that provide tea, snacks and traditional fast food (Access Asia, 2007).
The concept of service quality plays a central role in understanding customer
satisfaction and behavioural intentions (Parasuraman et al., 1985), demonstrating that
companies that provide superior service quality are able to maintain a more satisfied
customer base and consequently experience higher economic returns (Gilbert et al., 2004;
Malhotra et al., 2005; Gilbert and Veloutsou, 2006). For instance, Hofstedes (1980)
cultural dimensions indicate that the USA is ranked higher in individualism, masculinity
and short-term orientation than China; while China ranks higher on collectivism, power

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293

distance, long-term orientation and uncertainty avoidance. This study helps fill the gaps
in understanding between the China and US FFR markets which can be achieved
by examining the differences in culture and influences of cultural factors to improve
transference of the US fast-food service quality model to China. As a result, we believe
studies that examine how customers from different cultures evaluate service quality can
provide insight into foreign consumer markets, such as the emerging Chinese fast-food
market. As researchers have noted, understanding core competencies and how they
are culturally relevant is vital, because transference of the US fast-food model is not
necessarily appropriate to a global environment (Leong and Kim, 2002).

The purpose of this study

We believe this study adds to service quality research via its contributions to the
understanding of service quality differences between the US and Chinese fast-food markets
for the following reasons. First, US fast-food franchises increasingly seek Chinas emerging
fast-food market; the number of FFRs of all kinds in China is growing rapidly (Witkowski
and Wolfinbarger, 2002). China is a major global player in this market due to its rapid
consumption growth rate and enormous population, particularly since its accession to the
World Trade Organization (Zhao et al., 2007).
Second, because US consumer requirements do not necessarily transfer to those of
Chinese consumers, we and others believe it is important to conduct research comparing
the perceptions of service quality across different cultures (Zhao et al., 2007). This work
adds to that of Qin and Prybutok (2008), who investigated the dimensions of perceived
service quality and its relationship to customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions.
That work did not examine the influences of cultural factors in fast-food settings. It is also
relevant to this research that numerous studies have substantiated the major differences
between Chinese and US consumers (e.g. Friedman et al., 2006; Friedman et al., 2007;
Chan and Wan, 2008).
Third, Chinese consumers possess a profoundly different cultural heritage and different
food flavour preferences from Americans (Jie, 2006). Traditional Chinese fast food,
including street-side wontons, pulled noodles, dumplings, steamed stuffed buns, soybean
milk drinks and tea-eggs dominated the local China market in early 1990s; large western
fast-food companies failed to seriously challenge traditional Chinese fast-food chains
until the mid-1990s. However, over the next ten years, Chinese FFRs experienced a
powerful marketing assault from these western-style FFR chains, such as McDonalds,
KFC and Pizza Hut (Jie, 2006). Moreover, customer satisfaction evaluations are
susceptible to cultural variation (Heskett et al., 1990; Trompenaars, 1994; Mattila, 1999;
Furrer et al., 2000); business sensitivity to cultural differences is vital to business strategy.
Finally, there is a paucity of work examining the differences between Chinese and
US customer perceptions of FFR service quality. Although some studies have addressed
service quality and customer satisfaction in FFRs (Lee and Ulgodo, 1997; Brady et al., 2001;
Gilbert et al., 2004; Qin and Prybutok, 2008), most of the prior research associated with
quality management in China is characterised by descriptive statistics and lacks reliability
and validity assessments. Therefore, contextualised research focusing on theoretical
relationships within specific industries is worthy of investigation (Zhao et al., 2007).

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In this paper, we first develop a FFR success model by examining the primary dimensions
of service quality in FFRs in the USA and China. Specifically, along with the five dimensions
of the SERVPERF instrument, contextualised recoverability is incorporated into our FFR
survey instrument. We empirically test and refine the modified SERVPERF instrument
with recoverability. Finally, we examine and compare the relationships among perceived
service quality, customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions between the US and
Chinese samples.
The research model presents the hypotheses posited in this study. The research model
is followed by the methodology and results for both the US and Chinese samples. The
paper concludes with a discussion and conclusion, limitations and future research.

Research model

Our foundation rests on the proposition of customer loyalty as a result of the quality of
the service received. To provide the necessary background we next discuss the research
model and hypotheses posited in this study. The construct relationships are presented
in Figure 1.
Figure 1

FFR success model

Service
Quality (SQ)

H2, 8

H5, 6

Food
(FQ)

Quality

Perceived
Value
(PV)

H3, 7

Customer
Satisfaction
(CS)

H1

Behavioural
Intentions
(BI)

H4

3.1 Hypothesis 1: satisfaction and behavioural intention

The relationship between customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions has received
considerable attention in the marketing literature (Zeithaml et al., 1996; Meuter et al.,
2000; Brady et al., 2002; Bagodi and Mahanty, 2007; Razak et al., 2007; Tsai et al.,
2007; Torres-Moraga et al., 2008). A number of studies reported a positive relationship
between customer satisfaction and behavioural intention (e.g. Cronin et al., 2000;
Olorunniwo et al., 2006), which is consistent with our first hypothesis as follows:
H1: Customer satisfaction has a direct and positive influence on behavioural intention.

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295

3.2 Hypothesis 2: perceived service quality and customer satisfaction

Researchers generally agree that the service quality and customer satisfaction constructs
are different (Boulding et al., 1993); however, there is still an ongoing debate related
to the direction of their causal relationship (Andaleeb and Conway, 2006). One research
group posits that service quality is the consequence of satisfaction over time (Parasuraman
et al., 1985; Parasuraman et al., 1988), while another conversely posits that service
quality is an antecedent of satisfaction. Although we find no consensus in the literature
on the causal order of these two constructs, the converging opinion is that service quality
evaluation of a product or a service encounter leads to an emotive satisfaction assessment
that in turn drives behavioural intention (Bagozzi, 1992). As a result, we accept the
premise that service quality is a determinant of satisfaction, leading to our second
hypothesis:
H2: Service quality has a direct and positive influence on consumer satisfaction.

3.3 Hypotheses 3 and 4: other determinants of customer satisfaction

In addition to service quality, product quality also influences customer satisfaction
(Parasuraman et al., 1994). Researchers have tested food quality as a determinant of
satisfaction in the fast-food industry (Johns and Howard, 1998; Kivela et al., 1999;
Law et al., 2004); our third hypothesis is:
H3: Food quality has a direct and positive influence on customer satisfaction.
Perceived value is also viewed as one of the antecedents of customer satisfaction. The
direct and positive relationship between perceived value and satisfaction was found
in several prior studies (Kara et al., 1995; Fornell et al., 1996; Lee and Ulgado, 1997;
Gilbert et al., 2004). As a result, we propose that perceived value is an antecedent of
satisfaction but that it is extraneous to service and food quality. Therefore, the next
hypothesis of this study is:
H4: The perceived value has a direct and positive influence on customer satisfaction.

3.4 Hypotheses 58: cultural values

Culture is defined as the attitudes, beliefs, values and customs that create behavioural
norms within a society (Yau, 1994). Cultural differences can account for varying effects
on the acceptability and adoption of services (Javalgi and White, 2002). Consequently,
the influence of culture on the perceptions of service quality and customer satisfaction
was widely investigated in the fast-food industry (e.g. Mattila, 1999; Furrer et al., 2000;
Laroche et al., 2004; Chan and Wan, 2008).
Lee and Ulgado (1997) use the SERVQUAL instrument to examine the differences
between US and Korean fast-food consumers. They find that low food prices and trust
are of paramount importance to US customers, while Korean customers attach more
importance to reliability and empathy. Kara et al. (1995) differentiate fast-food customer
perceptions and preferences in the USA and Canada based on the following 11 parameters:
price, friendliness of personnel, menu variety, service speed, calorie content, cleanliness,
convenience, business hours, service delivery, novelties for children and seating facilities.
Gilbert et al. (2004) provide a study of service satisfaction of FFRs, comparing the

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differences in perceived service quality among the customers in four countries: Jamaica,
Scotland, USA and Wales. However, none of these studies examine the relationship
between customer satisfaction and behavioural intention or investigate the service quality
in FFRs in China.
Brady et al. (2001) conducted a cross-cultural assessment of the effects of service
quality, service value and satisfaction on behavioural intentions for US and Ecuadorian
consumers. Keillor et al. (2004) examined the influences of technical and functional
elements on customers behavioural intentions across eight countries in both the fast food
and grocery industry. With US fast-food consumers, both food quality and service quality
are positively related to behavioural intention; with Chinese consumers, only food quality
is significant. However, Keillor et al.s (2004) study used neither the five dimensions of
SERVQUAL nor the customer satisfaction construct.
To help fill this void, our next two hypotheses examine the differences between
Chinese and US consumers, using the most widely validated cultural factor: individualism
versus collectivism (Hofstede, 1980; Hofstede, 1991). According to this cultural factor,
China has a highly collectivist culture, which indicates strong and cohesive ties between
group members; whereas the USA has an individualist culture characterised by loose ties
(Laroche et al., 2004). In collectivist cultures, people are striving to obtain a favourable
public self-image or face (Goffman, 1967); the relationship between service providers
and consumers is more intimate and more loyal. In collectivist cultures, trust and
commitment and a favourable network of personal interactions are considered prerequisites
of a successful business relationship, which is particularly true in China (Park and
Luo, 2001; Laroche et al., 2004). Therefore, we propose reliability, empathy and trust as
the most important dimensions of service quality for Chinese consumers.
H5: Reliability, empathy, and trust are more important than the other dimensions to
Chinese customers.
In contrast to collectivist cultures, consumers within individualist cultures focus on
personal welfare, personal freedom and self-responsibility instead of defining themselves
in relation to others; hence, individualistic consumers are more sensitive to service delays
and failures (Furrer et al., 2000). As a rule, consumers that live in developed countries
characterise time as a limited and scarce resource, and they place a relatively higher
value on time (Lane and DiStefano, 1988) than consumers in developing countries.
Meanwhile, individualist consumers exhibit higher expectations of service quality and
a narrower zone of tolerance for service failures (Malhotra et al., 2005). Consequently,
recoverability and responsiveness are hypothesised as two of the most important
dimensions for US customers.
H6: Recoverability and responsiveness are more important than the other dimensions to
US customers.
An individuals culture influences his/her perceived performance through personal
beliefs, attitudes and values (Ball and McCulloch, 1999). Material and social culture
issues are related to food (Renaud, 1931) because food fulfils not only a nutritional
function, but also serves social and symbolic functions (Soemardjan, 1985); customers
from different cultures can attach different importance to food quality. For instance,
nearly every Chinese province has its own culinary tradition, and every small town has

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297

its own specialty dishes (Dunlop, 2008). Food diversity leaves Chinese customers more
options when they make decisions about which FFR to frequent. For US customers,
available fast foods are more standardised and limited.
Customers in developing countries such as China exhibit lower expectations of
service quality compared with those in developed countries such as USA and Canada
(Malhotra and Ulgado, 1994). According to Malhotra et al. (2005), customers in developing
countries place more weight on the core benefits of FFRs (i.e. the food quality), while
customers in developed countries exhibit greater satisfaction from extended FFR benefits
(i.e. lifestyle and sensory experiences). Recognising this dichotomous cultural relationship
between food quality and service quality, we posit our final hypotheses:
H7: Food quality is more important than service quality for Chinese customers.
H8: Service quality is more important than food quality for US customers.

Methodology

4.1 The measurement of service quality with SERVPERF

A seminal work in service quality is Parasuraman et al.s (1988) SERVQUAL instrument;
it measures perceived service quality by the degree of discrepancy between customers
expectations for the service and their perceptions of the providers actual performances
(Parasuraman et al., 1985; Parasuraman et al., 1988). The SERVQUAL model identifies
five dimensions as the main attributes of service quality, including tangibles, reliability,
responsiveness, assurance and empathy.
The SERVQUAL instrument has received criticism both theoretically and
practically in spite of its extensive application in a variety of industries (Bojanic and
Rosen, 1994; Lee and Ulgado, 1997; Furrer et al., 2000; Heung et al., 2000; Lassar et al.,
2000). To cope with the issues regarding the use of gap scores and the ambiguous
definition of the expectations (Van Dyke et al., 1999), Cronin and Taylor (1992) justify
the SERVPERF instrument by measuring the perceived service quality; SERVPERF
uses only the performance portion of the SERVQUAL scale. The SERVPERF scale is
employed and suggested in various service settings (Van Dyke et al., 1997; Gilbert et al.,
2004; Keillor et al., 2004; Law et al., 2004; Landrum et al., 2009), including the fast-food
industry (Jain and Gupta, 2004; Qin and Prybutok, 2008). For the purposes of this study,
we adopted the SERVPERF instrument.
Another important contribution of this study is recoverability. Recoverability the
service organisations ability to take mitigating actions when service goes wrong is
necessary for that organisation to retain and attract new customers. We examined
recoverability in the fast-food environment as a SERVPERF dimension of perceived
service quality in this study. We slightly modified the four items (questions) that measure
recoverability from a mass service environment application to reflect the fast-food
service environment. Our reasons are as follows.
Researchers recommend modifying the SERVPERF instrument to capture the service
context (e.g. fast food) of a particular study (Carman, 1990; Andaleeb and Conway, 2006).
Qin and Prybutok (2008) examined the modified SERVPERF in the fast-food environment
in USA; however, in their work recoverability was not included as one of the dimensions
of perceived service quality in that study. Qin and Prybutoks work provided a

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foundation for this study but the current research made new contributions to this area of
service quality measurement because this research examined a modified model that
included new dimensions and examined the transfer of the model to Chinas growing
market.
Recognising this need, we have augmented SERVPERF to measure fast-food service
recoverability. For instance, research indicates that customers may be willing to tolerate
service mistakes if they believe that the restaurant is concerned about the resolution of
the failure (Heskett et al., 1994; Bitner et al., 1990; McColl et al., 2005). These findings
suggest that service failures alone do not necessarily lead to customer dissatisfaction
because such failures are often minor, as opposed to the major failures that get reported
in financial service industries (Koong et al., 2008). Rather, it is the businesss failure to
recover effectively that can lead to lost patronage and unfavourable publicity (Heskett
et al., 1994; McColl et al., 2005). Furthermore, a business successful recovery from
a service failure can have positive effects providing future repeat patronage and
favourable word-of-mouth endorsements (Leong and Kim, 2002).

4.2 The instrument constructs

The list of constructs, items and sources used in this study and their sources are shown in
Table 1. We applied minor contextual customisation to better fit the FFRs to the fast-food
context, especially for those items that measure empathy.
Table 1

Sources of questionnaire items

Constructs

Items (Questions)

Variables

Sources

Tangibles

Clean dining area

Tangibles1

Cronin and Taylor, 1992;

Johns and Howard, 1998;
Kara et al., 1995

Well-dressed employees

Tangibles2

Using disposable gloves

and hair net

Tangibles3

Reliability

Assurance

Seating availability

Tangibles4

Parking availability

Tangibles5

Providing service as promised

Reliability1

Sympathetic and reassuring

Reliability2

Dependable

Reliability3

On-schedule service

Reliability4

Accurate charge

Reliability5

Trust employees

Trust1

Feel safe for financial

transactions

Trust2

Friendly employees

Trust3

Knowledgeable employees

Trust4

Cronin and Taylor, 1992

Cronin and Taylor, 1992

Service quality in the fast-food restaurants

Table 1

299

Sources of questionnaire items (continued)

Constructs

Items (Questions)

Responsiveness Telling exact service time

Empathy

Sources

Responsive1

Cronin and Taylor, 1992

Employees available
to requests

Responsive2

Prompt service

Responsive3

Employees willing to help

Responsive4

Availability of
sauces, etc.

Empathy1

Convenient operating hours

Empathy2

Convenient locations

Empathy3

Completely packaged food

Empathy4

Recoverability Employees quickly

apologize for mistakes

Food Quality

Variables

Cronin and Taylor, 1992;

Johns and Howard, 1998

Recoverability1 Olorunniwo et al., 2006

Cares about customers

complaints

Recoverability2

Skills and ability to deal

with complains

Recoverability3

Employees empowered to
provide compensation

Recoverability4

Fresh

Food1

Presentation

Food2

Well-cooked

Food3

Johns and Howard, 1998;

Kivela et al., 1999

A variety of food and beverage Food4

Perceived
Value

Competitive price for food

PerceivedValue1 Kim and Kim, 2004;

Kara et al., 1995

Competitive price for beverage PerceivedValue2

Customer
Satisfaction

Behavioural
Intentions

Value worthy of price

PerceivedValue3

Satisfied with dining

CSatisfaction1

Wise choice

CSatisfaction2

Right thing

CSatisfaction3

Enjoyable experience

CSatisfaction4

Recommendation

BIntentions1

Intention to dine here again

BIntentions2

Saying good things about

the FFR

BIntentions3

Olorunniwo et al., 2006

Boulding et al., 1993;

Keillor et al., 2004

Lee and Ulgado (1997) compare FFRs service quality in the USA and Korea, and find
that empathy in the SERVPERF instrument is not a significant dimension of service
quality for US customers; US customers are more concerned with the convenience of
locations. Also, Andaleeb and Conway (2006) suggest that several of the original empathy
items such as individual attention, personal intention and having best interest at heart

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are not appropriate for the restaurant industry. Therefore, we used the following four
items to measure empathy: convenient location, convenient service time, availability of
utensils and correctly packaged orders (see Table 1). Another reason for modifying the
empathy items is that services provided by most FFRs, regardless of whether dining-in or
driving-through, involves a quick encounter between employees and customers. The
shortness of FFR encounters makes it difficult for employees to convey that they are
offering personalised attention or to demonstrate that they are knowledgeable about a
specific customers needs and interests. Considering these issues, research indicates that
the original empathy items are more appropriate and valuable in other industries where
relationship marketing is critical, such as hospitals and banks, rather than FFRs where
transaction marketing is a more appropriate paradigm (Andaleeb and Conway, 2006).
All items were rated by respondents on a seven-point Likert scale. Each item was
scaled from number 1 with the verbal statement Strongly Disagree to 7 with the verbal
statement Strongly Agree. The questionnaire was first reviewed by several knowledgeable
faculty in a large southwestern university and experts in the field of service quality
management. Subsequently a pilot test was conducted with 30 doctoral students who are
familiar with the research topic and research methodology of this study. Based on their
feedback, some modifications were made to better fit the FFR context. And then this FFR
success instrument, consisting of 40 conceptual items, was administered to college
students that were mostly juniors in a large southwestern university in the USA.
The US sample was used for model development and subsequent testing of the
US model was conducted using a similar sample that was obtained in China. The model
was first developed in the USA and then tested in China rather than developed and tested
as a single multi-country model to enable cross cultural testing of a western FFR model.

4.3 Justification for using college student as subjects

For our Chinese and US subject groups, we used college students as subjects from a large
mainland Chinese university and large southwestern US university, respectively, for the
following reasons. First, they are part of our research environment; college students are
frequently used by researchers in all areas of academic inquiry. Second, college students
exhibit homogeneous demographics, which can provide a stronger test of theory for
cross-countries studies (Calder et al., 1981). Third, college students dine at FFRs frequently,
and possess an intuitive understanding of service quality in FFRs. Fourth, while college
students might not be representative of all of the customers from their respective cultures,
they represent the educated group from the upper and middle classes that frequents FFRs.
Finally, college students are a frequently targeted market segment in foreign countries,
because they are a group receptive to this new industry (Laroche et al., 2004; Ueltschy
et al., 2004).

Results

We distributed the survey and received a total of 453 usable responses from the Chinese
and US universities. All respondents had dined at a FFR in the previous month, and about
40% of the respondents had dined in a FFR more than five times within the month

Service quality in the fast-food restaurants

301

in which they were surveyed. The demographics of the US and Chinese samples were
comparable in this study. Detailed demographic information is provided in Table 2,
including gender, age and dining frequency.
Table 2

Demographics of sample

Characteristic
Gender
Age

Dining Frequency

Total Respondents

USA

China

Male

45.7%

46.2%

Female

54.3%

53.8%

1820

26.6%

18.7%

2125

55.7%

72.5%

2630

10.7%

4.7%

3135

3.5%

2.9%

Over 35

3.5%

1.2%

05 times

41.0%

92.3%

610 times

31.6%

5.2%

1115 times

13.8%

1.7%

More than 15 times

13.6%

0.8%

282

171

5.1 Assessment of reliability and validity in the US sample

We applied Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to assess the discriminant and convergent
validity of the instrument. Items with a loading less than 0.50 on any latent variable
were deleted. The results of principal axis factor analysis after rotation are presented in
Table 3. The 13 remaining items loaded into four factors: recoverability, empathy, trust
and reliability for the US sample. The intent of this portion of the analysis was to first use
the US sample for model development via EFA. Once the items were cleaned via this
EFA we fit the model in the USA and then subsequently used the independent sample in
China for cross-cultural validation of the model.
We next applied Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to provide a more rigorous
procedure for testing unidimensionality (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988). The LISREL
8.54 structural equation analysis package (Jreskog and Srbom, 2003) was used to
conduct the CFA analysis. The primary outputs indicate that most of the standardised
loadings are higher than 0.80, and all of the t-values are greater than 1.96, which supports
the convergent validity of the item measures (Olorunniwo et al., 2006).
We assessed reliability of the instrument using Cronbachs alpha. All the Cronbach
values, shown in Table 3, are greater than the benchmark value of 0.80, ranging from
.852 to .929 (Nunnaly and Bernstein, 1994). These results support the contention that all
of the items measure their respective latent constructs reliably. The Goodness-of-Fit
indices including the chi-square/degree of freedom (2/df), the standardised Root Mean
Square Residual (SRMR), the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA), the
Normed Fit Index (NFI), the Non-Normed Fit Index (NNFI), and the comparative fit
index, support the acceptability of this measurement model.

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Table 3

US sample: factor loadings for service quality in FFR success model

Recoverability1
Recoverability2
Recoverability3
Recoverability4
Empathy3
Empathy4
Empathy5
Trust1

F1 Recoverability
.727
.840
.812
.710
.304

F3 Trust

F4 Reliability

.572
.834
.836

.468

Trust2

.716
.357

Trust3
Reliability1

.468
.344

Reliability3
Reliability4
Mean
Standard Dev.
Cronbachs Alpha

.418

Notes:

F2 Empathy
.302

4.690
1.451
.929

.708
.608

.337
.669

.302
.310
4.731
1.400
.888

.643
.608
5.138
1.276
.892

.333
.448
5.649
1.323
.852

Extraction method: Principal Axis Factoring.

Rotation method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalisation.

We assessed discriminant validity by the 95% confidence interval of the inter-factor

correlation between two latent variables. In spite of the high correlation coefficients
between some variables, their confidence intervals dont include the absolute value of 1.0
(Anderson and Gerbing, 1988). In addition, composite reliability scores were used to
assess the discriminant validity. Table 4 shows that all the composite reliability scores of
the diagonal elements are higher than the off-diagonal correlation coefficients, which
supports discriminant validity.
Table 4

US sample: correlation matrix for service quality dimensions

Recoverability
Empathy
Trust
Reliability
Notes:

Recoverability
.929a
.526b
.727b
.692b

Empathy

Trust

Reliability

.852a
.519b
.652b

.888a
.714b

.892a

The diagonal elements are Cronbachs alpha values.

Indicates significance at p < 0.01 level.

We employed a second-order CFA to examine the relationship between service quality

and its main dimensions. Table 5 shows that all the dimensions were significant and
positively related to the latent variable service quality. The previously selected fit indices
support the contention that this second-order measurement model of service quality is
acceptable. Given their good measurement properties (reliability and validity), the
average score for each latent construct that comprised service quality was employed in
the following hypothesis testing procedures, a methodology that was used by Paswan
et al. (1998).

Service quality in the fast-food restaurants

Table 5

US sample: confirmatory factor analysis of second order measurement model

/df
181.63/61
Path
Recoverability Construct
Recoverability1
Recoverability2
Recoverability3
Recoverability4
Empathy Construct
Empathy3
Empathy4
Empathy5
Trust Construct
Trust1
Trust2
Trust3
Reliability Construct
Reliability1
Reliability3
Reliability4
Overall Service Quality
Recoverability
Empathy
Trust
Reliability
Notes:

303

p-value
0

RMSEA
SRMR
NFI
.090
.049
.97
Standardised Loading

NNFI
CFI
.98
.98
t-valuea

.88
.92
.92
.80

22.53
_b
25.21
18.61

.80
.75
.73

_b
11.91
11.70

.85
.83
.88

_b
16.75
18.11

.86
.87
.84

18.51
_b
18.02

.85
.77
.89
.91

15.18
11.16
14.50
15.54

t-values are from unstandardised solution.

t values are unavailable because the loadings are fixed for scaling purposes.

5.2 Structural model fit in the US sample

We used Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to examine the hypothesised relationships
because it is generally considered more suitable for mathematical modelling that involves
complicated variable relationships. SEM allows analysis of both the measurement model
and the structural model simultaneously. It can not only address measurement errors
but also allows the examination of the factor analysis and hypothesis testing together
(Gefen et al., 2000). Figure 2 presents all of the proposed relationships in this study for
the US sample.
The Goodness-of-Fit indices in Figure 2 indicate a moderately good fit of the full
structural model to the data. Hypothesis 1, predicting the direct and positive relationship
between customer satisfaction and behavioural intention, is statistically supported.
Hypothesis 2 is supported and this indicates that the direct and positive relationship
between perceived service quality and customer satisfaction is significant. The finding
supports Hypothesis 3, the direct and positive effect of food quality on customer
satisfaction. Hypothesis 4, investigating a direct and positive relationship between

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H. Qin, V.R. Prybutok and D.A. Peak

perceived value and customer satisfaction, is not supported for the US sample. The nearly
zero negative path coefficient and its insignificance in the US model is potentially due to
a high degree of multicollinearity among latent variables (Carr, 2002).
Figure 2

Structural modelling for the US sample

Recoverability

.78

Empathy

.76

Trust

.87

Reliability

.84

Food1

.84

Food2

.83

Food3

.86

Food4

.68

PV1

.93

SQ

.51*
CS1
.93
.42*

PV2

.95

FQ

CS

.93
.91

.86

.04
PV

.86
.92
BI

.80

Goodness-of-fit Indices:
2/df
p-value RMSEA
581.45/128
0
.099

CS3
CS4

.79*

SRMR
.097

NFI
.96

NNFI
.97

BI1
BI2

.96
PV3

CS2

BI3

CFI
.97

Legend:
SQ = Service Quality
FQ = Food Quality
PV = Perceived Value
CS = Customer Satisfaction
BI = Behavioural Intention

Hypothesis 6 is not supported. Instead of recoverability and responsiveness as hypothesised,

recoverability and trust are the two most important dimensions of service quality in the
USA, followed by reliability and then empathy. The results provide some support for
Hypothesis 8, suggesting that service quality is the most important factor of customer
satisfaction in the USA, because service qualitys path coefficients had the highest
magnitude (0.51); however, the difference between that path and the others is not
statistically significant. These differences were tested using Paternoster et al.s (1998) Z
test for the comparison of the coefficients. In the following section, the results are
discussed in terms of their theoretical and managerial implications.

5.3 Assessment of reliability and validity in the China sample

We had the questionnaire translated for use in China, using procedures involving backtranslation and decentring to address the translation problems (Brislin, 1970; Brislin
et al., 1973). We employed the same method as described for the US study to assess the

Service quality in the fast-food restaurants

305

reliability and validity of the China study. Table 7 shows that 12 items remained
and loaded into four factors: reliability, recoverability, tangibles and responsiveness
for the China sample. The Cronbachs alpha values in Table 7 support the reliability of
the measure (Nunnaly and Bernstein, 1994). The primary output of the first-order
measurement model shows that most of the standardised loadings are higher than 0.80,
and all the t-values are higher than 1.96, which supports the convergent validity of the
item measures (Olorunniwo et al., 2006). The Goodness-of-Fit indices also indicate that
this measurement model is acceptable.
Table 6

US sample: hypothesis results

Hypothesis

LISREL Path Coefficient

p-value

H1

Supported

Result

.79

.00

H2

Supported

.51

.00

H3

Supported

.42

.00

H4

Not Supported

.04

.24

H5

N/A

H6

Not Supported

H7

N/A

H8

Not Supported

_a
.51 and .42

.26

Notes: Hypothesis 6 states that recoverability and responsiveness are more important
than reliability, empathy and trust to US customers. This pre EFA hypothesis is
not testable because responsiveness was removed from the model based on the
EFA results.
Table 7

China sample: factor loadings for service quality in FFR success model
F1 Recoverability

Recoverability1

.697

Recoverability2

.882

Recoverability3

.681

Tangibles1

F2 Tangibles

F3 Reliability

.300
.781

Tangibles2

.849

Reliability5

.509

Reliability2

.422
.520

Reliability3

.823

Reliability4

.317

Responsiveness1

.574
.306

Responsiveness2
Responsiveness3

F4 Responsiveness

.615
.778

.328

.606

Mean

5.004

5.700

5.012

5.049

Standard Dev

1.242

1.096

1.183

1.210

.885

.817

.755

.769

Cronbachs Alpha
Notes:

Extraction Method: Principal Axis Factoring.

Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalisation.

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H. Qin, V.R. Prybutok and D.A. Peak

Discriminant validity is supported by the higher values in the diagonal elements in

Table 8. The 95% confidence interval of the inter-factor correlation between two latent
variables doesnt include the absolute value of 1.0 for the China sample, which supports
the discriminant validity of these constructs, as well (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988).
Table 8

China sample: correlation matrix for service quality dimensions

Reliability
Recoverability
Tangibles
Responsiveness
Notes:

Reliability
.755a
.532b
.528b
.459b

Recoverability

Tangibles

Responsiveness

.885a
.489b
.541b

.817a
.413b

.769a

The diagonal elements are Cronbachs Alpha values.

Indicates significance at p < 0.01 level.

The second-order CFA shown in Table 9 for the China sample indicates that all of the
dimensions have a significant and positive relationship with service quality. The fit
indices presented in Table 9 indicate the acceptability of this measurement model.
Table 9

China sample: confirmatory factor analysis of second order measurement model

2/df
110.56/50
Path
Reliability Construct
Reliability2
Reliability3
Reliability4
Recoverability Construct
Recoverability1
Recoverability2
Recoverabiliy3
Tangibles Construct
Tangibles1
Tangibles2
Reliability5
Responsiveness Construct
Responsiveness1
Responsiveness2
Responsiveness3
Overall Service Quality
Reliability
Recoverability
Tangibles
Responsiveness
Notes:

p-value

RMSEA

SRMR

NFI

NNFI

CFI

.084

.061

.94

.96

.97

Standardised Loading

t-valuea

.57
.65
.79

6.79
7.74
_b

.84
.89
.83

13.55
_b
13.32

.57
.69
.81

10.11
_b
7.95

.64
.89
.68

7.98
_b
8.44

0.92
0.73
0.84
0.69

9.79
8.85
7.52
8.14

t values are from unstandardised solution.

t values are unavailable because the loadings are fixed for scaling purposes.

Service quality in the fast-food restaurants

307

5.4 Structural model fit in the China sample

SEM was also used for the China sample. Figure 3 shows the hypothesised relationships
related to the China sample.
Figure 3

Structural modelling for the China sample

Reliability

.66

Recoverability

.81
SQ

Tangibles

.65

Responsiveness

.64

Food1

.75

Food2

.76

Food3

.76

Food4

.69

PV1

.94

.31*
CS1
.71
CS2

.36*

.84

FQ

CS
.79
.76

PV2
PV3

.82

CS4

1.07*
.21*

.91

PV

BI

.76
.79

.72

Goodness-of-fit Indices:
2/df
p-value RMSEA
225.18/128
0
.051

CS3

SRMR
0.051

NFI
0.96

NNFI
0.98

BI1
BI2
BI3

CFI
0.98

Legend:
SQ = Service Quality
FQ = Food Quality
PV = Perceived Value
CS = Customer Satisfaction
BI = Behavioural Intention

The Goodness-of-Fit indices show a moderately good fit of the full structural model to
the data. Hypothesis 1, predicting the direct and positive relationship between customer
satisfaction and behavioural intentions, is statistically supported for the China sample.
Hypotheses 2, 3 and 4 are all supported, which indicates that service quality, food quality
and perceived value are all positively related to customer satisfaction.
Hypothesis 5, depicting the greater importance of reliability, empathy and trust for
Chinese consumers, is not supported. The items associated with empathy and trust
were all removed based on exploratory factor analysis. However, this does not imply that
those two dimensions are not important for the Chinese consumer. Rather, it suggests
that SERVQUAL instrument requires greater modification when used in non-western
cultures; it was developed in a western environment (Zhao et al., 2002). For example,

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H. Qin, V.R. Prybutok and D.A. Peak

some items that measure trust, such as trust employees, feel safe in their transactions,
are not appropriate in Chinas market. Cash is the most common form of payment in
China, and very few consumers pay with a credit card. Therefore, the risk related to
credit card payment during the transaction is not an important concern in Chinas market.
The results provide some support for the contention that food quality is perceived as
the most important antecedent of customer satisfaction in Chinas market, as tested in
Hypothesis 7, because it has the highest path coefficient at 0.34; however, the difference
between that path and the others is not statistically significant. These differences were
tested using Paternoster et al.s (1998) Z test for the comparison of the coefficients.
Table 10

China sample: hypothesis results

LISREL Path Coefficient

p-value

H1

Hypothesis

Supported

1.07

.00

H2

Supported

.31

.00

H3

Supported

.36

.00

H4

Supported

.21

.00

H5

Not Supported

H6

N/A

H7

Not Supported

H8

N/A

Notes:

Result

a
_

.36 and .31

.38

a
Hypothesis 5 states that reliability, empathy and trust are more important than
responsiveness and recoverability to Chinese customers. This hypothesis is not
testable because empathy and trust were removed from the model based on
EFA results.

Discussion and conclusions

This comparative study addresses a gap in the current service research by extending
a service quality model developed for US service quality into a multi-national FFR
environment, measuring the perceptions of service quality in FFRs with samples obtained
from the USA and China. To accomplish this objective, we performed the following
tasks.
First, we modified the SERVPERF instrument for the fast-food environment and
tested it internationally. Our results show that the modified SERVPERF instrument can
provide useful information about service quality management to the fast-food industry in
both the USA and China. The results also suggest that some factors important to Chinese
consumers are not captured in this instrument, and some existing items measuring the
primary dimensions of perceived service quality require modification. So, it is critical to
refine the current measurement instrument for use in China to better address what we
learned by comparison of the US and China markets (Zhao et al., 2007).
Second, we tested the recoverability in both samples and found that the significance
supports our modification of the SERVPERF model used by Qin and Prybutok (2008)
to add recoverability as one of the underlying dimensions of service quality for FFRs.
Theoretically speaking, this result also supports modifying the SERVPERF model for
a particular industry (Carman, 1990; Olorunniwo et al., 2006). Practically speaking, our

Service quality in the fast-food restaurants

309

findings suggest that the ability to deal with customer complaints effectively is directly
related to customers perceptions of the service quality, which then impact their satisfaction
and purchasing intentions.
Third, we determined the relative importance of the main dimensions of service
quality for both countries; we found several remarkable differences between them with
the second-order confirmatory factor analysis. For instance, empathy contributed more to
customer perceptions of the overall service quality of US customers, whereas tangibles
had more explanatory power in with Chinese customers. We identified trust as a main
dimension of service quality in the USA, but not in China. However, we still believe
that trust is important to the Chinese consumer; the results indicate that the items that
measure trust need to be modified for use in a global environment. We found that
recoverability was the most significant factor in both samples and this finding indicates
that recoverability should be incorporated into existing FFR instruments. Practically,
FFRs can collect customer feedback about the service they received in real time;
furthermore, they can identify and respond to customers with service complaints in a
timely manner. This strategy enables FFRs to identify the issues that they are confronting
and take corrective actions. Responsiveness was found significant for Chinese customers.
This might result from the fact that their pace is increasing and they are viewing time as
more valuable than ever. Meanwhile, the Chinese are gradually becoming aware of their
rights as consumers, in part due to a western influence (Imrie, 2005).
Fourth, we examined and found that food characteristics are still influential factors
for both countries when customers make decisions about the selection of FFRs. Consistent
with this finding, providing a wide variety of fresh, tasty food and beverages remains
an important criterion for satisfying customers. This finding makes it imperative for FFR
managers to develop better strategies to differentiate their services. For example, FFRs
might find that segmenting the market by offering specialty market options such as low
fat, low calorie, or low carbohydrate items increases their market appeal. Additionally,
FFRs could prominently display calorie counts and other nutritional information for
menu items on the menus and/or on their website, to better address needs of health
conscious customers. Meanwhile, for those American-style FFRs operating in China, the
results suggest that they may need to modify their menus.
Last, we examined perceived value, finding it significant in China but not in the
USA. We believe that this characteristic is relatively homogenous among the restaurants
in the US market, and as a result perceived value does not exhibit significant variation
relative to the other factors. Furthermore, it is not a critical issue in evaluating customer
perceptions of FFRs because an individual selecting a FFR is doing so in comparison to
other FFRs but not to a fine dining establishment. In China, there is not only western fast
food but also indigenous fast food, and the latter has the advantage of lower price. The
average cost of a meal in Chinese FFRs is around $1.50; however, the cost in western
fast-food chains is higher than $3.00. Confronted with the relatively big differences in
food prices between these different fast-food chains, consumers place a higher value on
price when making dining decisions.
The study empirically tested the relationships among the perceived service quality,
satisfaction and behavioural intentions; both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses
were applied to calibrate the proposed service quality instrument using the survey data.
The significant impact of active recovery strategies on FFRs revenues and profits
indicate that FFRs must train employees in service recovery standards and guidelines.

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H. Qin, V.R. Prybutok and D.A. Peak

Meanwhile, employees should be empowered to compensate customers for service failures.

For example, employees might be empowered to provide a price discount or coupons for
a future visit to compensate customers in the event of a service failure.
Additionally, fast-food service managers should be responsible for recovery of service
failures. Besides coordinating among different sections such as kitchen and dining room,
service managers need to deal with dissatisfied customers and ensure that service failures
are recovered to restore and reinforce customer loyalty. From the perspective of recruiting
employees, applicants attitudes towards customer complaints should be considered.
More opportunities should be given to those applicants who are willing to help customers
and to resolve complaints.
The significance of food quality indicates that it is still important to serve meals
properly and responsively. Computer ordering systems in FFRs such as the new automated
beverage dispensers shorten food preparation time and enhance efficiency. FFRs can also
enhance their customer tracking systems to better understand customer satisfaction and
intention. Finally, it is important for FFRs to find recipes that work in their environment
but allow providing fresh, tasty and healthy foods and beverages.

Limitations

The main limitation of this research was the use of college student subjects, which has
a partial advantage because their relatively homogeneity in the two countries. To infer
broader generalisability, an on-site survey or a more varied set of respondents is
recommended. In spite of the homogeneity within our samples, college students are
representative of an important segment of FFR target consumers and they are qualified to
evaluate the performance of FFRs.
In addition, this study is limited to the fast-food industry, and the findings should be
used cautiously in attempting to make generalisations to other industries, including other
restaurant markets.

Future research

We believe an area of future research should examine how the dimensions of service
quality in FFRs potentially differ as a function of culture. With the increasing trend towards
globalisation, many FFRs have extended their business reach to different cultures. The
dimensions identified in this study might need to be expanded because of the unique
characteristics associated with local management. As a result, a direct comparison of the
service quality dimensions across different countries is of great value.
The comparison of the service quality of western and local fast-food chains in China
is another worthwhile research effort. Customers perceptions of service quality are
affected by social, economic and cultural factors (Lee and Ulgado, 1997). Because of the
remarkable differences between local and western fast-food chains, customers might
have distinct expectations and perceptions related to their performance (Zhao et al.,
2007). For example, McDonalds in China is interpreted as a social space for customers
to experience US culture; and therefore a greater emphasis is placed on respect for a
persons privacy and rights and on other intangible benefits. By contrast, Grand Mother
Dumpling Restaurants, a renowned Chinese-style fast-food chain, is characterised by

Service quality in the fast-food restaurants

311

local flavours and lower prices; customers tend to have higher expectations about food
quality and low prices. Hence, for different market segments, customers put varying
values on various attributes of service quality and customer satisfaction. The awareness
of this difference can enable FFRs to thoroughly understand their customers and
continuously improve their service performance.

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