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Huiling Huang-Dissertation - Final.pdf (1.49 MB)

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Solo Dining Is Rising: How Service Robots, Consumption Rituals, and Nostalgic Ads Affect Solo Diners’ Responses

Huang, Huiling
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1646757664148939

Abstract Details

2022, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Consumer Sciences.
Solo dining is on the rise, yet the existing hospitality and tourism literature offers little guidance regarding how to market solo diners. By conducting three studies, the current dissertation focuses on three marketing strategies—service robots, consumption rituals, and nostalgic ads—and examines how they affect solo (vs. group) diners’ decision-making. Study 1 focuses on the online booking context and examines how service robot type (i.e., non-humanoid vs. humanoid) influences solo (vs. group) diners’ responses, including attitude toward the restaurant, visit intention, and e-WOM intention. Results from Study 1 suggest that group diners exhibit more favorable attitudes and behavioral intentions toward restaurants featuring humanoid (vs. non-humanoid) service robots, whereas solo diners respond more favorably to restaurants featuring non-humanoid (vs. humanoid) service robots. Furthermore, anticipated psychological comfort is revealed as driver of the congruency effects between robot type and diner type. Study 2 focuses on the tourism dining context and investigates the impact of consumption rituals (i.e., absence vs. presence) on solo (vs. group) diners’ responses, including food evaluation and purchase intention. Results from Study 2 show that for group diners who travel with others, the presence (vs. absence) of consumption rituals leads to more favorable food evaluation and greater purchase intention, whereas the presence (vs. absence) of consumption rituals backfires and results in less favorable responses among solo diners who travel alone. Furthermore, anticipated pleasure is identified as the underlying mechanism explaining these effects. Study 3 focuses on the restaurant advertising context and explores how advertisement type (i.e., nostalgic vs. non-nostalgic) influences solo (vs. group) diners’ responses, including food evaluation and purchase intention. Results from Study 3 show that for group diners, the nostalgic (vs. non-nostalgic) ad generates more favorable ad evaluation and greater visit intention. However, the positive effect of nostalgic (vs. non-nostalgic) ads is attenuated among solo diners. In addition, feelings of social connectedness mediate the impact of advertisement type on consumer responses among group diners. This dissertation contributes to the hospitality and tourism literature on marketing by examining the role of three marketing strategies—service robots, consumption rituals, and nostalgic ads—in influencing solo vs. group diners’ responses. By comparing the differences between solo vs. group diners’ responses, this dissertation also extends our knowledge of solo diners and adds to the emerging literature on solo dining. Findings of this dissertation offer hospitality and tourism practitioners valuable insights regarding how to utilize different robot types, consumption rituals, and nostalgic ads to leverage desirable outcomes among solo and group diners.
Stephanie Q Liu (Advisor)
Jay Kandampully (Committee Member)
Caezilia Loibl (Committee Member)
Laurie Wu (Committee Member)
145 p.
Experimental Psychology; Marketing
Solo dining; Service robots; Consumption rituals; Nostalgia; Restaurant marketing; Experimental design

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Huang, H. (2022). Solo Dining Is Rising: How Service Robots, Consumption Rituals, and Nostalgic Ads Affect Solo Diners’ Responses [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1646757664148939

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Huang, Huiling. Solo Dining Is Rising: How Service Robots, Consumption Rituals, and Nostalgic Ads Affect Solo Diners’ Responses. 2022. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1646757664148939.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Huang, Huiling. "Solo Dining Is Rising: How Service Robots, Consumption Rituals, and Nostalgic Ads Affect Solo Diners’ Responses." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2022. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1646757664148939

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.