Factors influencing word of mouth in the restaurant industry in Anuradhapura town area, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Tourism and Hospitality industry ranks as one of the major industries contributed to Sri Lankan GDP. Among the diversified scope of this industry, Restaurants play a significant role in its sustainable development. Restaurants with limited promotion budgets mainly depend on guests’ word of mouth (WOM). This study examines the factors influencing WOM about restaurants and to what extent these factors influence the WOM of restaurant industry in Anuradhapura Town Area. Price, Service Quality, Physical Environment, Guest Interaction, and Food Quality were identified as the independent variables while WOM plays the role of dependent variable. This study falls under descriptive research category as it explores the association between variables. Primary data were collected from 300 customers using google form structured questionnaires which were distributed via social media networks and email. Descriptive, correlation and regression analyses were carried-out to analyzed the collected data. Findings of the study revealed that all the independent variables have significant influence on guests’ WOM and price is the most influencing factor among them