ABSTRACT
The main purpose of this research is to identify factors that determine the patronage behaviour of consumers on fast food product, when they visit a fast food joint by using independent variables such as; distance from home, income, age, number of years of patronage, fast quality, service quality, price, physical environment(physical ambience), security, support facilities, cleanliness, prior expectation and even privacy, accessibility, culture etc. result suggest a strong relationship between determinant of patronage behaviour of consumers in relation to perceived quality and perceived price, as an important aspect to be considered by restaurant managers in order to improve the customers satisfaction. Following some econometric consideration, the result showed that the R2 was 0.776, implying that 77.6 percent of the variability was explained in the model. The result also show that it was a good fit going by the high value. The f-ratio was 40.704 and significant at 1 percent probability level. The result also show that the coefficient of age, income, gender, distance from home to centre and number of time of patronage were significant factors influencing customers patronage behaviour. The importance of this work lies in its contribution to research carried out in the fast food joint or restaurant industry, since the study suggested that quality and price attribute are differently patronized by customers as a function of their reason for using the service. Hence, managers should look into these factors to position their services according to their customer’s characteristics.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background Of The Study
Food consumption pattern have dramatically changed in recent years.one common consumption pattern that is shared by many countries including Nigeria and most of its urban areas is the increasing expenditure of food away from home (FAFH) and as a variety of technologies have become more accessible, food processing and consumption have become more common in industries and home (early, 1997) and (Popkin, 2001). One of the most attractive qualities of food processing is that it can make food more convenient to obtain and consume consequently. Food consumption varies as a result socio-economic status and the environment and this variance may change with time (Ethel et al 2000).
Food is a critical element in determining the state of nutritional status whether it is good or not. Food is required to provide energy for body movement, breathing, blood circulation, and also for digestion, absorption, and excretion.in fact, all the body functions depends on food consumed. The increase in the consumption of fast food has been witnessed in several different populations. For example (Cos et al 1985) noted a shift towards fast food consumption and the use of convenience stores in the mid 1980’s.(Kant et al 2004) reported that between (1987-2000),the rate of fast food product consumed by individuals increased by 11% to 2.77 meal per week. They also commonly held belief that meals prepared in fast food joints have different nutritional qualities to traditional or home prepared meals and are energy dense observing the relationship between the rate of fast food prepared meal eaten and overall energy intake.
How this impacted on overweight and obesity was not clear and it cannot be assumed that greater energy intake of fast food product result to increase weight. Dun et al, 2008 reported that people have negative stereo-type about the typical fast food consumer. They notice that, generally, the patronage behaviour of someone who eats fast food product include a lesser individual, lacking in knowledge of self-control and possibly driven by economic factors. It is assumed that fast consumption may be more attractive to some consumers than others.
It has been shown and noticed that the factors that majorly determines the patronage behaviour of fast food quality, physical environment, service quality, price, culture etc. and also (Kotler, 2003) stated the evaluation of appropriate goods and services depends upon the relative price, value for money, service rendered and convenience. Bette et al, 2007 believes that the choice of fast food product were largely influenced by their socio-demographic characteristics such as: disposable income level, family size, educational level, cultural background, age factor, convenience, religion etc. Elliot et al (2002) stated that the consumer intention to buy a fast food product depends on factors including desire, perception, past experience, the features of the goods and services of other tangible and intangible traits concerned with the individual. Smith (2004) and barker (2006) found that apart from these reasons , there were also some reasons such as attached with the demographic feature of the fast food joints, such as: the floor space, absence of packing and entertainment features at the joint Bolton(1995) stated that time frame is another important factor that influences a consumer patronage behaviour, in the sense that they work for long hours, while they come back home, they could stop at the nearby fast food joint and order something to eat, thus, saving their time to get rest.
Therefore the evident advantage of fast food is that it saves time in that when one returns home from work tired and hungry, a pizza or a burger can be god sent. Besides the time an individual has to spend in the kitchen, cooking a meal also requires one to make a trip to the supermarket to buy ingredients for the dish. Then there is the added effort and time consumed in washing and peeling of vegetables. This entire make’s eating test food score more preferably over cooking a meal for a busy individual.
Food quality of fast food joints reliability translate into the freshness and temperature of the food (the promise) and receiving the food error-free and as ordered the first time (dependable and accurately). And Aleeb at el 2006. The SERVQUAL literature identifies five key dimension of service quality ; reliability, tangibility, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. Thus, service quality have a positive influence an fast food product consumed in Owerri metropolis area of Imo state price also the capability of attracting and increasing the patronage behaviour and consumption of fast food joints product and also has the capability of repelling customer.
Thus considering the pivotal role that customer satisfaction plays in the food service industries in Owerri metropolis area of Imo State Nigeria, it has to be noticed that these factors listed above contributed immensely to the patronage behaviour of fast food product. This promo tools are used to create awareness in the market which is not often enough to capture the interest of consumers but need to persuade them to take part in the purchase of the product in expectation of the desired satisfaction (Stanton 1981. In recent era, customer satisfaction has gained new attention. Now it has been shifted from transactional marketing to relationship marketing, which refers “to all marketing activities directed towards establishing, developing, and maintaining successful relational exchange” (Morgan & Hunt, 1994, p 22). The key to retention is satisfaction of the customer and it has been treated as the necessary premise in many publications and research articles. The link between satisfaction and the long-term retention of customers is developed by scholars and marketing practitioners in a rather categorical way, and is therefore treated as the starting point, rather than the core question of the analysis. “The assumption that satisfaction/dissatisfaction meaningfully effect on repurchase behaviour underlies most of the study in this area of inquiry”. Consequently, only a few researchers have investigated the nature and to which degree the relationship between satisfaction and retention exist. The number of studies in this area can be classified into three groups. Most of the researchers use monetary data as dependent variables, such as revenues or profit. In this procedure the investigation of the satisfaction-retention relation considerably limited for two reasons. First, the aggregation of data renders any analysis on the individual customer level impossible. Second, revenues and profit are determined by a large amount of variables, which in addition are highly correlated. Therefore, a suitable assessment of the relationship investigated here seems barely accomplishable with this research design. A second group of studies on an individual level utilizes repurchase intentions of customers to investigate the link between satisfaction and retention (Bitner, 1990; Oliver, 1980; Oliver & Bearden, 1985; Oliver & Swan, 1989). This approach is also accompanied by two main limitations. Because satisfaction values and intention measures are usually obtained through the same questionnaire, the data are inherently correlated. This may lead to an overestimation of the strength of the relationship. Furthermore, previous research in the area of customer loyalty shows that the predictive validity of intention measures “varies depending on the product, the measurement scale, the time frame, and the nature of the respondents” (Bolton, 1995, p. 2; see also Morwitz & Schmittlein, 1992) and, altogether, must be seen as rather low (LaBarbera & Mazursky, 1998; Oliva, Oliver, & MacMillan, 1999). Closely related to the problem of intention measures is the usage of other inadequate operationalization. For Fast food category, freshness, quality of food , good portion size are the main contributor (Myung et al 2008) and he also added that customers are also more comfortable eating food that is families to their way of life. The higher the socio economic status of a household, the better the food consumption because there knowledge and understanding of food and products consumed and also the purchasing power is high but the lower socio economic consumer has the problem of ignorance and lack of purchasing power (Olayinde et al 1999) which affects what they eat the quantity and quality they consume.
Another determinant of consumer patronage behaviour is service quality on consumer satisfaction services are acts, effort or performance exchanged from producers to users without any claim to ownership rights. It satisfies needs and delivers benefits when it provides pleasure information or convenience to either consumer or business (Solomon et al2012), (Evans 2012). A service cannot be satisfied from whosoever is providing it the characteristics of service quality in food service operation are such as; it brings up an individualised, intangible and subjective nature (Chow 2007). This means that consumer will be receiving from the moment they step inside a fast food joint and until they walk out after they finish their meal. Sometimes service quality is difficult to measure because it can be inconsistent due to uncontrollable factors. These uncontrollable factors might be contributed by members of the serving staffs who are not polite courteous or attentive towards the customers.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
In today’s fast changing social and lifestyle more and more families are eating out due to time constraints parents works longer hours and they are no longer willing to spend a couple of hours preparing dinner for the family after a long and tiring day working at the office. In addition some families assume that getting a nutrition lunch or dinner plus family quality would be to bring family members to a suitable dinning place. This choice thus will take into consideration the price and choice of the food so that not only would the price of the whole dining experience be within family budget but will also satisfy the whole family food and meal choice (Ryn and Han 2009)
This trend is making women to have less time to plan and prepare food for their spouses and children. As such because of hunger and lack of time to prepare food at various homes, preference for food prepared at fast food joint has been taken central stage in our cultural fabric (white 2007)
Poor service quality rendered to customers discourages them from repeating purchases, examples a cold chicken being served in a fast food joint will discourage further purchase. This is because the concept of customer satisfaction is a function of expectations. Thus a consumer whose experience falls below expectation will virtually be dissatisfied (Qing Prybutok, 2008).
Adewuyi (2008) affirmed that major problems of many families are the amount of income available in relation to the needs and wants of the family members.
Food quality according to (Parasuraman et al 1999) falls under one of their dimension known as reliability. Thus for fast food joints reliability translates into the freshness and temperature of the food (the promise). Therefore, if the consumers’ expectations are not error free, this will cause a problem to the fast food joint in which they will lose their potential customers.
(Bowmen et al 2004) commented on the nutritional composition of fast food and its adverse effects that it has on one’s health. It is a fact that fast food is more unhealthy than home cooked meals, as it contains higher amount of unwanted nutrients like salt, fat and various types of additive, (artificial chemical) which is an important contributor to obesity and with obesity comes other problems like high blood pressure and diseases of the joints. Frequent visits to fast food joints with ones family can be quite expensive when compared with home prepared meals besides being unhealthy.
1.3 Research Questions
In other to carry out a successful research there are some questions a research should ask and such questions are;
i. What are the determinants of consumer patronage behaviour on fast food joints in Owerri metropolis area?
ii. To what extent does consumer’s financial status affect the patronage behaviour of fast food product?
iii. What is the influence of consumer family pressure and environment on the patronage behaviour of fast food products?
iv. How does these collective factor help increase or suitable consumer patronage behaviour on fast food joint in Owerri metropolis area.
1.4 Research Objectives
The general objectives of the study are to analyse the determinant of consumer patronage behaviour on fast food joints in Owerri metropolis are of Imo State Nigeria.
The specific objectives are to:
(i) Analyse the socio economic characteristics of respondents
(ii) Determinant the factors that influence consumer patronage behaviour on fast food product.
(iii) Analyse the type of food items seen in fast food joints and patronized by various consumers.
(iv) Analyse customers relationship management (CRM) towards then patronage behaviour of fast food product in Owerri metropolis area.
1.5 Significance of the Study
From this work many knowledge will be on ground and will also indicate its importance in the marketing and patronage behaviour of fast food product.
A strategic significance would allow demonstrating the role and importance of fast food joints in Owerri metropolis area Imo State, Nigeria and also how consumers behaviour are changing towards fast food brands(Dunn et al, 2008) which is likely to result in repeat patronage towards that particular fast food product.
This study will also help differentiate between the age brackets, that i.e, those who are more likely to patronize fast food product. (Schroder et al 2007), (Ferdinand et al 2003). Another importance of this study is that it will help families check their consumption on fast food product because of its excessive sugar and fat content which causes obesity. And also will serve as a guide to fast food joints in providing a place of comfort and making promotional policy objectives on the fast food joint especially on the area of price, service quality, food quality and physical environment (physical ambience).
1.6 Limitations of the Study
Certain limitations occurred during the period of carrying out this research work.
(i) Financial constraints: the cost of carrying out this study as sourcing for materials (relevant and necessary materials) transportation cost and surfacing the internet constitutes of limitations in this study.
(ii) Time constraints: this was another constraint because this study was concurrently carried out with my normal lectures preparation for my final examination and collective of data.
(iii) Respondent not given the right response or information needed to be able to determine these factors that influence the patronage behaviour of consumers.
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