ABSTRACT
This study examined the effect of covid-19 regulations on choice of restaurants in Umuahia Abia state using five research objective; determine the effect of nose mask as a COVID-19 regulation on choice of restaurants in Umuahia; determine the effect of social distancing as a COVID-19 regulation on choice of restaurants in Umuahia; determine the effect of lockdown as a COVID-19 regulation on choice of restaurants in Umuahia; determine the effect of use of hand sanitizer regularly as a COVID-19 regulation on choice of restaurants in Umuahia.. Descriptive survey research design was used through administration of questionnaire to obtain information from the communities. Probability and Non-probability sampling technique was used to ascertain the population of the study. Purposive sampling was used to select five out of the ten autonomous communities from which 196 respondents was selected. The result found out that the demographic information of the respondents showed that 90 males (57.3%), majority of respondents are between the ages of 31 - 40 (21.7%), 73 were married (46.5%), majority of the customers visited restaurants in the study area amid COVID-19 regulations daily at (38.2) and majority (86%) of the respondents had formal education. The major findings showed that nose mask and lockdown as a COVID-19 regulation has significant effect on choice of restaurant and social distancing and use of hand sanitizer as a COVID-19 regulation has no significant effect on choice of restaurant in Umuahia metropolis. The study thus concludes that covid-19 regulations has a significant effect on customer’s choice of restaurants in the study area and recommended that hospitality businesses must focus on the guest experience and stage memorable experiences that stimulate all five senses and they must behave like hosts taking responsibility for the experience and creating lots of little surprises.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
i
Approval page ii
Declaration
iii
Certification
iv
Dedication
v
Acknowledgements
vi
Table of
content
vii
List of
tables
x
Abstract
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
of the Study 1
1.2 Statement of Problem 3
1.3 Objectives of the Study 4
1.4 Research Questions 4
1.5 Research Hypotheses 5
1.6 Significance of the Study 5
1.7 Scope
of the study 6
CHAPTER
2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 CONCEPTUAL
REVIEW 7
2.1.1 COVID-19 Pandemic 7
2.1.2 Effect of Covid-19 11
2.1.2.1 Economic Effect 14
2.1.2.2 Health Effect 15
2.1.2.3 Social and Cultural Effect 16
2.1.3 Effects on Restaurant Operation 17
2.1.4 Classification of Restaurants 20
2.1.5 Criteria for Grading Restaurants 20
2.1.6 Types Of Restaurants 22
2.1.7 Choice of Restaurants 26
2.1.8 COVID-19 and Restaurant Operation 31
2.1.9
Prevention and Control of COVID-19 Outbreak in Restaurants 33
2.1.10 Challenges faced by owners of hospitality
establishments in enforcing
covid-19
regulations 34
2.1.11 COVID-19 Protocols and Regulations 35
2.1.11.1
Factors affecting choice of covid-19 regulations 36
2.2 THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK 36
2.3 EMPIRICAL REVIEW 38
2.4 Gap
in Knowledge 40
2.5 Summary
of Related Literature 40
CHAPTER 3:
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design 43
3.2 The Study Area 43
3.3 Population for
the Study 44
3.4 Sample and Sampling Techniques 44
3.5 Instrument
for Data Collection 45
3.6 Validation
of Instrument 45
3.7 Reliability of Instrument 45
3.8 Data Collection Technique 46
3.9 Method of Data Analysis 46
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 RESULTS
47
4.1.2 Demographic
Data of Respondents 48
4.1.3 Analysis
of Research Questions 49
4.1.4 Hypotheses Testing 57
4.2 Discussion
of Findings 59
4.3 Inferential
Statistics and Hypotheses Testing 56
4.3.1 Descriptive
Statistics 57
4.3.2 Hypotheses
Testing 58
4.4 Discussion
of Findings 61
CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 66
5.1.1 Restatement of the
Problem 66
5.1.2 Major Findings 67
5.2 Conclusion 67
5.3 Recommendation 67
5.4 Suggestion
For Further Studies 68
REFERENCES 65
LISTS OF TABLES
Table 4.1 Response rate 47
Table
4.2 Demographic data of respondents 48
Table 4.3: The effect of
nose mask as a COVID-19 regulation on your
choice of restaurant 49
Table 4.3: The effect of social distancing as a COVID-19
regulation
on your choice of
restaurant 51
Table 4.4: The effect of lockdown as a COVID-19 regulation on your
choice of restaurant. 53
Table 4.5: The effect of use of hand sanitizer as a COVID-19 regulation on
your choice of
restaurant. 55
Table 4.6 Descriptive Statistics 57
Table 4.7 Regression Estimate on the
Effect of COVID-19 Regulations
on Customer’s Choice of Restaurants in Umuahia 58
CHAPTER 1
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The
food service industry is all the food and drink outlets, such as restaurants,
coffee shops, pubs, clubs, bars, and accommodation venues. This industry has
been recorded as growing significantly in recent years and is expected to
continue this positive development in the future (Market Line, 2019). It is one
of the fastest growing industries in the world with an increasing demand for
eating out, and it is contributing to global and national economic growth.
Focusing
specifically on the restaurant, it is considered “one of the fastest growing
business in Umuahia” (Dozie, 2015). Together with the forward pace of its
economy, the foodservice industry noted a considerable expansion in the past
three years. As customers are more exposed to different types of restaurant
settings, they developed a complex set of attributes for selecting a restaurant
for their excellent dining experience. The first competition, customers’
changing lifestyles and growing desires are features that shape restaurant
marketplace. Thus, restaurant managers should be prepared to meet these
challenges
The
corona virus disease of 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic gripped the world with a
shock. The pandemic has caused global social disruption by limiting global
social relations (Tupper, 2020). The idea of “social distancing” negates
regular social interaction, which is the bedrock of human society (Younde,
2020). A contagious disease of global health importance also disrupts the usual
norms of close physical contacts since the disease transmits through contact
with individuals who already contracted the disease. COVID-19 de-globalizes the
world in terms of human migration with airports shut, and social events
(sports, festivals and the likes) postponed indefinitely. The
"stay-at-home" campaign and proscription of (large) social gatherings
mean that social interaction has been limited. Globalization, which signifies
compression of time and space, aids the transmission of diseases on a global
scale, facilitating the spread of COVID-19. According to Youde, (2020), world
has been witnessing global trade, movement of people, and the globalization of
health. The global transmission of diseases is one of the dysfunctions or
latent functions of globalization, which offers both opportunities and
catastrophes. The world is a global village; hence the health of individuals is
intrinsically linked irrespective of distance.
The
hospitality industry has been notably affected. Restaurants and other outlets
in the industry have been locked down due to the quarantine regulations aimed
at preventing the spread of the coronavirus. Therefore, the whole industry has
experienced a delay in its development. Before COVID-19, several pieces of
research have stated that food quality, service quality and physical
environment are the three main factors that affect customer behaviour when
going to a restaurant, as mentioned above. However, Tiedt, (2020) found that
among all the elements which influence customer satisfaction, cleanliness has
achieved the highest percentage during the pandemic. The rapid spread of
COVID-19 has probably changed the main consideration of customers when going to
a food or drink outlet based on health protection. Yu (Dutta et al., 2014) states that customer satisfaction
is when the customer goes back and recommends others to visit the place. As a
result, it relates to the level of customer loyalty and future intentions.
Furthermore,
delivery has become more common and has recorded a rise in demand due to home
quarantines and distancing regulations. Therefore, this study has been
conducted on restaurants in Umuahia metropolis to emphasize and find out what
factors affect customer choice, including customer satisfaction, customer
loyalty and behavioural intentions, and how it has changed compared to before
and during the COVID-19 crisis. Additionally, the study is also aimed at
understanding whether both the delivery option and physical environment
especially cleanliness have a role in determining these behaviours.
Dutta
et al., (2014) mention that whether a
customer will return to a restaurant depends on the satisfaction of their
previous experience. Therefore, it is essential to know which elements will
affect customer satisfaction the most during their customer experience when
visiting a restaurant to eat. Recognising how customer choice has changed
during the COVID-19 situation will enable restaurant managers to make suitable
improvements to ensure customer satisfaction in this difficult time. Thus, they
probably could enhance the brand image and attract more customers. The result
can help to create recommendations for innovations and new policies according
to the changes in customer behaviour.
1.2 Statement
of Problem
Meeting
customer expectations in terms of delivering fresh and nutritionally palatable
and warrant-satisfying menu offerings on a regular basis is seemingly becoming
a challenge to restaurants these days. A casual observation reveals that some
customers of food service operations hardly stick with them as the customers
have become multi-dimensional in their consumption patterns, defecting or
switching at will. Customers often complain about the quality of menu offerings
served at certain food service establishments as not meeting their expectations
in terms of being fresh and palatable.
Despite
the fact that there have been many studies conducted on the choice of
restaurants, there is no research on the impact of COVID-19 regulations on
choice of restaurants and a majority of these researches revolved around only
one or a few particular factors related to choice of restaurant. For example
Barber et al. (2011) investigated how
was service quality influenced by tangible elements only, while Ha and Jang
(2010) discovered how was service quality affected by few dimensions including
assurance, reliability, and responsiveness. Henceforth, there still seem to be
areas calling for more scrutiny with the intention of recognizing the combined
effects of tangible and intangible factors on service quality. Restaurants play
a vital role in tourism industry (Novelli et
al., 2006). In addition, growing rate of work affects people to use more
restaurants and its affect to increase competition among them to attract more
customers. On the other hand, increasing restaurant provide customers more
alternative for choose (Haghighi et al.,
2012). Therefore, choice is considered as the most important factor for
restaurant to attract more customers, hence, more profitable. These are the
gaps in literature that this present study attempt to fill and are therefore
the motivation for this study.
1.3 Objectives
of the Study
The
main objective of this study is to determine the effect of COVID-19 regulations
on customer’s choice of restaurants in Umuahia metropolis. The following specific
objectives shall be investigated;
i.
To determine the effect of nose
mask as a COVID-19 regulation on choice of restaurants in Umuahia;
ii.
To determine the effect of social
distancing as a COVID-19 regulation on choice of restaurants in Umuahia;
iii.
To determine the effect of
lockdown as a COVID-19 regulation on choice of restaurants in Umuahia;
iv.
To determine the effect of use of
hand sanitizer regularly as a COVID-19 regulation on choice of restaurants in
Umuahia.
1.4 Research
Questions
The following research questions were formulated to
guide the study;
1.
What is the effect of nose mask
as a COVID-19 regulation on choice of restaurants in restaurants in Umuahia;
2.
What is the effect of social
distancing as a COVID-19 regulation on choice of restaurants in restaurants in
Umuahia;
3.
What is the effect of lockdown as
a COVID-19 regulation on choice of restaurants in restaurants in Umuahia;
4.
What is the effect of use of hand
sanitizer as a COVID-19 regulation on choice of restaurants in restaurants in
Umuahia;
1.5 Research Hypotheses
In
order to realize the specific objectives, the following research hypotheses
were formulated in a null form:
HO1: Nose
mask as a COVID-19 regulation has no significant effect on choice of restaurant
in restaurants in Umuahia
HO2: Social
distancing as a COVID-19 regulation has no significant effect on choice of
restaurant in restaurants in Umuahia
HO3: Lockdown
as a COVID-19 regulation has no significant effect on choice of restaurant in
restaurants in Umuahia
HO4: Hand
sanitizer as a COVID-19 regulation has no significant effect on choice of
restaurant in restaurants in Umuahia
1.6 Significance
of the Study
The
findings of this research will be of great importance to restaurant owners,
management and restaurant consumers/customers and future researchers/students.
To restaurant owners;
a well-designed workplace will lead to more productive and sustainable
employees, customer retention and also provide maximum productivity with
minimum cost to restaurant owners.
To the management,
the findings of the study will also guide policy and practice on post covid-19 restaurant
usage in the country. Service quality management frees up management time from
redressing problem and directs management time and effort to; quality service,
increased production, customer satisfaction etc
To the restaurant consumers/customers,
customers can also benefit when the organization put in effective practices by
ascertaining the need or value of what the customer want and what they paid for
quality products and excellent services can help in customer retention thereby
creating processes and procedures that leads to coping with COVID-19 baggage’s.
To
the students, it will serve as a source of reference for future.
The
study will add to existing empirical literature on Covid-19 and patrons
occupancy rate.
1.7 Scope of the study
The
content scope of this study focuses on the relationship between COVID-19
regulations and choice of restaurants.
Geographically,
the study was carried out in Umuahia, Abia state.
In terms of unit scope, consumers of restaurant goods and service will
form the unit scope.
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