The effect of local food service quality on behavioral intentions and the mediating role of satisfaction: Nevşehir case

Local foods provide various benefits to the regions where they are found. Local foods affect tourists emotionally, appeal to their tastes and increase the brand value of their destination. Social and economic benefits of local dishes, such as preserving cultural values and supporting local production, are mentioned in the literature. Likewise, quality service, which basically means the harmony between what the consumer expects and what he finds, provides food businesses with many advantages such as customer loyalty, competitive advantage and reducing costs. Cronin and Taylor (2012) stated that quality service is the precursor of customer satisfaction. In this context, the aim of the research was to measure the relationship between the service quality of local dishes in Nevşehir and the behavioral intentions of consumers and the mediating role of consumers' satisfaction levels in this relationship. In line with the purpose of the study, a total of 4 hypotheses were established and these hypotheses were tested with the help of statistical analysis programs. IBM SPSS and AMOS were used in the research. The three scales used within the scope of the thesis are as follows, respectively: the DINESERV scale with 5 dimensions and 29 expressions created by the development of the SERVQUAL scale for service quality (Stevens et al., 1995); the behavioral scale consisting of a single dimension and 5 expressions adapted by İlban et al. (2016) intentions scale; the satisfaction scale developed by Voss et al. (1998) consisting of a single dimension and 3 statements. As a result of the study, it was seen that local food service quality positively affected behavioral intentions and satisfaction, and when the satisfaction scale was considered as a mediator, the significance level in this relationship decreased significantly. It has been determined that the satisfaction scale has a full mediating role and therefore customers' behavioral intentions are a result of their satisfaction levels.