The effect of perception management on customer experience in ethnic restaurant in the context of simulation theory

Postmodernism, separating from the effects of modernism, creates a new hedonistic-pretentious and experience-oriented consumption paradigm of individuals. Today, consumers display different tendencies and expectations from traditional food and beverage consumption habits and seeking functional benefits. Therefore, in the food and beverage industry, ethnic restaurants are gradually increasing as spaces created through physical evidence and atmospheric elements as well as tangible products. Ethnic restaurants stage the intangible and concrete components of the target culture through physical evidence and atmospheric elements, shape consumer perceptions within the framework of the determined theme, and according to the perspective of the French sociologist Jean Baudrillard, a "hyperreality" that replaces the actual reality instead of the "simulated" reality elements is mentioned. In this research, it is aimed to examine the simulation elements in ethnic restaurants from the perspective of Baudrillard, to determine the effects of perception management in ethnic restaurants on customer experience, by revealing the indicators that turn ethnic restaurants into simulacra and the functions of these indicators. Mixed research design was used in the research. In this direction, in order to determine simulation applications in ethnic restaurants, spatial images of three ethnic restaurant businesses operating in Istanbul were taken into consideration and subjected to semiotic analysis. In line with the data obtained, the indicator, the signifier and the displayed elements were determined and classified. In addition, questionnaires were created in order to determine the perception management elements for consumers and their effects on the customer experience, and the data were obtained from 385 participants who visited these restaurants. The study consists of five main parts. In the first part, there are the purpose, importance, problem, definitions, assumptions and limitations of the research. In the second part, the theoretical framework of the study and related researches are included under the title of the related literature. In the theoretical framework of the study, the concepts of simulation theory, perception management and customer experience are examined. Studies on simulation theory and customer experience concepts are included under the heading of related research. In the third part, there is information about the research model, population and sample, data collection process, data collection tools and techniques. In the fourth section, in which the obtained data are analyzed, the findings and interpretations of the statistical tests are examined, and in the fifth and last section, the findings in the light of the findings. results and recommendations are included. As a result of the semiotic analysis of the data obtained from the restaurant visuals, representations that reproduce and revitalize the culture and ethnological structure determined by the ethnic restaurant businesses and present the target culture as a consumption component in customer perception were encountered. The relevant indicators in which the aforementioned representations are found have been analyzed in depth, and as a result of the findings, simulation/hyperreality elements and functions have been revealed and evaluated in the perspective of Jean Baudrillard. However, as a result of the statistical tests obtained from the participants, it was determined that perception management in ethnic restaurants has an effect on customer experience. In addition, it was determined that the high level of positive perceptions of restaurant customers focused on restaurant identity and physical environment dimensions. Based on these results, the research hypothesis was accepted.