The role of food consumption emotions and gastronomic involvement i̇n the impact of dining experience components on satisfaction and behavioral intentions

This study aims to identify the relationships between the components of the dining experience, food consumption emotions, satisfaction, behavioral intentions, and gastronomic involvement. Conducted within the framework of the S-O-R model, this study investigates the mediating role of food consumption emotions in the impact of dining experience components on satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Additionally, it aims to determine the moderating role of gastronomic involvement. The research was carried out between June and December 2023 through face-to-face and online surveys with consumers who had dining experiences in luxury restaurants. To reach the designated sample, purposive sampling and convenience sampling methods were employed. Out of the 492 collected questionnaires, 436 were deemed suitable for analysis after excluding those that were incomplete, systematically scored the same, or contained outliers. To test the hypotheses formulated within the research model, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling were used. The analysis results supported 14 of the 16 hypotheses, while 2 were rejected. The findings indicate that the components of the dining experience have a strong predictive effect on consumers' food consumption emotions, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. Furthermore, food consumption emotions were found to have a mediating role in the impact of dining experience components on satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Additionally, the findings revealed that gastronomic involvement has a moderating effect on the positive food consumption emotions and satisfaction derived from dining experience components. Another finding of the study is that gastronomic involvement does not have a moderating effect on negative food consumption emotions and behavioral intentions.