Impact of restaurant owners'/managers' handling of customers' unexpected incidents on customers' revisit intention

The main purpose of this research is to explore whether or not restaurant owners/managers handle customers' unexpected incidents can affect customers' intention to revisit the same restaurant. We used the case of coupon incident as an example. We then designed an experiment and conducted a survey, and also developed single-equation regression models (both two-stage least squares and ordinary least squares procedures) to test the hypothesis. Results demonstrate that customers who were unhappy when restaurant owners/managers denied them the use of effective coupons were less likely to revisit the same restaurant, as well as no matter the reasons for disallowing coupon use, customers' intention to revisit the same restaurant was frustrated by the experience. Consequently, the main contribution of this study is in offering a different analytical perspective on customer post-purchase behavioural intention by verifying whether the way restaurant owners/managers handle customers' unexpected incidents may influence customers' revisit intention.