EXAMINATION OF THE MODERATOR ROLE OF COUNTRY IMAGE IN THE EFFECT OF EWOM AND EMOTIONAL INVOLVEMENT ON VISIT INTENTION

Restaurants that operate in any country and serve food from another country create an image of those countries in customers. Based on this, this research was designed considering that Turkish, Italian, and Japanese restaurants operating in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, create the image of their own countries among these customers and also affect the customers' intention to visit to their own countries. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of electronic word of mouth and emotional involvement on the intention to visit foreign country restaurants and the moderator role of the country images of these restaurants on this effect. The study was analyzed with data obtained from Azerbaijani consumers who visited restaurants serving Turkish, Italian, and Japanese cuisine. Within the scope of the study, 12 hypotheses were analyzed with SPSS and Process v4 statistical analysis programs. As a result of the study, all hypotheses were supported. It was found that both E-WOM and emotional attachment on the intention to visit a restaurant were higher in Japanese cuisine compared to other countries. The moderator role of country image in the effect of E-WOM and emotional attachment on the intention to visit was found to be the highest in Japanese cuisine and the lowest in Turkish cuisine. It can be said that the findings of the study can be used especially for restaurant operators in decision-making processes.