The Mediating Effect of Attitude on the Relationship between Satisfaction and Loyalty for Reward Program in Foodservice Industry : Comparison on Level of Usefulness

The purposes of this study were to explore the mediating effect of attitude on the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty for reward program in restaurant industry and to compare the difference of their relationship according to the level of usefulness. The survey was given to university students who were used to reward program. Usefulness of subjects, based on hierarchical clustering, were segmented into 2 groups of cluster1 ‘lower usefulness’ and cluster2 ‘higher usefulness’. Comparing to male-oriented ‘lower usefulness’, ‘higher usefulness’ group showed more frequent number of use and longer period of use for reward program. Satisfaction had an significant and positive effect on both attitude and loyalty, and attitude had an partial mediating effect on the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty. These phenomena occurred with different intensity according to level of usefulness. The implication of the study is the marketing strategy of enhancing positive attitude will contribute to more customers and revenue.