Investigation of restaurant customers’ behavioral intentions with goal-directed behavior theory

Behavioral intentions are critical determinants of customer loyalty and competitive advantage in the highly competitive restaurant sector. Understanding these intentions requires an integrated view of psychological, emotional, and cognitive processes, combining motivational theory with memory-related mechanisms in gastronomic decision-making. Existing studies often overlook the dynamic interplay between attitudes, social influences, anticipated emotions, perceived control, past experiences, and cognitive recall in shaping restaurant choices. This three-wave longitudinal study applies the Model of Goal-Directed Behavior (MGB) to a sample of 386 restaurant customers in Istanbul, Türkiye, incorporating memory as a novel moderating variable to illuminate cognitive dimensions of consumer choice. Structural Equation Modeling results showed positive associations of perceived behavioral control, positive anticipated emotions, attitudes, subjective norms, and frequency of past behavior with desire. Desire and frequency of past behavior were positively associated with behavioral intentions, whereas the direct association between perceived behavioral control and intentions was not statistically significant. Memory moderation received differing levels of support across the examined pathways: the interaction involving past behavior was positive and statistically significant, whereas evidence for the desire intention interaction was borderline. The interaction involving perceived behavioral control was not statistically significant. Negative anticipated emotions were not significantly associated with desire in this sample. These findings provide support for selected MGB relationships among the surveyed restaurant customers and suggest that self-reported memory vividness and accessibility warrant further investigation in relation to behavioral intentions. Their causal and practical implications require additional evidence.