Antecedents of the Intent to Recommend: a problem with fast food restaurants

ABSTRACT The fast and strong social and economic transformations in the economies of many countries has raised the competition for consumers. One of the elements required to adapt to such scenario is knowing customers and their perceptions about products or services, mainly regarding word of mouth recommendations. This study adapts, to the fast food business, a model originally designed to analyze the antecedents of the intent to recommend by clients of formal restaurants. Three constructs were considered: service quality, satisfaction, and social well-being, the latter comprised of positive and negative affections. Six hypotheses were considered, three of which relating to social well-being (that it influences satisfaction, service quality, and the intent to recommend), two relating to service quality (that it influences the intent to recommend and satisfaction), and one relating to the influence of satisfaction on the intent to recommend. None was rejected, indicating adherence and adjustment of the simplification and adaptation of the consolidated model. Through a successful empirical application, the main contribution made by this research is the simplification of a model through its application in a similar context, but with a different scope.