Current Issue

EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE ON WORD-OF-MOUTH MARKETING IN TAIWAN'S MICHELIN-STARRED RESTAURANTS: OVERALL SATISFACTION AS MEDIATOR FROM TRIPADVISOR

Tzu‑Kuang Hsu

Professor, Dept. of Business Administration, Chung Hua University, Taiwan, R.O.C.

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Kun-Hung Pan^*

Ph.D. Program of Management, Chung Hua University, Taiwan, R.O.C.

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Josua Tarigan

Dean (associate professor), School of Business and Management, 

Petra Christian University, Indonesia.

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Aigul Nurpeisova

Associate Professor, School of Economics and Management, 

Narxoz University, Kazakhstan

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Matt Sheikhi

Associate Professor, School of Tourism and Hospitality,

Narxoz University, Kazakhstan

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*Corresponding author

Abstract

This study combines Prospect Theory and quantile mediation analysis to explore the impact of customer experience (CX)on Word-of-mouth Marketing (WOMM)for Michelin-starred restaurants in Taiwan, with a special focus on the mediating role of overall satisfaction (OSAT). The data spans 2018 to 2024, including customer reviews from TripAdvisor.com and Google Maps Local Guides. The results indicate that CX significantly enhances OSAT at all quantiles of overall satisfaction but only significantly affects WOMM at 0.80 quantiles of WOMM. These findings indicate a diminishing marginal utility of customer experience at higher satisfaction levels. This study reveals the importance of enhancing customer experience to improve overall satisfaction and subsequent Word-of-mouth Marketingacross different levels of customer satisfaction. 

Keywords: Local Guides, Michelin-starred Restaurants, Overall Satisfaction (OSAT), Quantile Mediation Analysis,Customer Experience (CX), TripAdvisor, Word-of-mouth Marketing (WOMM).