Resumo

To satisfy customers in these sectors, it is necessary to create the first memorable, pleasant, caring, and sometimes extraordinary experience. Therefore, marketers and researchers' challenge is to identify which experiences can leave the most favourable impression on customers and encourage them to develop a positive attitude and behaviour towards the brand (Amin & Tarun, 2019). In Portugal the activity sector that encompasses accommodation and restaurants stood out as those that showed the most significant growth in 2017 in most economic indicators, showing increases of 16.5% (INE, 2020).

In 2020 the world pandemic context caused the Portuguese accommodation and restaurants sector the greatest reduction in business volume (Instituto Nacional de Estatística, 2020). So,this study aims to investigate the impact of experiential marketing on the consumer's intention to revisit the brand, evaluating each stage of their perception process in the experiences of eating in fast-food restaurants.

The theory that experiential marketing practices and service quality lead to customer satisfaction through experiential value, and customer satisfaction induces positive post-purchase behaviour.

Fifteen hypotheses were developed to test whether experiential marketing practices and service quality lead to customer satisfaction through experiential value, and consequently, whether customer satisfaction induces positive post-purchase behaviour. Data were collected through a questionnaire carried out on 442 respondents in the Portuguese context, and a Structural Equation Modelling was applied.

Inherent to LC, Table 9 proved that the hypotheses H1, H2, H3, H9, H12, H13, H14 and H15, were supported since they presented a p-value ≤ 0.05. The same did not happen with hypotheses H4, H5, H6, H10, H11, since were rejected because they presented a p-value> 0.05. In turn, and the case of hypotheses 7 and 8, despite presenting a p-value ≤ 0.05, were nevertheless rejected, given that they presented a negative relationship between the act perception and the experiential value, contrary to the proposed research hypothesis in which one wanted to prove a positive relationship between the act (..).

The similarities and differences in the structural path results impose some interpretation from an empirical point of view. Starting by the similarities, it was found that the statistically common relationships to the two models (large chains versus small chains) were as follows: the sense perception with the functional value, the relate perception with the emotional value, the quality of the service with functional value, experiential value with consumer satisfaction, and consumer satisfaction with the intention to revisit. On the other hand, regarding the differences, it was found that (...)

Amin, S., & Tarun, M. T. (2019). Experiential Marketing and Customer Satisfaction: A Study on the Restaurant Industry of Bangladesh. Asian Business Review, 9(1), 43–48. https://doi.org/10.18034/abr.v9i1.251 Instituto Nacional de Estatística. (2020). O setor do “Alojamento e da Restauração” continuou a ser o que reportou maior percentagem de empresas encerradas, temporária ou definitivamente:56%. https://ine.pt/scripts/covid/covid_25maio/3/index.html#zoom=z