An empirical investigation of perceived relational benefits and brand engagement in restaurant services

Purpose: The paper aims to examine the nexus between perceived relational benefits and brand engagement within a restaurant setting in a developing economy context. Design/methodology/approach: This paper used a survey research design, obtaining data via self-administered questionnaire from 500 customers of 25 restaurants. A five-stage analysis involving exploratory factor analysis, ANOVA, multiple regression, cluster analysis and multinomial logistic regression was carried out using SPSS 22 for Windows. Findings: Results from the study show that three relational benefits (social benefit, exploration and entertainment) contribute significantly to consumers’ brand engagement in a restaurant service setting. Variations across consumers with low, medium and high brand engagement levels are also provided. Originality/value: The paper extends the current understanding of brand engagement from a restaurant setting. It provides evidence to issues of potential research and managerial interests and offers insightful implications to the academic and practitioner communities.