Global ETD Search

1	A Pilot study of a mental health education program (AMUSE) for restaurant employees Andrew Joseph Muth (9133484) 03 September 2024 (has links) <p dir="ltr">Restaurant workers in the United States (US) face multiple stressors and mental health concerns. Additionally, there are indications that restaurant workers may hold stigmatizing mental health beliefs and are less likely to seek help for mental health concerns. Despite this, there have been no interventions assessed that target restaurant workers’ mental health, well-being, and mental health stigma. The purpose of this study is to provide an initial evaluation of one such intervention, a mental health education course (AMUSE) developed by a restaurant nonprofit (CHOW) focused on mental health in the restaurant industry. As an initial pilot study, we assessed the feasibility and acceptability of AMUSE, and sought to identify potential outcomes, and explore potential moderators and confounds. A combination of quantitative (pre and post measures) and qualitative (follow-up interviews) methods were utilized to collect data. Initial indications show that AMUSE is feasible to deliver and well accepted by those who have taken it. Additionally, participants demonstrated positive changes in help-seeking and self-efficacy after completing the course. Positive changes appeared to be moderated by characteristics of participants’ restaurant work. Despite our expectations, no significant changes were observed for stigma, motivation, social support, well-being, psychological distress, or stress. Future directions and recommendations for AMUSE were discussed based on these findings.</p> Food and hospitality services Clinical psychology Psychology Restaurant Food service
2	Investigation of factors affecting consumers' perception and food safety risk of home meal kits Nitjaree Maneerat (11197710) 28 July 2021 (has links) Two studies were conducted to investigate potential factors that affect consumers' perception towards home meal kits, and potential foodborne illness risks factors of home meal kits usage. <div>In study 1, a cross-sectional data collection was performed by using an online, self-administrated questionnaire. The participants who were the adults residing in U.S. were asked to answer the survey using the Likert scales. Multiple linear regression and moderation analyses were conducted to determine the associations between variables. The differences between HMK users and non-users were assessed by an independent t-test.</div><div>In study 2, three studies were developed to investigate the risks factors, including the (1) analysis of the available food safety-related information and delivery protocol collected from the vendors’ websites, (2) examination of the actual commercial HMK shipments, and (3) examination of the temperature changes inside the insulated HMK packages held under the average summer temperatures over time. Potential risk factors retrieved from the three studies were analyzed and the suggested guidelines to control those risks were identified.</div> Food and hospitality services Home meal kits food service Consumer Perception food acquisition patterns food safety foodborne illness risk factor Food and Hospitality Services
3	AGGLOMERATION STRUCTURE OF ETHNIC RESTAURANTS AND THE EFFECT OF ACCEPTANCE IN THE U.S. Sangwon Jung (7484234) 17 October 2019 (has links) As the attention of ethnic restaurants grow from consumers, researchers have questioned the proper assessment of identifying ethnic restaurant consumer demand and where ethnic restaurants should locate accordingly. For this reason, past literature has focused on demographic features to answer these questions. However, unlike non-ethnic restaurant demand, ethnic restaurant demand cannot be fully explained by demographics since the demand for ethnic restaurants consist of two major groups, which are non-ethnic and ethnic consumers. The two consumer groups differ in location, which ethnic consumers are clustered while other non-ethnic consumers are spread across the geographical plain. The two consumer groups also differ in acceptance which ethnic consumers have a pre-established notion of the ethnic restaurant theme while non-ethnic consumers require acceptance to consume. This study proposes that since ethnic restaurants have these differences ethnic restaurants show difference in clustering patterns. More specifically this study attempts to identify whether higher acceptance from non-ethnic consumers allow ethnic restaurants to expand to other non-ethnic consumer regions while ethnic restaurants are mostly clustered in ethnic communities. In addition, the study further investigates whether ethnic restaurant clustering patterns differ by its restaurant price segment. The empirical results of this study show that acceptance of ethnic food, general restaurant opinion, and country of origin plays a crucial role in ethnic restaurants to diffuse to non-ethnic consumers while ethnic restaurants agglomerate near ethnic communities. However, higher price restaurants were found cluster stronger than lower price restaurants to reduce search cost for consumers which confirms previous studies. Finally, this study found that acceptance of food and general restaurant opinion from non-ethnic consumers affects ethnic restaurants in the ethnic community to diffuse but acceptance of country of origin showed ethnic restaurants in ethnic communities to cluster which suggest that cultural aspects allow ethnic restaurants to cluster stronger in ethnic communities. Food and Hospitality Services Hospitality Management Restaurant agglomeration Ethnic restaurants Restaurant segment
4	EXAMINATION OF SELF-SERVICE-TECHNOLOGY’S INTEGRATION IN CASUAL DINING RESTAURANTS Redha Widarsyah (5930393) 16 June 2022 (has links) <p>The dissertation explores the infusion of Self-Service-Technology (SST) into the casual dining restaurant experience. Casual, sit-in dining restaurants deliver hospitality or service through human servers, however, the introduction of Self-Service-Technology has shifted the norm and expectations of the dining experience. The purpose of these studies is to examine the effect implementation of SST has on the dynamic between restaurant consumers and hospitality employees. Three distinct studies were conducted to examine consumer adoption of, and resistance to, SST, as well as an assessment of different service delivery scenarios involving SST, and employees’ and consumers’ perspectives of SST and hospitality values. In Study 1, many restaurant consumers expressed that relative advantage and compatibility drive their adoption of SST. However, for some, functional and psychological barriers inhibit adoption. Despite customers’ enthusiasm to adopt SST, study 2 shows that they still significantly favor traditional, human service. In study 3, SST represents a paradox for both consumers and employees. Consumers state that hospitality traditions and value matter, yet their behaviors regarding SST run counter to traditional hospitality philosophy. For employees, SST represents a conflict between feeling insecure about their current role and adapting to a new role involving SST in the service delivery experience. </p> Food and hospitality services Hospitality management Self-service technology Service Encounters Restaurant Service quality
5	CUSTOMERS’ RESPONSE TO ROBOTS OF DIFFERENT APPEARANCES: COOL ROBOT VS CUTE ROBOT Ja Kyung Lee (14233031) 09 December 2022 (has links) <p> </p> <p>With robot utilization reaching $300 million in the hospitality industry, this paper aims to examine the difference in customer response between two types of anthropomorphic features (cute vs. cool) of service robots. Four scenario-based experiments (2 [robot appearances: cute vs. cool] x 2 [customer–company relationship norms: communal vs. exchange]) were employed in two different contexts (Study 1: service successful and Study 2: failure). The results showed that cute robots elicit higher customer satisfaction, repatronage intention, and willingness to spread positive word of mouth when customers were in a communal relationship with a company. The difference was significant only in the situation in which the robots’ service failed. This study offers the industry guidelines to decide on robot design according to their relationship with the customer and develops the topic of anthropomorphism in robots in that it looked into the different traits within anthropomorphism rather than human likeness versus nonhuman likeness.</p> Food and hospitality services Hospitality management service robots restaurant robotic services hospitality robots humanlike robots robotic appearances
6	Organizational Culture and Firm Performance: Evidence from the Restaurant Industry Hong Soon Kim (9001169) 23 June 2020 (has links) This study investigated the effect of organizational culture on firm performance in the restaurant industry. Despite the importance of organizational culture in the organizational functioning, empirical evidence for the organizational culture-performance relationship remains fragmented. The inconsistency in the literature was aroused from a lack of theoretical development, a negligence of industry-specific factors, a small sampling issue, and a lack of longitudinal examination. Therefore, this study proposed to use text analysis in measuring organizational culture and examined the organizational culture-restaurant performance with a consideration of moderating effect of service orientation, franchising, and economic condition. This study found that different organizational culture influences restaurant performance differently. Specifically, the result of this study reveals that: clan culture immediately increases restaurant productivity; adhocracy culture decreases restaurant growth; and hierarchy immediately decreases restaurant productivity. In terms of moderating role of service orientation, this study found that: that tangible service orientation positively moderates both hierarchy culture-profitability and hierarchy culture-productivity relationships. This result implies that tangible service orientation works better with the hierarchy culture in improving restaurant performance than intangible service orientation. As for the moderating effect of franchising on the organizational culture-performance relationship, this study found that franchising positively moderates the clan culture-profitability relationship and the clan culture-productivity relationship. This result implies that operational and economic benefit of franchising could be passed on to create synergetic effect with the clan culture and maximize the positive clan-productivity relationship while offset the clan-profitability relationship. Last, this study found that recession positively moderates the hierarchy culture-profitability relationship and the hierarchy culture-productivity relationship. Theoretically, this study contributes to the literature by: providing logical link between the organizational culture and firm performance; providing empirical evidence that reveals the performance implication of the organizational culture; and by using alternative organizational culture measurements based on text analysis of firms’ 10K filings. Practically, this study offers insightful implications for industry professionals in understanding the effect of organizational culture on restaurant performance. Human Resources Management Food and Hospitality Services Hospitality Management Organizational Culture Firm Performance Restaurant Industry Service Orientation Franchising Recession
7	<strong>Essays on Government Policy and Food Safety</strong> Hyejin Yim (16555122) 17 July 2023 (has links) <p>Food safety is important to prevent foodborne illnesses that can negatively affect public health and the economy. Preventative measures can be taken by government agencies, food-related workers, and consumers to reduce the occurrence of such illnesses. This paper examines the impact of government policies on food safety from the perspective of consumers, restaurant employees and employers, and food processing workers. The first essay explores how food safety recalls affect consumer behavior. The second essay studies the impact of minimum wage policies on service quality in the restaurant industry. The third essay investigates the effect of minimum wage policies on product food safety in the meat and poultry processing industry. </p> Food and hospitality services Agricultural economics Health economics Labour economics Food Safety Minimum Wage Policy Worker Productivity Food Recall Consumer Behavior
8	Solo Diners' Motives, Preferences, and Behavioral Intentions in Restaurant Dining EunSol Her (8811905) 07 May 2020 (has links) Driven by a growth of single-person households and individualized lifestyles, solo dining in restaurants is an increasingly recognizable trend. However, little is known about solo diners’ motives and preferences in on- and off-premises restaurant dining and the subsequent behavioral intentions. In order to enhance the understanding of solo diners’ motives, preferences, and behavioral intentions in restaurant dining, this dissertation proposed and completed three studies related to solo (vs. group) diners’ menu-decision making process, solo (vs. group) diners’ service mode-decision making process, and a restaurant scale development for solo diner friendliness. Specifically, Study 1 examined the effect of dining social context (solo vs. group) on healthy or indulgent menu item decisions using self-control dilemmas and temporal construal theory as a theoretical framework. Findings revealed that solo diners showed less preferences for indulgent menu items because of a more utilitarian (i.e., less hedonic) consumption orientation than group diners, and that solo diners showed more preferences for healthy menu items than group diners when the menu included nutrition information such as calories, fat, and sodium. Study 2 examined the effect of dining social context (solo vs. group) on off-site over on-site dining intentions based on three mediators and the moderating role of self-determination using the self-determination theory. Findings revealed that, in the self-determined condition, solo diners showed more preferences for off-premises dining than group diners via greater convenience-seeking and polychronicity-seeking tendencies and lower anticipated enjoyment of on-premises dining. In the context-determined condition, solo diners showed more preferences for off-premises dining than group diners only via polychronicity-seeking and anticipated enjoyment of on-premises dining, and the effects were smaller. Lastly, Study 3 developed and validated a Solo Diner Friendliness (SoDF) scale that measured restaurant menu and service dimensions important for solo diners’ enjoyment as well as restaurant revisit intentions. The SoDF scale provided nine items under three factors, namely, <i>Inconspicuousness</i>, <i>Proper Service</i>, and <i>Healthy Menu Items</i>, that are valid and reliable measurements for future research and restaurant operators. Altogether, this dissertation offered theoretical and practical implications regarding how solo diners differed from group diners on various motivational and behavioral perspectives in on- and off-premises restaurant dining.<br> Food and Hospitality Services Hospitality Management Solo dining Eating alone Restaurant Healthy menu choices Nutrition information Off-premises dining Self-Determination Theory Scale development
9	Black Food Trucks Matter: A Qualitative Study Examining The (Mis)Representation, Underestimation, and Contribution of Black Entrepreneurs In The Food Truck Industry Ariel D Smith (14223191) 11 August 2023 (has links) <p>Food trucks have become increasingly popular over the last decade following the Great Recession of 2008. Scholars have begun to study the food truck phenomenon, its future projected trajectory, and even positioning it within social justice discourse along cultural lines; however, scholarship has yet to address the participation of Black entrepreneurs in the food truck industry.</p> <p><br></p> <p>The objective of this dissertation is to expand the perception of Black food entrepreneurs within the food truck industry by interrogating how Black food truck owners are misrepresented, under analyzed, and underestimated. Using a series of interdisciplinary qualitative methods including introspective analysis, thematic coding analysis, and case studies, I approach this objective by addressing three questions. First, I analyze movies and television to understand where Black-owned food trucks are represented in popular culture and how they are depicted. In doing so, we come to understand that Black business representation, specifically Black food truck representation consistently falls victim to negative stereotypes. These stereotypes can influence the extent to which Black food truck owners are taken seriously and seen as legitimate business leaders in their community. Second, I interview 16 Black food truck entrepreneurs to understand why the mobile food industry appealed to them and how it has become a platform for them to explore other opportunities. Finally, I review eight cities that have launched Black food truck festivals and parks within the last 6 years to gain an understanding of the collective power wielded by Black food truck owners and its impact Black communities. Moreover, this dissertation challenges the myth that collectivism does not exist among Black entrepreneurs and the Black community broadly.</p> Business systems in context Food and hospitality services Business and labour history Entrepreneurship Cinema studies Screen media Digital heritage Heritage and cultural conservation Heritage collections and interpretations Social and cultural anthropology Urban community development Sociology of inequalities Urban sociology and community studies Media studies Consumption and everyday life Cultural and creative industries Cultural studies of nation and region Culture, representation and identity Screen and media culture Food Truck food trucks Black owned Black owned food truck mobile food street food street food vending street food entrepreneurship Black food Black food truck studies food truck studies African American Studies African American foodways Black foodways Black food entrepreneurship Black movies Black television The Food Truck Scholar The Food Truck Scholar Podcast Black business Black businesses Barbershop 3 The Last OG The Chi Think Like a Man food truck festivals food truck park foodtruck Roi Choi The Great Food Truck Race Chef Chef movie Black representation Black men Black women Black men representation Black women representation critical race theory case study introspective analysis Black entrepreneurs African American entrepreneurs food truck industry mobile food vending Black food truck owner Black food truck entrepreneur food truck owner food truck operator food trucker Black food trucker African American food truck owner African American food trucker food truck podcast food truck show storytelling African American storytelling Black studies africana studies entrepreneurial storytelling food studies Black food studies African American food studies enterprise food truck enterprise Black food trucks matter Black businesses matter Buy Black Black dollars Black economics Black dollar soul food southern studies Black diaspora \

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