engleski

Examining Brand Equity in Restaurant Firms: A Gender Approach among Young Consumers

Brand equity has received and increased interest in the most recent tourism and hospitality research (Köseoglu et al., 2019 ; Martínez & Nishiyama, 2019), including restaurant industry (Rodríguez-López et al., 2020). The concept is understood as an incremental value that consumers attach to a product/service owing to its brand (Pappu et al., 2006). In the restaurant context, it is associated with a strong service and product performance (Kim & Kim, 2004). The aim of this work is to understand how young consumers perceive overall brand equity of fast-food restaurant brands, following the conceptualization proposed by Yoo and Donthu (2001). In particular, more than 450 students from a Croatian university participated in this research. University students are frequent customers of this type of restaurants and therefore represent one of its most important market segments (Qin & Prybutok, 2008). The role of gender has also been considered as research findings on gender in restaurant industry are still inconclusive (Okumus et al., 2018). Results reveal moderate levels of fast- food brand equity assessment among Croatian students. Higher scores are obtained among female students, being differences statistically significant for some items. The study should be replicated during or after the current pandemic to corroborate its impact.

brand equity, restaurant industry, young consumers, gender

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