Abstract:
This study aims to examine the impact of perceived usefulness and source credibility of online restaurant reviews on tourism customer satisfaction. The samples used in the study are tourists who used to search and read reviews on social media and used to go to restaurants located in Chiang Rais attractions. The sample size in this study is 375 respondents. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. The descriptive statistics applied in this research are percentage, frequency, means, weighted mean score, standard deviation, factor analysis and One-Way ANOVA.
The results show that the majority of respondents who used to search and read reviews on social media before going to restaurants located in Chiang Rais attractions are females. Most study respondents are aged 21 30. Most respondents occupation is employees. In terms of the average monthly income, a large proportion of respondents earn more than 30,000 bath and the majority of respondents obtain a bachelors degree. Most participants searched the restaurant information on Facebook in order to review the atmosphere of restaurant. Based on statistical analysis, the results indicate that most experiences with respect to reading restaurant reviews on social media of tourists consisting of (1) reviews were useful for making decisions in using restaurant services, (2) received important information from reading other peoples reviews, and (3) realized more confidence when read reviews before going to use restaurant services, respectively. In terms of satisfaction, the results reveal that tourists were (1) satisfied a chosen restaurant which they reviewed before using services, (2) satisfied atmosphere of a chosen restaurant which they reviewed before using services, and (3) satisfied a chosen restaurants services which they reviewed before using services, respectively.
According to factor analysis, the findings show two factors consisting of (1) source credibility factor and (2) information usefulness factor. Based on the regression analysis, the results indicate that source credibility and information usefulness are significantly related to tourism customer satisfaction. The results from hypothesis testing by using One-Way ANOVA also reveal that gender, age, average monthly income and education level are significantly related to customers experience in reading online restaurant reviews. Moreover, gender, age, average monthly income and education level are also significantly related to tourism customer satisfaction in using restaurant services after reading online restaurant reviews on social media.