Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the impact of product and service quality on customer surprise and delight, revisit intention, and SNS word-of-mouth (WOM) intention in the context of franchise restaurants in Korea, focusing on Chinese tourists' experiences. This analysis provides strategic insights into improving customer experiences and driving positive behavioral outcomes within the franchise foodservice sector. Research Design and Methodology: Data were collected from 395 Chinese tourists who visited Korean franchise restaurants using a self-administered questionnaire approach and analyzed with SmartPLS 4.0. Reliability, convergent and discriminant validity were assessed using measurement model. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation model. Results: This study verified that customer’s service experience affects customer surprise and delight, which in turn is an important factor in increasing revisit intention and SNS WOM and supports the SOR framework that explains these relationships. In other words, this study presented a model that expands the traditional service quality → customer satisfaction → behavioral intention framework by including surprise and delight. The study also revealed that both product quality and service quality positively influence customer delight. Furthermore, customer surprise and delight significantly influence revisit intention and SNS WOM. The findings suggest that enhancing product and service quality can lead to higher levels of customer surprise and delight and greater likelihood of revisits and positive online feedback.