An Assessment of Social Media Platforms on Guests’ Choice of Fine Dining Restaurants in Selected Cities in Kenya

Abstract

Despite the popularity of Social Media Platforms, limited data and studies have assessed the influence of Social Media Platforms on guests' choice of fine dining restaurants. Fine dining restaurants are defined as exceptional restaurants from regular restaurants in terms of food, pricing, staff training, and level of service. The objective of this study was to assess the influence of Social Media Platforms on guests’ choice of fine dining restaurants in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu Cities. Four specific objectives of the study were formulated. The first objective was to assess the influence of Social Media Platforms on guests' choice of fine dining restaurants. The second objective was to assess the moderating influence of socio-demographic factors on Social Media Platforms on guests’ choice of fine dining restaurants. The third objective was to investigate the moderating influence of individual factors on Social Media Platforms on guests’ choice of fine dining restaurants. The fourth objective was to determine the joint influence of Social Media Platforms, socio-demographic factors, and individual factors on guests’ choice of fine dining restaurants. The Pragmatism philosophical stance influenced doing a mixed-method (concurrent nested/embedded) survey. The study was carried out in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu Cities. These locations have the highest number of fine dining restaurants besides being a metropolitan tourist destination. Both Mombasa and Kisumu cities had four fine dining restaurants each and were included in the study. Nairobi city had 36 fine dining restaurants and a simple random sampling technique was used to select four study units. Data were collected using questionnaires from 307 guests and 36 managers. All the respondents were purposively sampled. A combination of scheduled online and physical interviews were conducted with the 36 managers. Four null hypotheses were formulated and either accepted or rejected at 0.05p-value with corresponding t-statistics at n-1 degree of freedom. To enhance the reliability and validity of the research instruments, piloting was done in similar study units but not included in the actual study. Ethical considerations were observed to protect the rights and confidentiality of the respondents. Qualitative data were organized into categories, themes, sub-themes, and concepts for interpretation. The qualitative results revealed the most popular Social Media Platforms. Further verified was the presence of influence of Social Media Platforms on guests' choice of fine dining restaurants with about two-thirds of the guests, as middle-aged married men. The Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS version 22 to generate descriptive statistics, inferential, statistics, and regression analysis. Revealed were significant positive effects of Social Media Platforms on explained variations of about 32% on guests' choice of fine dining restaurants. Also revealed were insignificant effects of social demographic factors on guests' use of Social Media Platforms to choose fine dining restaurants but significant positive effects of individual factors on guests’ use of Social Media Platforms in the choice of fine dining restaurants. The study concluded that Social Media Platforms significantly influence guests' choice of fine-dining restaurants. Potential guests are likely to trust reviews and comments posted by previous customers to make decisions Managers and owners of fine dining restaurants should install infrastructure that enables guests to use Social Media Platforms. This study contributes to the understanding of theories of consumer behavior from the perspective of fine dining restaurants. Also provided is knowledge for sharing with stakeholders and for policy developments.