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Attitude toward social Attitude

toward social
media reviews and restaurant media reviews

visit intention:
a Bangladeshi perspective
Nurun Naher Popy Received 23 March 2020
Revised 28 June 2020
Department of Business Administration, East West University, 21 August 2020
Dhaka, Bangladesh, and 6 September 2020
Accepted 8 September 2020
Tauhid Ahmed Bappy
Department of Business Administration,
Bangladesh Army University of Science and Technology, Saidpur, Bangladesh

Abstract
Purpose – While the usage of social media reviews has become increasingly popular in recent years, few
studies in this context of Bangladesh have investigated its impact on restaurant visit intention. Therefore, this
study aims to explain the role of attitude toward social media reviews in customers’ restaurant visit intention
from the perspective of Bangladesh. In doing so, predictors of attitude toward social media reviews were also
ascertained and their indirect effects on restaurant visit intention were investigated.
Design/methodology/approach – A survey questionnaire was administered to 300 university students. A
six-factor based measurement model was proposed, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used in
testing the hypotheses represented by the model. Furthermore, a focus group discussion with 12 respondents
was also held to assess how negative reviews on social media affect the customers’ restaurant visit intention.
Findings – This study reveals that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, trustworthiness and
information quality of social media reviews are positively related to attitude toward using positive social media
reviews for choosing a restaurant. Furthermore, attitude toward positive social media reviews directly
contributes to the intention to visit restaurants. Besides, attitude toward social media reviews fully mediates
the relationship of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and trustworthiness with restaurant visit
intention, whereas it partially mediates the relationship between information quality and restaurant visit
intention. Besides, results from focus group discussion revealed that customers typically trust negative
reviews which reduce their intent to visit restaurants.
Research limitations/implications – The samples chosen for this study belong only to a particular stratum
of the population (students from a specific institution/university). Hence, the outcomes should be generalized
with caution.
Practical implications – This study provides practical guidelines for the restaurant marketers to formulate
improved strategic decisions by tracking the restaurant customers’ attitudes, behavioral intentions, sentiments
and share of voice on social media platforms. The results of this study will encourage the restaurant marketers to
build sustainable relationships with influential food bloggers to spawn positive electronic word of mouth (e-WOM).
Originality/value – This is one of the first studies in Bangladesh that have covered up a timely and
untouched research area, providing empirical evidence regarding the effects of attitude toward social media
reviews on restaurant visit intent in the context of a South Asian country like Bangladesh.
Keywords Attitude, Social media review, Restaurant, Behavioral intention, e-WOM
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
The use of social media to influence consumer behavior has been a global marketing trend
over the years, causing a notable transformation in the ways consumers undertake purchase
decisions (Zhang et al., 2017; Appel et al., 2020). Increasingly, the emergence of social media
South Asian Journal of Business
Studies
We acknowledge the proofreading support that we received from our honorable teacher. © Emerald Publishing Limited
2398-628X
Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest. DOI 10.1108/SAJBS-03-2020-0077
SAJBS has shifted the power from companies to consumers (Santini et al., 2020), allowing the latter to
share their consumption experiences with others via online/social networking platforms, a
phenomenon which is popularly known as electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) (Rosario et al.,
2020; Sanchez et al., 2020). e-WOM on social media has, recently, paved the way for consumers
to rely more on “F-Factors” (friends, families, Facebook fans, followers) for consumption
decisions, rendering the traditional form of marketing communications inefficacious (Kotler
et al., 2016; Li et al., 2020). In consequence, consumers, all over the world, are positively
evaluating the user-generated contents on social media, which is subsequently affecting their
behavioral intention (Batra and Keller, 2016; Oliveira and Casais, 2019).
In particular, the role of social media reviews in shaping customers’ behavioral intention is
more pronounced in the Asian tourism and hospitality sectors since the consumers in this
region are more prone to take collective consumption decisions (Hofstede, 2011; Hua et al.,
2017; Gupta, 2019). Therefore, unveiling why customers from this region form positive
attitude toward social media reviews and how their behavioral intention can be enhanced in
the hospitality sector are likely to be a topic of considerable significance in the promising
hospitality marketing setting (Chen and Law, 2016).
Bangladesh, one of the eminent frontier markets in South Asia, has portrayed a promising
growth in the hotel and restaurant sector in the past few years. In FY19, the country achieved
7.57% growth in this sector, contributing BDT 79 billion to the economy (Bangladesh
Economic Review, 2019). Similar to the growth of the restaurant sector, the country has also
experienced a 9.7% surge in social media users in 2020 compared to 2019. This has indirectly
reinforced the restaurant industry because Bangladeshi customers, these days, are counting
on social media reviews before visiting restaurants (Rudro, 2017). As a result, the acceptance
of collaborative rating platforms, such as Trip Advisor or Yelp, has gained significant
momentum (Bhuyan and Rahman, 2015; Kotler et al., 2016). Besides, social media food review
groups in Bangladesh, such as Food Bank, Food Bloggers, have opened up new doors for the
diners to evaluate and discuss the offerings/services of the restaurants with others, which, in
turn, are guiding their restaurant visit behavior (Khan, 2014; Saleh, 2018). Furthermore, the
persuasive power of YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and other online-rating platforms in
influencing restaurant consumer behavior is of paramount importance in this era of cutthroat
competition (Hildebrand and Schlager, 2019; Li et al., 2020)
Realizing the trends and figures as mentioned above, academicians all over the world have
started investigating the role of social media reviews/e-WOM in determining customers’
intention. Previously, Erkan and Evan (2016) ascertained how social media conversations in
the United Kingdom affect the consumers’ purchase intention. They found that quality, utility
and trustworthiness of social media information are the focal antecedents of customers’
attitude, e-WOM engagement and purchase intention (Erkan and Evans, 2016). However,
their study did not evaluate purchase intention from the perspective of any hospitality sector
such as hotel, restaurants, to name a few. Besides, they recommended the use of additional
variables to determine customers’ behavioral intent from divergent context. On the other
hand, Kim et al. (2016) examined how social media influences restaurant performance and
found that positive social media ratings or favorable reviews enhance the restaurants’ sales,
profits and the number of guests. However, their findings were specific to only one luxury
restaurant chain in the United States. As a result, replication studies in Bangladeshi contexts
are required to boost the extant body of knowledge because the research findings obtained
from developed countries (such as UK and USA) might not be entirely generalized in South
Asian context (Talukder and Ryeow, 2007).
Although several aspects of social media reviews are continuously being researched all
over the world in recent times, the role of visitors’ attitude concerning positive social media
reviews in their subsequent restaurant visit intent has received little attention in the context
of Bangladesh. In this country, studies on the restaurant sector primarily focused on
customer satisfaction, loyalty, perceptions, physical environment and service quality Attitude
attributes, to name a few (Islam et al., 2018; Mannan et al., 2019; and Uddin, 2019). toward social
Nevertheless, those studies did not address the issues of e-WOM on social media and
customers’ restaurant choice decisions. These lacunae in the existing pieces of literature have
media reviews
encouraged the researchers to make a dent in the drought.
Therefore, this study aims to answer three research questions: (1) What are the
antecedents of customers’ attitude toward positive social media reviews? (2) Is there any
direct effect of attitude toward positive social media reviews on customers’ intent to visit
restaurants? (3) Do perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, trust and information quality
indirectly affect restaurant visit intention through attitude toward positive social media
reviews? For the empirical investigation of these research questions, an extended version of
the “Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)” has been proposed in this study in light of prior
pieces of literature. Besides, the present research also qualitatively discusses how negative e-
WOM influences customers’ restaurant selection decision.
The paper has been structured in the following manner: first, the authors conducted a
literature review, followed by hypotheses development. Subsequently, research methodology
has been discussed. Next, the findings of this paper have been reported, followed by
discussion, theoretical, managerial and social implications. Finally, the authors have
highlighted the limitations and future directions of this paper with a few closing notes.

2. Literature review
2.1 Role of social media reviews
Social networking platforms enable the users to communicate easily with each other and
provide the marketers substantial power to influence and interact with customers (Appel
et al., 2020). It also encompasses a combination of user-generated contents posted on blogs,
content communities, social platforms, rating-sites and virtual social worlds which capacitate
their adopters to build and continue a community (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010; Pitt, 2012;
Plangger, 2012). With the rise of social media platforms, such as Facebook, YouTube,
Instagram and Twitter, consumers are not only playing the role of passive receptors of
advertising messages but are turning out to be vivid brand advocates (Heinonen, 2011; Kotler
et al., 2016; Sanchez et al., 2020). These days, while searching and adopting specific products
or services, social media user reviews have become a progressively suitable technique (Batra
and Keller, 2016; Rosario et al., 2019; Dai et al., 2020). People tend to count on friends, families
and others on the social network when intending to adopt particular products or while
visiting certain places (Ho-Dac et al., 2013; Hennig-Thurau et al., 2015, Baker et al., 2016; Kupor
and Tormala, 2018). To this end, recent surveys have illustrated that customers show greater
interest to rely on online recommendations by other customers who used certain products
than the recommendations presented on websites by companies (Puccinelli et al., 2015;
Magnani, 2020). Moreover, Chen and Xie (2008) acknowledge that online customer reviews
can enhance a firm’s sales if the product characteristics match the needs of the customers.
Therefore, various companies have prioritized generating, arraying and exhibiting social
media reviews to stimulate customers to purchase their offerings (Babic Rosario et al., 2016).
On the contrary, it has been found that unfavorable customer reviews become viral instantly,
resulting in noteworthy negative effects on the service providers (Hu and Kim, 2018).
According to Nielsen Insights, 22% consumers expressed their unwillingness to purchase
after being exposed to poor brand ratings on social media and this tendency accelerates if the
consumers encounter three poor reviews regarding a brand (Watts, 2020).

2.2 Study area

The reasons for choosing Bangladesh as a context of the present study are multifarious.
Bangladesh is, at present, witnessing a substantial surge in social media users (HYPE, 2020).
SAJBS Existing reports claim that the number of social media users in the country has reached
approximately 36 million in 2020, a 9.1% up from 2019 (Kemp, 2020). Besides, the restaurant
sector in this country has also been rising considerably for several years now. As per industry
insiders, the size of this sector in Bangladesh presently stands at 4,500 crores (Abir, 2020).
Keeping these trends in view, a considerable number of studies have attempted to explore
what atmospheric elements influence customers’ choice for restaurants (Islam et al., 2018) and
what makes them satisfied about (Mannan et al., 2019) or loyal toward restaurants (Uddin,
2019). However, the critical issue of what determines Bangladeshi customers’ attitude toward
social media reviews and how attitude affects intention to visit restaurant has received
limited attention in the prevailing literatures.
In Bangladesh, the influence of social media platforms has brought in a new dimension to
how people visit restaurants (Shetu, 2020). In particular, over the past five years, the influence
of Facebook food review groups, YouTubers promoting restaurants in the capital Dhaka, has
changed the way restaurant owners think about their promotional campaigns and brand
presence in general (Rudro, 2017). A positive/negative review on a Facebook post from 2010
had little or no impact on the sales of restaurants in Bangladesh. However, fast-forwarding
ten years, disruptive changes in this sector can be witnessed. These days, the effect of social
media reviews has reached a point where restaurant owners have even sought to bribe the
Facebook group administrators to use these platforms to reach out to more people. The
reason is that the members of the Facebook group are heavily influenced by what they see in
these groups (Shetu, 2020). This trend is also supported by one of the studies which showed
that social media feedbacks motivate 37.9% of the Bangladeshi consumers to explore
different restaurants in the country (Rudra, 2017).
However, despite being an issue of significant importance, the research area of attitude
toward social media reviews and its effects on restaurant visit intention has remained pristine
from Bangladeshi perspective. Therefore, being inquisitive citizens of this country, the
researchers felt the urge to investigate this topic elaborately through this study.

2.3 Theoretical background

The authors of this study have adopted two dimensions, such as perceived usefulness and
perceived ease of use, from a renowned theoretical framework called “Technology
Acceptance Model” (TAM) to predict users’ attitude toward social media reviews and
subsequent behavioral intention (Davis et al., 1989). TAM model was inspired by two
preceding models such as “Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA)” and “Theory of Planned
Behavior (TPB)” developed by Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) and Ajzen (1991) respectively. Both
justified how attitude shapes behavioral intention (Hua et al., 2017). Therefore, our study
planned to include attitude as a mediating variable in the relationship of exogenous
constructs with behavioral intention.
In support of the use of TAM model constructs, the authors have several justifications.
First, the dimensions of TAM model were used by many scholars in the past as predictors of
attitude toward e-WOM/social media reviews (Hsu et al., 2013; Erkan and Evan, 2016;
Hussein and Hassan, 2017). Second, the reliability, validity and the predictive robustness of
the TAM model have been substantiated in several preceding literatures related to the use
of social media information/e-WOM (Tseng and Hsu, 2010; Abang Othman et al., 2017;
Singh and Srivastava, 2019). Third, although construct, such as customer engagement, is
aligned with e-WOM, recent meta-analysis reveals that in contradiction of common
knowledge, customer engagement does not significantly influence the company’s
performance through WOM (Santini et al., 2020). Hence, the TAM model, because of its
wide acceptability and robustness, was favored in place of alternative theories in predicting
the target constructs of this paper.
 Besides, this study also incorporated two additional constructs, such as trust and Attitude
information quality, to broaden the extant version of TAM. The insertion of two additional toward social
constructs in the TAM model can be justified based on antecedent studies. It has been
reported in prior studies that customer’s willingness and actual involvement in the e-WOM
media reviews
depends substantially on the trust and reliability of the source (Pan and Chiou, 2011; Farzin,
and Fattahi, 2018). Furthermore, it was found that if the information quality is
comprehensible, transparent, logical and bears satisfactory rationale to believe the
recommendations, restaurant visitors’ attitude toward the social media recommendations
becomes positive (Ing and Ming, 2018).

2.4 Conceptualization of the constructs

The constructs used in the analytical model of this study have been conceptualized in Table 1:

2.5 Hypotheses development

2.5.1 Perceived usefulness and attitude. Prior researches demonstrated the connection
between PU of social media referrals and ATT concerning utilizing social media reviews to
engage in a specific behavior (Davis et al., 1989). PU of social media positively impacted
Malaysian tourists’ attitude concerning the usage of social media as a mechanism for
choosing a tourism destination (Hua et al., 2017). Furthermore, Ing and Ming (2018) found PU
to be among the major forces affecting consumers’ attitude concerning bloggers’
recommendation posted on social media. Besides, PU of food bloggers’ referrals can
substantially influence customers’ attitudes and intention to visit/promote a restaurant
(Hanifati, 2015). However, his study could not adequately establish discriminant validity
between perceived usefulness and attitude because the results suggested that both the
constructs were measuring the same concept (Hanifati, 2015). Nevertheless, several authors,
such as Lin (2007), Casalo et al. (2011), and Webber (2013), discovered that customers typically
develop affirmative outlook if they consider the bloggers’ recommendation on social media to
be helpful. Hence, the researchers posit:
H1. Perceived usefulness of social media reviews influences the restaurant customers’
attitude toward the use of positive social media reviews for choosing restaurants.
2.5.2 Perceived ease of use and attitude. The influence of PEOU on ATT concerning an object
or behavior was analyzed in various antecedent scholarly works (David et al., 1989;
Brandyberry et al., 2010; Guritno and Sirigoringo, 2013; Lai, 2017). From the perspective of
social media, Lin (2007) found that a greater degree of PEOU of social media builds favorable
users’ attitude toward this platform. Similarly, Hua et al. (2017) verified that higher PEOU of
social media will result in increasing level of a positive attitude toward its utilization for
preferring travel destinations. Recently, authors, such as Setiawan and Setyawati (2020) and
Pitafi et al. (2020), provided empirical evidences regarding the positive relationship between
PEOU and attitude. In light of the above pieces of literature, the researchers can hypothesize:
H2. Perceived ease of use of social media reviews affects the restaurant customers’
attitude toward the use of positive social media reviews for choosing restaurants.
2.5.3 Trustworthiness and attitude. Trust in user-generated contents on social media
platforms is directly connected to the attitude concerning product or service referrals on
social networking sites (Eliott and Speck, 2005; Hsiao et al., 2010). According to Ayeh et al.
(2013), social media users’ perceived trustworthiness directly affects their attitude toward
utilizing user-generated contents for undertaking travel behaviors. Similarly, Ing and Ming
(2018) discovered that trustworthiness favorably affects consumers’ attitudes toward
blogger recommendations. Zainal et al. (2017) point toward the fact that when people have
SAJBS Perceived usefulness
Perceived ease of use
Trustworthiness
Information quality
Attitude toward social media
reviews
Restaurant visit intention
Table 1.
Operational definition
of the constructs
Perceived usefulness (PU) indicates how much a person considers the
utilization of any technological system to be useful and beneficial (Davis et al.,
1989). Lin (2007) is of the view that perceived usefulness with social media
may be characterized as the users’ ability to obtain the required information
from social media to improve their decisions. Concerning food blogging,
perceived usefulness implies the usefulness of the bloggers’ referrals to make
better buying decisions (Ing and Ming, 2018)
Perceived ease of use (PEOU) reflects a person’s ability to use any
technological application without much difficulty (Davis et al., 1989). PEOU of
social media can be conceptualized as the ability of users to use any social
media platform easily and without any trouble (Abang Othman et al., 2017). In
this paper, PEOU signifies how much restaurant customers consider it
effortless and uncomplicated to attain the desired information on foods and
restaurants from social media
Trust (TR) denotes “the perceived credibility and benevolence of the other
party” (Chellappa, 2008). In comparison to old-fashioned sources of media,
consumer reviews and suggestions posted on social media and other online
daises are presumed to have greater credibility and trustworthiness among
the mass audiences because they arrive from non-commercial resources (Lee
et al., 2011a, b; Hsu et al., 2013; Turcotte et al., 2015)
Information quality (IQ) is known to be a crucial construct used in the well-
known “information acceptance model” (Wang, 2016a, b; Erkan and Evan,
2016). Laudon and Laudon (2015) depicted that IQ relies upon on correctness,
reliability, constancy, comprehensiveness, validity, appropriateness and
openness of information. In the context the present study, IQ denotes “the
customers’ common perceptions concerning the quality of the content of food
reviews” (Wang and Lin, 2011)
Schiffman and Kanuk (2010) defined attitude as a learned tendency to act or
behave positively or negatively concerning a selected object consisting of
product, brand, service, issues, Internet site and information, among others.
According to Ajzen (1991), how much a person exhibits affirmative or
unfavorable feelings regarding any object/behavior can be attributed as
attitude. In our paper, attitude pinpoints how much the food-review reader
develops a positive stance on information posted by the food review
providers on social media (Hanifati, 2015)
Behavioral intention is concerned with the probability that an individual will
carry out a particular action (restaurant visit, for example) or engage in a
specific behavior about the attitude object (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2010). In
the context of a restaurant, behavior intention points toward the likelihood of
a food lover visiting a restaurant frequently (Han et al., 2009)

trust in the credibility and integrity of the e-WOM contents, they will develop a positive
attitude concerning e-WOM. Likewise, several prior scholars, such as Jin et al. (2009), and
Dutta and Bhat (2016), established the relationship between trust and attitude using objective
evidence. Therefore, the following hypothesis addresses the above discussions:
H3. Trustworthiness of social media reviews is related to the restaurant customers’
attitude toward the use of positive social media reviews for choosing restaurants.
2.5.4 Information quality and attitude. Individual’s perceptions of information quality can
substantially evoke their attitude toward website (Priyadarshini et al., 2017). Consumers are
typically inclined toward products or services with added enthusiasm when they find that
information being posted on social media corresponds to what they require (Hsu et al., 2013).
Indeed, several studies in the past have identified that the information quality of social media
favorably influences the customers’ attitude toward the usefulness of e-WOM information as
well as consumers’ intention to purchase (Park et al., 2007; Lee and Shin, 2014). Besides, Wang Attitude
(2014) advocated that argument quality of e-WOM favorably affects tourists’ attitude toward toward social
a destination. Furthermore, Ing and Ming (2018) showed that information quality,
particularly those presented by a proficient blogger, is decisive in shaping positive
media reviews
consumer attitudes. Therefore, the researchers can postulate:
H4. Information quality is related to the restaurant customers’ attitude toward the use of
positive social media reviews for choosing restaurants.
2.5.5 Attitude and visit intention. Attitude concerning an object or behavior as a compelling
predictor of consumer’s behavioral intention has been utilized by several widely recognized
and frequently used models such as “TRA”, “TPB” and “TAM” (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975;
Ajzen, 1991; Davis et al., 1989). From the perspective of Malaysia, Hua et al. (2017) identified
that attitude toward utilizing social media as a tool of selecting travel destination is positively
correlated with the visitors’ intention while visiting the destination. Furthermore, authors,
such as Chu et al. (2013), Erkan and Evans (2016), and Ing and Ming (2018), empirically
established that attitude toward positive social media information posted by bloggers (e-
WOM) works as a critical antecedent in stimulating consumers’ purchase intentions.
Therefore, the researchers can hypothesize:
H5. Favorable attitude toward positive social media reviews will result in greater
restaurant visit intention.
2.5.6 Attitude as a mediating construct. In several buyer behavior, social science, as well as
marketing-related studies, the scholars have considered “attitude” to be a critical mediating
construct to predict the influence of numerous antecedent variables on behavioral intention
(Nistor and Heymann, 2010; Osman et al., 2016). Zainal et al. (2017) confirms that trust toward
the sources of e-WOM and the traveler’s intention to comply with them can be partially
mediated by attitude. Hua et al. (2017) demonstrated that the attitude regarding the usage of
social media mediates the positive effect of PU and PEOU on the “behavioral intention” of the
tourists. Similarly, it has been verified that attitude is the mediating variable through which
information quality directly affects “purchase intention” (Ing and Ming, 2018). Therefore, the
next set of hypotheses, with attitude toward positive social media reviews as a mediator
variable, is formulated as follows:
H6. Attitude toward using positive social media reviews mediates between:
(1) The influence of perceived usefulness of social media reviews on restaurant visit
intention.
(2) The influence of perceived ease of use of social media reviews on restaurant visit
intention.
(3) The influence of trust in social media reviews on restaurant visit intention.
(4) The influence of information quality of social media reviews on restaurant visit
intention.

Based on the above discussions, the researchers have put forward a conceptual framework
which has been demonstrated in Figure 1.

3. Methodology
3.1 Research design
A descriptive study based on a structured survey questionnaire was employed in this
research. As the researchers approached the respondents only once, this may be referred to as
SAJBS Perceived
Mediator: H6 (a-d)

Usefulness H1

H2
Perceived Ease of
Use Attitude toward H5
Positive Social Restaurant
H3 Media Reviews Visit Intention
Trustworthiness
Figure 1. H4
Analytical model Information Quality

a cross-sectional research design. As a supplementary study, this research also included a

focus group of 12 members to qualitatively examine restaurant customers’ responses to
“negative” social media reviews.

3.2 Measurement and scaling

This study used multiple indicators to measure each latent construct. These indicators were
assessed with a “Likert scale” having five response options such as “1: Strongly Disagree”, “2:
Strongly Disagree”, “3: Neutral”, “4: Agree” and “5: Strongly Agree”. The researchers
identified several questionnaire items meant for measuring different latent constructs. Most
of the observed variables were collected from precedent scholarly works and adapted
according to this paper’s requirements. The scales were validated with their level of
consistency measurements, such as composite reliability. All the latent constructs presented
an alpha value which exceeds the threshold level of 0.70. Latent constructs, such as PU, PEOU
and TR, were measured via four indicators each. Conversely, information quality, attitude
and restaurant visit intention were measured by using three items each. Appendix 1
illustrates all the scale statements and their sources as well as references.

3.3 Sources of data

This study’s primary data were collected from university students using survey methods and
focus group discussions. Initially, customer responses about the variables were obtained
using a survey on the spot during data collection. Later, to conduct a complementary study, a
focus group discussion was also arranged over an online meeting platform known as “Google
Meet” to get insights about how restaurant customers respond to negative social media
reviews.

3.4 Target population

This study includes the following target population:
(1) Element: 1200 male and female university students with access to social media food
review pages and groups.
(2) Sampling Unit: Restaurant visitors.
(3) Extent: Department of Business Administration (DBA), East-West University,
Dhaka, Bangladesh
(4) Time: March 2019 to June 2019 for conducting the survey and May 2020 to July 2020
for executing a focus group interview.
3.5 Sampling technique and sample size Attitude
The authors utilized a non-probability sampling technique called “judgmental sampling” in toward social
this study. Based on the researchers’ judgment, a group of students was purposefully selected
from “East-West University, Dhaka.” Ease of data accessibility was one of the prime reasons
media reviews
for choosing this university. Besides, based on prior studies and authors’ personal experience,
it was felt that most students of this university are active on social media and belong to an age
group of 18 and 26 (Parvin, 2017). In addition, it is well documented that private university
students and age group of 18–24 constitute most of social media users in Bangladesh (Kim,
2019). Thus, it was logical to use university students as respondents of this study.
Other reasons for using non-probability sampling technique in this study include:
(1) It is less costly, easy to access and quick (Malhotra and Das, 2015).
(2) Circumspect use of non-probability sampling leads to dependable results (Cooper and
Schindler, 2011).
(3) It is desirable to use non-probability sampling when the authors aim to predict the
relationships in a conceptual model (Hulland et al., 2017).
The aforementioned reasons motivated the authors to opt for judgmental sampling as this
work mainly predicts and illustrates the relationships among several constructs without
drawing wide-ranging population inferences.
The sample size turned out to be 300 respondents for conducting the survey. To calculate
the sample size, the researchers followed the threshold suggested by Malhotra and Dash
(2015). According to Malhotra and Dash (2015), “structural equation models (SEM) with five
or fewer constructs, each measured with three items, and communalities of at least 0.5 must
be predicted with a sample size of minimum 200”. In this study, six latent variables were
evaluated with no less than three items for data analysis. Hence, the researchers believe that
the sample size chosen for the authors will serve the purpose of this study. Furthermore, for
conducting a focus group discussion, the sample size of 12 participants was selected as per
the guidelines of Malhotra and Das (2015).

3.6 Questionnaire/pre- and pilot test

In this study, a prearranged survey questionnaire was administered by the researchers.
Initially, the survey questionnaire was pre-tested using a debriefing method with 15
respondents to confirm that the participants comprehend the survey items without
ambiguity (Wills, 2004). Participants were closely monitored while they were completing the
survey and subsequently were requested to express where they found difficulties in
understanding the questions. Based on the insights obtained from pre-testing, the wordings
and sequence of the questions were designed.
Besides, the authors conducted a pilot study to detect the appropriateness or reliability of
the research mechanism and evaluate the viability of the full scale (Teijlingen and Hundley,
2001). The sample size for the pilot test was 30 randomly selected participants who constitute
roughly 10% of the total sample considered for this study (Connelly, 2008). In the pilot study,
the scales’ internal consistency was found to be greater than 0.7.
In this study, the questionnaire comprises various open-ended questions to acquire initial
insights regarding the problem and obtain several demographic and psychographic
characteristics of the respondents. Likert scale statements used in this research were non-
forced with a neutral option. Furthermore, those statements had odd-numbered and balanced
options with an equal number of favorable and unfavorable response categories. The survey
and open-ended interview questions were initially developed in English. They were
subsequently transformed in the Bengali language to ensure the unmistakable
SAJBS comprehension of questionnaire items by the respondents. The researchers approached 385
students at the outset because of a 95% confidence interval, equal proportions in the
population, i.e. 0.5, and a 5% error in sampling. From them, 53 students were found unaware
of social media food review groups. Among the rest, 300 respondents were found to be aware
of social review groups, and 31 questionnaires were incomplete. Consequently, those
incomplete questionnaires were removed.

3.7 Common method bias

To lessen common method bias (CMB), the authors mixed up the ordering of survey
indicators and shortened the scale length in light of the suggestions provided by Podsakoff
et al. (2003). Furthermore, the participants had been assured of the secrecy of their responses.
Also, to statistically detect CMB, the researchers relied upon “Harman’s single factor test”
(Harman, 1976). This method presumes that if one component does not result in most (50% or
more) of the covariance among the items and factors, CMB will not be a significant issue in the
measurement method (Podsakoff et al., 2003). This study revealed that the unrotated single
latent factor contributes 27.83% of the variance, which is less than 50%. Hence, CMB may
perhaps not generate significant problems in this paper.

3.8 Data analysis techniques

The researchers developed and evaluated a measurement model to validate the previously
established scales using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and investigated the postulated
relationships outlined in this study’s analytical model through path analysis. Therefore, the
researchers required an advanced statistical technique called SEM with the use of AMOS
graphics for conducting data analysis.

4. Findings
4.1 Sample profile
This study contains information on the respondents’ gender, age, marital status, religion,
study level, major, residence, family type, parental pressure, average monthly expenditure on
restaurant bill and per day social media usage hour (Appendix 2). Among the 300
respondents, 176 were male and 124 were females. The majority of the participants were
Muslims, unmarried, fell into the age range of 20–22. On average, most of the respondents
pass daily 2–3 h on social media, whereas most students spend BDT 1500–2000 on the
restaurant bills.

4.2 Measurement model

The researchers first attempted to confirm whether or not the measurement mechanism
employed in this paper is reliable and valid. In doing so, the measurement model is designed
in a manner so that six latent constructs are permitted to associate with each other and each of
the latent constructs is correlated with the designated observed variables but not with the
other items.
The researcher established a measurement model comprising of six factors to validate
several scales used in this study and thus conducted CFA to check the measurement model.
This CFA model was identified because each latent construct consists of at least three
indicator variables, and the degree of freedom was positive.
In this paper, the model fit indices of measurement model were ascertained. Table 2
demonstrates that the measurement model fits well with the data (Chi-square/df 5 1.865
CFI 5 0.963, GFI 5 0.910, NFI 5 0.924; RMSEA 5 0.054 and SRMR 5 0.039). These results
are considered acceptable as per the criteria of Hu and Bentler (1999), with an exception to chi-
square, which is significant. Bentler and Bonett (1980) discouraged the sole use of chi-square Attitude
in investigating the general model fit since chi-square is susceptible to change due to any toward social
specific change in sample size. Therefore, the researchers assessed other model fit indices and
found satisfactory results as evident from Table 2.
media reviews
Besides model-data fit, additional psychometric elements of the scales, such as composite
reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE), were evaluated. Composite reliability
was computed by “the squared sum of the individual item loadings divided by that squared
sum of the individual item loadings plus the sum of error variances for the measures”
(Malhotra and Dash, 2015). As evident from Table 3, all of the latent constructs’ composite
reliabilities surpassed the recommended threshold value of 0.70. Therefore, it may be said
that reliable scales have been used for carrying out this study.
Furthermore, the researcher calculated “AVE” by using the following formula suggested
by Malhotra and Dash (2015): “AVE 5 Sum of squared standardized loadings / (sum of
squared standardized loadings þ Sum of indicator measurement error)”.

Measure Estimate Threshold Interpretation

Chi square 324.553 – –

DF 174 – –
Chi square/DF 1.865 Between 1 and 3 Excellent
CFI 0.963 >0.95 Excellent
NFI 0.924 >0.90 Acceptable
GFI 0.910 >0.090 Acceptable Table 2.
SRMR 0.039 <0.08 Excellent Model fit indices for
RMSEA 0.054 <0.06 Excellent measurement model

Latent variables Indicators Loadings CR AVE

Perceived PU1 0.754* 0.884 0.657

Usefulness PU2 0.869*
PU3 0.831*
PU4 0.783*
Perceived PEOU1 0.801* 0.907 0.710
Ease of use PEOU2 0.872*
PEOU3 0.892*
PEOU4 0.801*
Trustworthiness TR1 0.802* 0.896 0.683
TR2 0.883*
TR3 0.842*
TR4 0.775*
Information IQ1 0.854* 0.901 0.751
Quality IQ2 0.888*
IQ3 0.858*
Attitude toward positive ATT1 0.729* 0.793 0.562
Social media reviews ATT3 0.792*
ATT4 0.725*
Restaurant VI1 0.845* 0.897 0.743
Visit intention VI2 0.889*
VI3 0.851* Table 3.
Note(s): The item ATT 2 was removed from this model due to poor loadings CFA for
* Significant at p < 0.05 measurement model
SAJBS As shown in Table 3, AVE scores associated with each construct were higher than the
threshold of 0.50, indicating reasonable convergent validity. Besides, all indicator loading
values were significant (p < 0.05) above the cutoff level of 0.708, providing further support for
convergent validity. However, the construct “attitude toward positive social media reviews”
was initially evaluated with four indicators. However, due to insignificant and low loadings
(0.477) of the item ATT 2, the author had to drop it to ensure satisfactory validity results
(Table 3).
As shown in Table 4, the Fornell and Larcker criterion presents proof for discriminant
validity because “the square root of AVE” (bolded diagonal elements) turned out to be larger
compared to the “correlation coefficients” (non-bolded elements) for all the constructs (Fornell
and Larcker, 1981). However, according to Henseler et al. (2015), the HTMT criterion performs
noticeably better than the Fornell–Larcker criterion for identifying discriminant validity.
This study conducted HTMT analysis and found that all the HTMT values are below the
cutoff point of 0.850 recommended by Henseler et al. (2015), which points toward acceptable
discriminant validity. Therefore, all the latent variables have been taken into consideration
for subsequent analysis. By and large, the measurement model is suitable after verifying the
model’s reliability and validity.
4.3 Structural model
In the subsequent point of this research, structural model was evaluated. Before testing the
hypotheses, the model fit indices for the structural model were investigated and found
suitable as per the criteria set by Hu and Bentler (1999). Table 5 outlines the results of model
fit indices for the structural model. After being assured of satisfactory structural model fit,
the researchers, in this stage, tested the hypotheses formulated for this study. The outputs of
hypothesis testing are demonstrated in Table 6 and Figure 2.
Table 6 suggests that the pathways from PU to ATT (β 5 0.253), PEOU to ATT
(β 5 0.383), TR to ATT (β 5 0.346) and IQ to ATT (β 5 0.240) are positive and each of these

Fornell and Larcker Criteria HTMT Analysis

Constructs PU PEOU TR IQ ATT VI Constructs PU PEOU TR IQ ATT VI
PU 0.810 PU
PEOU 0.216 0.843 PEOU 0.225
TR 0.122 0.205 0.826 TR 0.131 0.200
IQ –0.122 –0.146 0.110 0.867 IQ 0.125 0.146 0.106
Table 4.
Discriminant validity ATT 0.394 0.537 0.538 0.230 0.750 ATT 0.412 0.549 0.557 0.232
assessment VI 0.285 0.389 0.397 0.231 0.682 0.862 VI 0.292 0.395 0.407 0.227 0.845

Measure Estimate Threshold Interpretation

Chi square 5.993 – –

DF 4 – –
Chi square/DF 1.498 Between 1 and 3 Excellent
CFI 0.976 >0.95 Excellent
NFI 0.986 >0.95 Excellent
Table 5. GFI 0.967 >0.95 Excellent
Model fit indices for SRMR 0.021 <0.08 Excellent
structural model RMSEA 0.041 <0.06 Excellent
path estimates are significant at p < 0.05 level. As a result, authors can claim that higher PU, Attitude
PEOU, TR, IQ of social media reviews creates favorable ATT toward using positive social toward social
media reviews for restaurant selection. Likewise, it has been revealed that restaurant visit
intention (VI) enhances as a result of favorable ATT (β 5 0.630, p < 0.05). As a consequence,
media reviews
H1, H2, H3, H4 and H5 were substantially supported.
Furthermore, this research evaluated the mediating role of attitude toward using
positive social media reviews in the relationship of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of
use, trust and information quality with restaurant visit intention (H6 (a-d)). The authors
employed the “Model 4” of Hayes (2013) using the bias-corrected percentile bootstrapping
method with 5,000 resampling to evaluate the mediator in this research. Previous studies
clarified that if the indirect effect of exogenous construct on endogenous construct through
mediator appears to be significant, it can be stated that the mediation is possible (Preacher
and Hayes, 2008; Hayes, 2013). According to them, if zero (0) does not appear in the range of
lower limit (LL) and upper limit (UL) of the bootstrap confidence interval, then the path
from independent variable to a dependent variable through mediator should be considered
as significant (Preacher and Hayes, 2008; Hayes, 2013). As evident from Table 7, the
mediator “attitude toward using positive social media reviews” adequately fulfilled this
criterion since zero did not emerge between LL and UL confidence intervals, indicating a
statistically significant mediation effect. Therefore, it may be stated that several
antecedents, such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, trust and information
quality of social media reviews, indirectly affect restaurant visit intention through attitude
toward using positive social media reviews. Thus, hypotheses 6 (a-d) have been well
supported in this study.

Hypotheses Path Standardized β Decision

H1 PU → ATT 0.253* Supported

H2 PEOU → ATT 0.383* Supported
H3 TR → ATT 0.346* Supported Table 6.
H4 IQ → ATT 0.240* Supported Results of path
H5 ATT → VI 0.630* Supported analysis for structural
Note(s): *p < 0.05 (Statistically Significant); R250.472 (attitude); 0.504 (restaurant visit intention) model (H1-H5)

Perceived Usefulness

0.253*
Perceived
Ease of Use 0.383* 0.630* Restaurant Visit
Attitude toward Social
Media Review Intention
0.346*
Trustworthiness

0.240*

Information Quality
Figure 2.
Structural model
Note(s): *p < 0.05
SAJBS Indirect Lower Limit Upper Limit
Hypothesis Path effects (LL) (UL) Decision

H6(a) PU → ATT → VI 0.159* 0.097 0.226 Full Mediation

Supported
H6(b) PEOU → ATT → VI 0.242* 0.169 0.315 Full Mediation
Supported
H6(c) TR → ATT → VI 0.218* 0.157 0.284 Full Mediation
Supported
H6(d) IQ → ATT → VI 0.151* 0.083 0.225 Partial Mediation
Table 7. Supported
Specific indirect effects Note(s): *p < 0.05 (Statistically Significant)

The authors examined whether the exogenous constructs are still significantly related to the
endogenous constructs when the mediator is included in the model to ascertain the type of
mediation. As demonstrated in Table 8, the direct effect of perceived usefulness, perceived
ease of use and trust on restaurant visit intention turned out to be statistically insignificant
when the mediator (ATT) was added to the model, indicating full mediation. However, in the
presence of a mediator, the direct effect of information quality on restaurant visit intention is
statistically significant, indicating partial mediation.

4.4 The effect of negative e-WOM

Since the conceptual model used in this study did not discuss how customers respond to
negative social media reviews, the authors have decided to conduct a supplementary study
that involves a focus group of 12 students from East-West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The discussion was held through an online meeting platform known as Google Meet. The
respondents were asked several questions, such as what their opinion about negative e-WOM
is, why they feel that way, whether they desire to visit a restaurant after being exposed to
negative e-WOM regarding a particular restaurant, and why they intend to visit or do not
intend to visit. After conducting the focus group discussion, it has been felt that the
respondents trust the negative reviews on social media. As a result, respondents do not want
to visit a restaurant when exposed to negative social media reviews. Their feedbacks
matched with previous findings (Sparks et al., 2013). However, the authors found a
fascinating insight or an opposite reaction where three of the respondents acknowledged that
they feel curious after noticing a negative social media review of a particular restaurant and
feel an urge to visit that restaurant. Meanwhile, some other respondents indicated that if
particular restaurants post apologetic replies to unfavorable customer reviews, they will be
willing to visit those restaurants. A similar outcome was also revealed in the study conducted
by Fogel and Zachariah (2017).

Path Direct effect in the presence of mediator (ATT) Lower Limit (LL) Upper Limit UL)

PU → VI 0.035 0.050 0.121

PEOU → VI 0.061 0.027 0.149
Table 8. TR → VI 0.048 0.040 0.138
Direct effects in the IQ → VI 0.090* 0.010 0.140
presence of mediator Note(s): *p < 0.05 (Statistically Significant)
5. Discussion Attitude
This paper’s outputs have consolidated our perception and augmented our present toward social
knowledge that attitude toward using social media reviews is the broad intervening
mechanism through which PU, PEOU, TR and IQ of social media reviews can positively
media reviews
influence the restaurant visit intent of customers. It is encouraging to observe that the present
findings mirror those of the relevant antecedent studies. For instance, this study exhibits that
the attitude toward social media reviews is positively influenced by perceived usefulness and
perceived ease of use of the social media reviews. These results corroborate the outputs of the
previous studies conducted in this field (Webber, 2013; Guritno and Siringoringo, 2013;
Hanifati, 2015; Kim et al., 2016; Ing and Ming, 2018).
Moreover, the outcomes of the present study also maintain that the customers’ trust
influences their attitude toward positive social media reviews. This relationship is in line with
the prior studies conducted by Lee et al. (2011a, b), Hsu et al. (2013), Zainal et al. (2017), Ing and
Ming (2018) who stated that social media has become a credible platform for customers
attempting to seek advice from the relevant people of the brand community. Besides, the
present study established a connection between information quality and attitude toward
positive social media reviews. This result matches those witnessed in the earlier academic
papers of Park et al. (2007), Wang and Lin (2011), Lee and Shin (2014), Erkan and Evan (2016),
Ing and Ming (2018) who advocated that customers’ attitudes (either favorable or
unfavorable) are shaped based on quality information exposure.

6. Implications
6.1 Theoretical implications
This study has extended our theoretical knowledge about consumers’ attitudes toward social
media reviews or e-WOM in several ways. Most antecedent studies employed TAM model to
explain customers’ attitude toward e-WOM in the context of developed countries. This
research has supplemented the existing theories and pieces of literature by utilizing the TAM
model constructs for predicting customers’ attitudes toward social media reviews and their
subsequent behavioral intention in the context of a South Asian country like Bangladesh. In
this study, the authors have extended the TAM model by adding two additional constructs
(trust and information quality) and validated the whole model from the perspective of
Bangladeshi social media users’ perspective. The inclusion of these constructs revealed an
excellent model fit with our data (chi-square/df 5 1.498). Therefore, this study sheds light on a
theoretical framework that can be used in social media user behavior studies in future.

6.2 Managerial implications

The findings of this paper have vast managerial implications. As perceived usefulness is
directly related to customers’ attitude toward positive social media reviews, restaurant
owners should incorporate useful and customized contents on the social media platforms for
the customers to influence their attitude. In doing so, restaurant marketers can conduct text
mining/sentiment analysis of the customers’ positive or negative reviews posted on several
social media platforms to obtain beneficial insights about the customers’ attitude. This, in
turn, will help restaurant marketers in behavioral targeting with personalized solutions.
Furthermore, social media pages owned by the restaurants should be upgraded continuously,
integrating the customers’ feedback. To this end, information about the restaurant details,
such as contact numbers, website links and geographical location (via Google Maps), must be
correctly positioned on their Facebook/Instagram pages for the convenience of the customers.
On the other hand, since perceived ease of use and the customers’ attitude toward social
media reviews are correlated, restaurant information provided through social media should
be easily available and accessible to the target groups. Restaurants ought to formulate an
easy and convenient pre-booking system through social media during rush hours or festivals.
SAJBS Besides, highly responsive solutions to customers’ inquiries must be ensured. Swift responses
may be accomplished by integrating virtual assistants, real-time chatting assistants or bots,
allowing restaurants to solve customers’ problems instantaneously.
Furthermore, since trust influences customers’ attitudes toward social media reviews, the
researchers believe that restaurant owners should upload trustworthy posts via these
platforms. These days, there is a trend of providing paid reviews on famous pages or groups
via social media. Restaurant owners should not follow this trend because once these paid
reviews get caught it reduces their credibility and reputation. Customers tend to distrust
those restaurants providing paid reviews at all times. In Bangladesh, there are incidents of
catching people who are associated with posting misleading reviews and taking bribes from
the restaurant owners. Also, providing fake photos of luscious foods through paid food
bloggers, restaurants fail to grab a fair share of customers once the customers can identify the
difference between the photos and the real foods.
Besides, keeping the positive association between information quality and attitude in mind,
the researchers believe that restaurant owners should provide clear, consistent,
understandable and customer-engaging information to their customers through social media
platforms. Moreover, they should encourage their visitors to upload truthful, complete,
accurate, timely and concrete information regarding the restaurant’s services. These voluntary
and high-quality pieces of information will help enhance the visit intention among customers.
Finally, since positive attitude toward favorable social media reviews enhances
customers’ restaurant visit intention, restaurants marketers should spot opinion leaders
having enormous acceptability on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/YouTube and establish
long-term bonding with them. To this end, the owners can encourage the influential food
bloggers to experience trial foods at their restaurants by gifting them coupons, discounts or
free meals. As a result, these opinion leaders will engage in positive e-WOM on social media.
The authors believe that when restaurant customers come in contact with positive social
media reviews from expert food bloggers, they will form favorable attitudes that will induce
them to visit restaurants.

6.3 Social implications

The results of this paper will influence the specific stakeholders in society, such as visitors,
marketers and policymakers who are associated with the restaurant business in Bangladesh.
Inspired by this research’s findings, the traditional restaurant owners will be motivated to go
digital to track the behavioral intentions, sentiments and share of voice of the visitors.
Furthermore, they will be encouraged to use social media platforms to be familiar with what
the restaurant customers enjoyed or disliked during their visit to a restaurant.
The researchers believe that the user-generated food content analysis on social media will
stimulate the restaurant policymakers to make better strategic decisions. It is expected that in
future most of the prudent players of the restaurant sector of Bangladesh will eagerly monitor
the food reviewers on social media, host attractive contest and invite some influencers with
large follower base to a food tasting at the restaurant. Restaurant marketers will attempt to
cultivate positive relationships with these opinion leaders and get them to spread the positive
e-WOM for free, which will facilitate them to alleviate some of the burdens of restaurant
advertising expenditures from the businesses.
However, adopting this policy is likely to be difficult because restaurant service providers
do not have any command over the social media conversations. If they attempt to expunge the
user-generated contents, it will deteriorate their trustworthiness. As a result, when something
goes wrong, they should admit their faults instead of concealing it in these translucent digital
platforms to evade negative social consequences.
Overall, this research revealed that respondents have a positive attitude toward using
social media reviews. Hence, it is predicted that a restaurant visitor who was influenced to
visit a restaurant based on social media reviews will also share his or her negative experience Attitude
using the same podium. Negative WOM about the restaurant is something that the restaurant toward social
marketers would like to avoid. Therefore, there is a probability that restaurant owners will
improve their service quality, ensure appropriate ambiance and provide healthy and quality
media reviews
food to the new generation of highly empowered customers due to the fear of negative social
media reviews.

7. Limitations and further research

The analytical model of this paper primarily dealt with customers’ attitude toward positive
social media reviews. However, the effect of attitude toward negative social media reviews on
restaurant visit intention was not quantitatively discussed in this paper. Although the
authors have provided some qualitative insights concerning attitude toward negative social
media reviews, it has not been tested with objective evidence from Bangladeshi perspective.
This gap might motivate potential researchers to conduct a study by addressing the
negativity of social media reviews.
This study detected CMB using “Harman’s single-factor test.” Although it has been the
widely utilized statistical method for detecting CMV, this procedure is controversial among a
few academic researchers (Podsakoff et al., 2003). Besides, this study has some limitations
regarding sampling. Non-probability sampling used in this study lacks representativeness,
and there is a possibility of selection bias. The samples chosen for this study belong only to a
particular stratum of the population (students from a specific institution/ university). Hence,
the outcomes should not be generalized in another context without providing the utmost care.
Moreover, the participants in this study were relatively young. For future research,
samples can be collected from people working in corporate sectors, business professionals,
people involved in services sectors or larger areas to get better insights. This study also did
not analyze how customers’ intent varies based on demographic characteristics. Therefore,
further studies should check the moderating effect of gender or income groups on the
relationship between attitude and restaurant visit intention.
This study predicted restaurant customers’ attitudes toward social media reviews based
only on four latent constructs. In the future, additional exogenous constructs, such as
perception toward negative reviews, source expertise and customer experiences can be
incorporated into the existing model to enhance its predictive power. Besides, a comparison of
attitude toward e-WOM between Bangladeshi restaurant visitors and foreign restaurant
visitors can also be evaluated.
Despite having some limitations, this study is one of the very few studies that explained
the effects of attitude toward social media reviews on restaurant visit intent from
Bangladeshi perspective. Hence, it is believed that this study will create a future reference
point for academicians who are interested in understanding social media users’ behavioral
intentions.

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SAJBS Appendix 1

Item
Constructs codes Summary of scale items used in this study References

Perceived usefulness PU1 Food bloggers recommendations on social Hanifati (2015)

media enhance my knowledge about Hsu et al. (2013)
particular restaurant Hanifati (2015)
PU2 I can receive useful information about
restaurants from social media reviews
PU3 Food Bloggers’ reviews are helpful in
understanding the restaurant information
PU4 Social media reviews from food bloggers
enhance my effectiveness in evaluating
restaurants
ATT1 My attitude toward food bloggers
recommendation on social media is favorable
ATT2 I like to discuss my restaurant visit experience
with others on social media
Attitude toward social ATT3 I like to learn others’ restaurant visit Ing and Ting (2018)
media reviews experiences from social media
ATT4 I have positive feelings about the information
provided by the food bloggers
TR1 I believe the social media reviews about
restaurants to be true
Trustworthiness TR2 I find the social media reviews about Ing and Ming (2018)
restaurants to be credible Hsu et al. (2013)
TR3 Food bloggers reviews on the social media are Hassanein and Head
more trustworthy than the paid (2004)
advertisements
TR4 I think that food bloggers reviews on the
social media are reliable
PEOU1 It is easy to obtain restaurant reviews on
social media
Perceived ease of use PEOU2 I can quickly access the reviews about Shih (2004)
restaurant thorough social media
PEOU3 Using social media for restaurant information
is convenient
PEOU4 I can effortlessly assess restaurants using
social media
VI1 I intend to visit restaurant in the upcoming
days
Restaurant visit VI2 I plan to visit a restaurant within one month Hsu et al. (2013)
intention VI3 I predict that I would visit a restaurant
recommended by the food bloggers on social
media
IQ1 Recommendation posts regarding food items
is clear
IQ2
Information quality Recommendation posts regarding items is Erkan and Evan
understandable (2016), Ing and Ting
IQ3 In general, quality of the recommendation (2018)
posts regarding food items is high
Appendix 2 Attitude
Demographic Profile
toward social
media reviews
Variables Description n 5 300 Percentage

Gender Male 176 58.67

Female 124 41.33
Age 18–20 57 19
20–22 58 19.33
22–24 69 23
24–26 63 21
26-more 53 17.67
Marital status Unmarried (male) 169 56.33
Married (male) 7 2.34
Unmarried (female) 103 34.33
Married (female) 21 7
Religion Islam 247 82.33
Hinduism 35 11.67
Christianity 12 4
Other 6 2
Study level Undergraduate 223 74.33
Postgraduate 77 25.67
Major Accounting 75 25
Finance 82 27.33
Marketing 97 32.33
Human resource 46 15.33
management
Residence Home with parents 195 65
Off-campus hostel/ rented 105 35
home
Family type Dual parent 269 89.67
Single parent 31 10.33
Parental pressure Yes 223 74.33
No 77 25.67
Average monthly expenditure on restaurant bill ৳500–৳1000 59 19.67
($1 5 approx. ৳85) ৳1000–৳1500 82 27.33
৳1500–৳2000 91 30.33
৳2000–more 68 22.67
Time spent on social media per day 1–2 h 75 25
2–3 h 88 29.33
3–4 h 79 26.33
4 h–more 58 19.33

Corresponding author
Nurun Naher Popy can be contacted at: nurunpopy@gmail.com

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