Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships of capacity/layout (CL), design (D), location, (L), hygiene (H), human resource management (HRM), food quality (FQ) and ambiance (A) in operations management strategies (OMS) and the direct and indirect effects of OMS on customer satisfaction (CS) and customer behavioral intentions (CBIs) that might affect income and, therefore, be influential regarding café-restaurants in Sulaimania in Iraq.
Design/methodology/approach
Data are collected through a survey questionnaire using a simple random sampling methodology from 254 customers of 46 casual café-restaurants. Methodology includes demographic analysis, factor analysis, structural equation modeling and mediation analysis.
Findings
Concerning relationships between structural and infrastructural elements of OMS, only CL and H influence HRM, D and H affect A, and H influences FQ. Regarding relationships between OMS and CS and CBIs, only L, HRM, FQ and A affect CS. Concerning the relationship between CS and CBIs, CS influences CBIs. Finally, given indirect effects of OMS on CS and CBIs, HRM mediates relationships between CL-CS and H-CS; FQ and A mediate relationships between H-CS; and CS mediates relationships between L-CBIs, FQ-CBIs and HRM-CBIs.
Research limitations/implications
The study that treats seven variables in OMS is limited to Sulaimania in Iraq. Thus, the findings cannot be generalized. The study might guide future studies about the way OMS elements forge CS and CBIs in café-restaurants where owners/managers develop credible strategic plans.
Originality/value
The study provides a unique insight into the hospitality industry in Iraq where studies among elements of OMS are few and far between.
Various studies have looked at the operations management field in shopping malls, but the impact of strategic decision areas on shoppers' wellbeing in malls has not been explored. This study elaborates the importance of structural and infrastructural decision areas for shoppers' wellbeing in malls. Since operations management is one of three vital departments (along with marketing and finance) of most organisations, it is important to examine how decisions in operations management of shopping malls impact shoppers' wellbeing. This paper examines the structural and infrastructural decision-areas made by shopping mall operations managers in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to see how they impact shoppers' wellbeing. A survey questionnaire was administered to 575 shopping mall customers. IBM SPSS 23 was used to conduct exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical regression analysis. Additionally, an IBM AMOS 23 was used to conduct structural equation modelling. The results indicate that both the structural and infrastructural decision areas of operations management are significantly important in determining shoppers' wellbeing. The variance of shoppers' wellbeing in each strategic decision area is further explained. The findings of this study consist of implications for researchers and especially for practitioners. The study constructs a framework for future studies about how the operations strategic decision areas impact shopper wellbeing in malls. Furthermore, practitioners can use the findings of this study when they perform their strategic planning. Finally, those developments would influence consumers' wellbeing during their visits to shopping malls.
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