Abstract

Purpose: This paper proposes a research approach to investigate the impacts of revisit intention on customer satisfaction while testing the impacts of food truck image and word of mouth and environmental practices as a moderation between customer satisfaction and service quality. Method: A quantitative, hypothesis-testing design was employed using data collected from food-truck customers in Delhi NCR, India. Of 400 questionnaires distributed, 357 responses were received, with 285 usable responses retained after excluding incomplete questionnaires. Results: Data was analyzed using SPSS 22 and AMOS 24 through reliability test, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM). The measurement model showed good fit (CFI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.06) and strong reliability (CR = 0.929–0.958). Satisfaction significantly predicted food truck image (? = 0.226, p < 0.001) and word of mouth (? = 0.257, p < 0.001); satisfaction also directly predicted revisit intention (? = .132, p = .034), as did word of mouth (? = 0.290, p = 0.023), but image did not (? = 0.139, p = 0.107). Neither indirect path was significant. Environmental practices significantly weakened the service quality, satisfaction link (? = -1.840, p < 0.001). Findings: The study’s findings revealed that, there is a significant impact of customer satisfaction on food truck image, word of mouth, and customer revisits intention. Word of mouth positively influenced the revisit intention of food truck customers. Food truck image is insignificant to customer revisit intention. The results revealed an insignificant mediating effect of customer satisfaction on the revisit intention of customers through food truck image and word of mouth. The development also finds that environmental practices moderate between service quality and customer satisfaction. Originality: In contrast to previous food-truck related research which have considered image and word of mouth as mediators between satisfaction and revisit intention, the present study shows that image and word of mouth does not mediate between satisfaction and revisit intention. This contradicts the role of these constructs as mediators in other related hospitality literature and highlights the possibility that the mechanism between satisfaction and loyalty in mobile foodservice environments is different from that in fixed-site foodservice environments.