What makes restaurateurs adopt healthy restaurant initiatives?

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to uncover what affected restaurateurs in their intention to participate in the healthy restaurant initiative. Design/methodology/approach: In all, 53 restaurateurs who participated in healthy restaurant initiatives in Korea responded to a survey. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to reveal the influences of perceived innovation characteristics (PICs), attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control (PBC) on the intention to sustain a healthy restaurant. Findings: The results showed that PBC, attitudes toward healthy restaurants, relative advantage for restaurants, and complexity among PICs were significant influences on the intention to sustain healthy restaurant initiatives. Research limitations/implications: This research has made the first attempt to evaluate healthy restaurant initiatives using the perspectives of restaurateurs who actually participated in healthy restaurant initiatives. Also, this study extends the research model testing behavior intention using the theory of planned behavior and the innovation adoption theory to investigate the influences on restaurateur intentions to sustain healthy restaurant initiatives. Practical implications: The findings indicate that operators must have access to sufficient technical resources and a sense of self-efficacy, which encourage restaurateurs to maintain healthy restaurant initiatives. Enhancing positive attitudes and the relative advantages of the healthy restaurant initiatives also encouraged participation. Finally, voluntary and continuous participation and expansion of healthy restaurant initiatives require community and government support, a simple use of process to change, and a good understanding of the relative advantages of healthy restaurant initiatives. Originality/value: This study first illustrates the factors that best explain the intention to sustain a healthy restaurant from the perspective of restaurateurs. PICs shed light on how complexity and relative advantage for customers helps predict intentions to sustain healthy restaurant initiatives. © 2017, © Emerald Publishing Limited.