18th International Conference on Innovative Computing, Information and Control (ICICIC2024)
Onsite (Qinhuangdao, China) and Online, September 10-13, 2024

PS-2: ICICIC2024-WS05-01
An Empirical Research on the Influencing Factors of Brand Delight:
Taking the Catering Industry as an Example
Jihua Wang and Tao Wen*
School of Economics and Management (School of Tourism), Dalian University, Dalian 116622, P. R. China*Corresponding author: wentao@dlu.edu.cnIntroduction
With the increasing competition in the market, customer satisfaction can no longer guarantee the long-term loyalty ofcustomers. The reason is that satisfied customers can also leave due to lack of interest and trust. As a result, brand delight begins
to appear as an emerging customer relationship factor that can drive brand loyalty beyond customer satisfaction. Although branddelight has always been considered as a key factor in truly generating customer loyalty and loyalty-driven profits, it remains largely
unexplored in the influencing factors of brand delight, and there is a need for in-depth research on the influencing factors of branddelight.
In this study, we will verify the driving effects of the four influencing factors (service delivery skills, value perception of dishes,
experiential value, and symbolic value) on the brand delight, and explore through in-depth interviews the new factors that drive thesense of brand delight. Therefore, taking the catering industry as an example, this paper will explore the influencing factors of branddelight and determine its antecedent variables. This paper uses literature review method, in-depth interview method, questionnaire
analysis method to analyze the obtained questionnaire data through SPSS 23.0 and LISREL 8.70 software.

The Concept of Brand Delight
Brand delight represents a higher positive
emotion than customer satisfaction. Even if there isno positive surprising factor, making customers
happy can also trigger a sense of delight. Insummary, based on the research of many scholars,
this paper proposes that brand delight is a positive,
happy emotion experienced by customers when theproducts and services offered by a brand exceed
customer expectations to a surprising degree.

Antecedents’ Scale Design ofBrand Delight
In-depth interview
This study took the catering industry as an
example to explore the measurement items ofinfluencing factors of brand delight. A total of 37
consumers who had a sense of delight in service
consumption were interviewed in depth to fully
understand their delight experience and verbal
expression of feelings in service consumption.
The open-ended interview questionnaire allows
respondents to freely describe their sense of delightby setting open-ended questions.
Initial measurement items of influencing factors ofbrand delight
It is found that the in-depth interview deepens
and expands perceived value into three subdivision
factors, namely value perception of dishes,
experiential value and symbolic value, and discovers
a new influencing factor, namely ancillary services(Table 1).

Literature Review on Factors Influencing
Brand Delight
Service delivery skills. Fatima and Razzaque also believed that if
customers receive positive service from employees of a service
company, they are more likely to have a positive service experience.
Perceived value. Perceived value refers to consumers’ overall
evaluation of the utility of a product based on what is received andwhat is given. Babin et al. analyzed the perceived value in theshopping experience from two dimensions: hedonic value andutilitarian value.

Tables (1)Table 1. Initial measurement items of influencing factorsof brand delight18th International Conference on Innovative Computing, Information and Control (ICICIC2024)
Onsite (Qinhuangdao, China) and Online, September 10-13, 2024

Tables (2)Table 2. Measurement scale of brand delight

Data Analysis (2)Table 4. Exploratory factor analysis

Data Analysis (1)This survey lasted for one month, and a total of
230 questionnaires were distributed, 205 valid
questionnaires were finally obtained.
Table 3. Reliability analysis

Figure 1. The structural equation modeling analysis

Conclusion
Research findings
This paper takes the catering industry as an example toconduct an empirical research on the influencing factors ofbrand delight. This paper finds that the influencing factors ofbrand delight include service delivery skills, value perceptionof dishes, experiential value, symbolic value and ancillary
services. Among the five influencing factors mentioned
above, ancillary services have the greatest impact on branddelight (see Figure 1 in detail).
Limitation and prospect
This paper takes consumers in the catering industry
as the research object, and needs to interview groups whohave experienced a sense of delight in consumption. The
identification is difficult, and there is a certain deviation inthedetailed classification. Therefore, whether theinfluencing factors’ scale of brand delight developed in thispaper is applicable to other industries still needs to be
explored and tested.