Existing studies consider the roles of age, gender, loyalty and dining frequency, and thus it is important to acknowledge these personal and situational characteristics in a work of this nature (Oyewole, 2007). Namkung and Jang (2009) indicated that the level of frequency should play a moderating role among service stimuli (e.g. value), customer
affect (e.g. customer satisfaction) and response (such as customer loyalty), and thus suggested that an in-depth examination of the moderating role of re-purchase frequency is needed. However, little research has yet been conducted into how frequent diners perceive their restaurant experience in terms of customer-provider interactions, and how
their perceptions differ from those of first-time (FT) diners. This study thus investigates how the level of dining frequency (FT vs frequently diners) moderates the relationships between interaction orientation and customer satisfaction/behavioral intentions.