餐廳背景音樂的速度與音量影響消費者等待時間知覺之研究

Impact of the Speed and Volume of Restaurant Background Music on Consumers’ Waiting Time Perception

過去研究指出環境因素會影響顧客的服務品質，相關的環境因素中，有學者已發現背景音樂對消費者有顯著的影響。本研究分別以實驗室實驗與場域實驗兩個實驗檢驗背景音樂的速度與音量，對消費者知覺等候時間的影響。進行正式實驗前，先進行前測，確認後續實驗採用之背景音樂，其操弄速度快慢與音量大小的基準；此兩個實驗均採取二因子受試者組間設計，自變項為背景音樂的「音量」與「音速」，依變項為「等待時間知覺」。實驗室實驗的結果顯示餐廳背景音樂的音量與音速顯著影響消費者的等待時間知覺；為檢驗本實驗的外在效度，並進行場域實驗，結果亦得到與實驗室實驗相同之結論，研究結果可作為餐廳在制定提高顧客服務品質之相關措施的重要參考。

Previous studies indicate that environmental factors may affect customers’ perception of service quality. Among the environmental factors, background music was found to have a significant impact on consumers. In order to explore the effect of music on customers’ perception of waiting time, this study conducted two experiments: a laboratory experiment and a field experiment. A pretest was carried out before the formal experiment to establish the criteria of the speed and volume of background music to be manipulated in the subsequent experiments. A two-factor between-subjects design was adopted for the laboratory and field experiments. The independent variables were volume and speed and the dependent variable was the waiting time perception. The result of the laboratory experiments revealed that the speed and volume significantly affected customers’ perception of waiting time. To examine the external validity, this study employed field experiments and the results were the same as those of the laboratory experiments. Hence, the findings of this study are beneficial in that they can be applied to improve quality of customer service in restaurants.