The Covid-19 pandemic created both a public health and an economic crisis in the entire world, including the foodservice industry, where dining out was not allowed. As a result, many restauranteurs shifted their business model to take-away and delivery service options. Later, the government reopened all closed industries, including reopening restaurant dining services. his move is critical to the economy's recovery. However, concerns have arisen among consumers, especially in terms of their safety, as the virus is still around even though it is controllable. Hence, this study aims to examine the internal consistency of the questionnaire and to determine the factors that drive consumers’ dine out intention during the Covid-19 endemic transition in Malaysia. The questionnaire was distributed via social media platforms between May and July 2022. The data were then subjected to Rasch analysis to determine the instrument's validity and later subjected to SPSS software (ver. 25) for correlation analyses. Rasch analysis revealed that the instrument is unidimensional and has Cronbach alpha of 0.92 with item reliability of 0.94 and person reliability of 0.87. However, out of 24 items, 22 items fulfilled all the item fit criteria. Further analyses revealed that all independent variables, namely restaurant safety measures, contactless dining and restaurant transparency, are strongly associated with the intention to dine out. The study showed that the questionnaire used is valid and reliable and can be extended to another study. The preliminary findings provide significant implications for the restauranteurs in planning and improving their services in the reopening of their food service establishment in Malaysia.
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In-Text Citation: (Hanafiah et al., 2022)
To Cite this Article: Hanafiah, S. N. A. M., Rosli, N. R., Issa, Z. M., Aziz, S. A. A., & Ishak, N. (2022). Psychometric Properties of the Questionnaire on Factors that Drive Consumers’ Dine Out Intention during Transition of Covid-19 Endemic in Malaysia. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 12(11), 676– 688.
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