Appreciation is an ingredient that is essential for enhancing customers’ postconsumption service evaluations; nevertheless, few studies have explored its role in the context of ethnic restaurants. This article aims to examine appreciation’s effects on customers’ behavioral intention by first considering the cultural effects. This study develops and empirically tests a research model based on 488 questionnaires collected at an upscale ethnic restaurant in Macau. The result shows that utilitarian value, hedonic value, and cultural motivation affect appreciation positively, which in turn affects behavioral intention positively. Utilitarian value and hedonic value also affect behavioral intention directly and positively. The mediation roles of diners’ utilitarian value, hedonic value, and appreciation are also discussed. This article contributes to hospitality management theory by providing an additional insight into appreciation and suggests that, in practice, using appreciation as a business strategy could change customers’ choice.
