Both music tempo and preference were found to be significantly related to time spent in the restaurant when analyzed separately. However, when tempo and preference (and their interaction) were entered into the same analysis, only preference emerged as significant. This supports Herrington’s (1996) proposals that, although music tempo may be associated with time spent in service, music preference is a more valid explanation of the relationship between music and behavior.
None of the alternative hypotheses regarding the effects of music on individuals’ perceptions of time spent in the restaurant were supported. The null hypothesis regarding the effects of preference on time perceptions could not be rejected. The findings here, therefore, contradict Wansink’s (1992) proposal that affect toward music stimuli influences time perceptions, but support the Kent and Kellaris (1992) find- ings, which demonstrated that affect toward music stimulus had no influence on time perceptions.
There was some evidence to suggest that music tempo influenced time perceptions in the restaurant. The results were not, however, significant. This outcome is at odds with previous research that has found that music tempo influences people’s judge- ments of the duration of music (e.g., Kellaris & Kent, 1991) but support findings of research that has found music tempo to have no significant effects on perceptions of the duration of a radio advertisement (Oakes, 1999).
The apparent discrepancies may be because the effects of tempo on time perceptions may be different depending on whether people are passively exposed to music during a consumption experience or actively listening to it in an experimental context.
Both music tempo and musical preference appeared to significantly influence total spending and the amount spent on food and drink in the restaurant. Spending on food and drink was higher under the slow- music condition and for people who rated their liking of the music higher. Personal experience suggests that additional orders of both food(especially desserts)an drinks are often placed when a party remains at a restaurant for any length of time. When the effects of tempo, preference, and their interaction on spend- ing were examined in conjunction, only preference was found to be sig- nificant. However, when time spent in the restaurant was added into the equation it was the only independent variable to have a significant effect on the total amount spent. A breakdown of spending into food and drink revealed that tempo and its interaction with preference had a significant influence on the amount of money spent on food, but did not affect spending on drink.
The investigation of the effects of music on satisfaction with the restaurant service encounter revealed that neither music tempo nor ts interaction with preference had a significant effect on the degree to which consumers enjoyed the experience, their intentions to return to the restaurant, or their intentions to recommend it to others. In contrast, all of these measures of satisfactions were significantly, positively correlated with musical preference.