This study investigates the structural relationships among food space design, experiential satisfaction, willingness to pay a premium, and social media sharing intention in afternoon tea settings. Contemporary afternoon tea has evolved beyond the simp...
This study investigates the structural relationships among food space design, experiential satisfaction, willingness to pay a premium, and social media sharing intention in afternoon tea settings. Contemporary afternoon tea has evolved beyond the simple consumption of tea and desserts into a composite hospitality experience shaped by spatial atmosphere, visual presentation, symbolic value, and social shareability. Based on this perspective, this study conceptualizes food space design as a multidimensional construct consisting of spatial design, table design, and food design, and examines how these dimensions influence experiential satisfaction and subsequent behavioral intentions.
To accomplish this objective, an online survey was administered through Embrain to consumers who had experienced afternoon tea within the past six months. The survey was conducted between October 30 and December 15, 2025. A total of 400 questionnaires were collected, and 350 valid responses were used for the final analysis after excluding insincere and unusable cases. The empirical analysis was conducted using SPSS 30.0 and AMOS 30.0. Frequency analysis, reliability analysis, descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling were performed to test the proposed research model and hypotheses. In addition, the mediating effects of experiential satisfaction were examined using a bootstrapping procedure.
The major findings are as follows. First, among the three dimensions of food space design, spatial design and food design had significant positive effects on experiential satisfaction, whereas table design did not show a significant effect. Second, spatial design had significant direct effects on both willingness to pay a premium and social media sharing intention. In contrast, table design and food design did not have significant direct effects on either outcome variable. Third, experiential satisfaction had significant positive effects on both willingness to pay a premium and social media sharing intention, indicating that it functions as an important mechanism linking food space design to consumers’ behavioral responses. Fourth, the mediation analysis revealed differentiated patterns across the subdimensions of food space design. Experiential satisfaction partially mediated the relationships between spatial design and both outcome variables, fully mediated the relationships between food design and both outcome variables, and did not mediate the relationships between table design and the outcome variables.
These findings provide several theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, this study contributes to the understanding of afternoon tea as an experience-based consumption domain in which spatial, visual, emotional, and symbolic elements interact to generate premium value and sharing intention. It also extends the concept of food space design by demonstrating that its subdimensions do not operate uniformly, but instead form different structural pathways depending on the type of behavioral outcome. Practically, the results suggest that hotels and foodservice firms should position afternoon tea not merely as a supplementary menu item, but as a strategically staged premium experience product. In particular, spatial design should be recognized as a key resource for strengthening premium valuation and social media diffusion, while food design should be managed as an important factor that enhances experiential satisfaction. Overall, this study offers an empirical framework for explaining how food space design in afternoon tea settings leads to economic acceptance and digital sharing through experiential satisfaction.