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Abstract
Fast food restaurants have expanded globally in recent years. As companies become global
marketers to acquire new knowledge and a greater understanding of the fast food business and
the environment, in which they operate in order to determine and adopt an appropriate
marketing mix. Managers can use knowledge of a market's national culture to develop successful
image strategies. This paper aims to explore the role of culture in the formation of consumer
perceptions. To measure cultural influences a store image scale was constructed for fast food
restaurants. An eight - step process based on Churchill's (1979), model, guided the development,
validation and refinement of the scale. The final structure of the scale included six factors
consisting of 14 items. The six factors are a) Adaptation to Locality b) Service c) Facilities d) Food
quality e) Place to be and g) Sales incentive program. Then the relative weights of the six factor
dimensions in influencing customers' overall image, as well as satisfaction and loyalty ratings
were explored. Adaptation to locality has been found as the most important factor in the
formation of store image as well as in predicting satisfaction and loyalty. The results of
structural equation analysis have shown that the local culture factor is strongly associated with
'food quality' and especially with the "Place to be factor". The results can be very useful to
marketers who want to invest in the local or other foreign markets.