Customer Perceptions of Bowing with Different Trunk Flexions

Bowing has traditionally been used to signify politeness and respect. A chain of restaurants in Taiwan has recently required servers to bow at a 90° angle to increase the customers’ sense of being honored. Whether bowing at 90° is accepted by most consumers remains to be determined. This study analyzed 100 valid responses by questionnaire to determine consumer feelings regarding different degrees of trunk flexion when receiving bows. Results show that respondents typically believe that bowing at 30° was the most satisfactory, followed by 45°. Bowing at 45° or 60° causes customers to feel honored, and bowing at 90° induces the feelings of surprise and novelty but produces the lowest proportions of agreement to the at ease, necessary, and appropriate items. Previous studies had well validated that, when trunk is flexed to 90°, the posture is harmful because of the higher spinal loading. The finding of this study can be provided to the restaurant industry as a reference for service design from the perspective of server’s health.