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goal was to obtain 75 respondents from each stratum of
independent Chinese restaurants, independent Mexican
restaurants, Chinese chain restaurants, and Mexican chain
restaurants. In this study, independent ethnic restaurants were
defined as those that serve " foods originating from a heritage
and culture of an ethnic group who use their knowledge of
local ingredients of plants and animal sources " (21). Chain
ethnic restaurants are company-owned or franchised ethnic
restaurants that operate under the same brand name and
sell similar menu items (2). A list of Chinese and Mexican
restaurants in the greater Dayton area in Ohio and in Houston,
Texas, that meet the definition of an independent or chain
restaurant was prepared. Further cross-checking was done
on the websites of the restaurants to determine whether a
restaurant was independent or part of chain.
Questionnaire design
A questionnaire (Appendix) was designed and used to
collect data about food handlers' perceptions of the six
components of the food safety culture proposed by Griffith
et al. (15). These consisted of management style, leadership,
communication, commitment, environmental support, and
risk perception and awareness. Eleven demographic and
operational information questions were included to describe
and understand the sample. To ensure criterion validity of
the measurement scales, all questionnaire items were adapted
from previous studies with validated instruments. The food
safety culture constructs were measured using a 5-point
Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree).
The leadership construct included 10 items adapted with
modification from Ball et al. (1) and Seward et al. (44). The
commitment construct included 11 items adapted from Ball
et al. (1) and Neal et al. (30). The communication construct
included 9 items adapted from Ball et al. (1), Seward et al.
(44), and Ungku Fatimah et al. (54). The environmental
support construct had 11 items adapted from Ball et al. (1)
and Ungku Fatimah et al. (53). The risk perception and
awareness construct included 6 items adapted from Ungku
Fatimah et al. (53, 54). The management style construct
contained 6 items adapted from Neal et al. (30) and Ungku
Fatimah et al. (53). The questionnaire was reviewed by
two experts in foodservice and food safety for content and
face validity. Two professional translators translated the
questionnaire into Spanish and Chinese, and then it was
translated back to English by an independent translator to
ensure it was accurate.
The research protocol and design (proposal IRB-2020321)
were reviewed and approved by the Institutional
Review Board at Sam Houston State University before
proceeding with data collection. The questionnaire was pilot
tested with a convenience sample of 25 food handlers from
independent and chain Chinese and Mexican restaurants.
Restaurant owners/managers were contacted in person
to request the participation of their employees. The
questionnaire was administered on-site to employees who
agreed to participate. Each participant who completed the
pilot test received a $5 token of appreciation. No significant
issues were noted during the pilot testing, although minor
modifications to a few questions were made.
Data collection
Participants were chosen based on two criteria: (1)
participants had to be at least 18 years of age at the time
of recruitment, and (2) they had to be food handlers.
Participants who read the consent form and checked the box
beside " I understand the above and consent to participate "
were presumed to have given informed consent. Each
participant who completed the questionnaire received a $5
token of appreciation for their participation in the survey. If
a restaurant's owner/manager declined the participation of
their food handlers, a replacement was taken from another
restaurant of the same category until the target number of
participants (n = 300) was obtained. Therefore, to allow
for dropout, 360 questionnaires were distributed on-site.
Because of invalid or incomplete responses, 300 valid and
complete copies were retained.
Data analysis
The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 27.0 for Windows
(IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY). Descriptive statistics were
used to summarize the data, including mean (M), standard
deviation (SD), frequency, and percentage. Cronbach's
alpha was computed to determine the reliability of the
instrument. Independent t-tests and a one-way analysis of
variance (ANOVA) were conducted to examine significant
differences among the respondents in independent and chain
Mexican and Chinese restaurants in their perception of food
safety culture based on their demographics (gender, years of
foodservice experience, participation in food safety training,
and completion of a food safety certification) and operation
characteristics (type of operation, service style, and theme).
An F-test was conducted when there were equal variances
between groups, whereas the Welch test was run for unequal
variances between groups. Post hoc tests were conducted to
determine within-group differences.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Profile of the respondents
A total of 106 restaurants agreed to participate in the
study. They consisted of 58 Mexican (30 chains and 28
independent) restaurants and 48 Chinese (32 chain and
16 independent) restaurants. A total of 300 food handlers
completed the survey. The respondents' demographic
characteristics and operational data are presented in
Table 1. Slightly more than half of the respondents (53%)
were female. Most respondents were Hispanic (46.3%),
Caucasian (23.3%), and Asian (19.3%). Almost 75% of
the respondents reported having worked 5 years or less
January/February Food Protection Trends
63
Food Protection Trends - January/February 2023

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