From disconfirmation to switching: an empirical investigation of switching intentions after service failure and recovery

This research proposes and empirically tests a customer switching intentions model from a disconfirmation perspective in a service failure and recovery context. Specifically, the research examines how initial (discrepancy between service failure expectation and service performance) and recovery (discrepancy between recovery expectation and recovery performance) disconfirmations influence satisfaction when a service failure occurs and a recovery offer is given, and subsequently impact switching intentions. The results support the hypotheses that both initial and recovery disconfirmations influence switching intentions via satisfaction. In addition, switching costs directly influence switching intentions and also moderate the effect of satisfaction on switching intentions.     

Consumer satisfaction with health-care services: The influence of involvement

The impact of involvement and ambiguity on satisfaction judgments for high-credence property services such as health care has not been studied. This study examines the level and process effects of involvement on satisfaction with two dimensions of a health-care service. We found that higher levels of customer involvement were associated with greater expectations and performance ratings for the ambiguous dimension of the service (physicians). Customer involvement had no influence on ratings for the nonambiguous aspects of the service (access mechanisms). Perceived performance was found to be the most influential predictor of satisfaction for low-involvement subjects. High-involvement subjects used disconfirmation and performance to evaluate physicians and only disconfirmation in forming satisfaction judgments for access mechanisms. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The Moderating Role of Confidence in Expectations and the Asymmetric Influence of Disconfirmation on Customer Satisfaction

This article examines the way in which confidence in expectations moderates the process of customer satisfaction formation, and whether positive disconfirmation and negative disconfirmation have asymmetric influences on satisfaction. Using structural equation analysis, the proposed model was tested with 256 Korean customers of family restaurants. The results indicate that confidence in expectations plays a significant role in the customer satisfaction formation process. The indirect effects of expectations via performance on customer satisfaction are stronger for customers with high confidence in expectations. The results also indicate that the influence of disconfirmation on customer satisfaction can be asymmetric. The asymmetric influence occurs especially when customers have high confidence in expectations.     

Disconfirmation processes and consumer evaluations in product usage

Recent works on satisfaction theory have shown that disconfirmation plays a major role in the determination of satisfaction levels. Less, however, is known about the mental process used by consumers to form disconfirmation cognitions. This study operationalized and tested the role of two types of disconfirmation, inferential and overall (perceived), on the satisfaction of appetite suppressant users after first trial and repeat usage situations. Results showed that overall perceptions mediated the relationship between inferred disconfirmation and satisfaction in both time frames, as hypothesized.     

Reference Points Used In Quality And Value Judgements

We propose that a fundamental difference between quality and value judgments is that consumers rely more on internal standards (i.e., information stored in memory) to evaluate a brand's quality and external standards (i.e., reference brands available in the evaluation context) to assess a brand's value. Since internal standards are relatively stable and external reference brands may change across contexts, value judgments are more context-dependent than quality judgments. In addition, we propose that the relative invariance of quality ratings to contextual product information will hold only for consumers who are relatively familiar with the product category and the target brand. To examine the underlying mechanisms, an experimental study varies task, comparison brand information and familiarity and uses a process tracing methodology.     

Creating low consumer product expectations

The introduction of generic grocery products brought warnings from trade observers that retailers might suffer negative consequences from consumer dissatisfaction with these products. This study investigated consumer expectations and the degree of satisfaction provided consumers by one category of generic products. The study also examined some relationships between the creation of these satisfaction levels and appropriate retail strategies.The study consisted of 320 homemakers evaluating the effect on posttrial satisfaction of positive and negative disconfirmation of expectations concerning generic peaches. The findings suggest that positive disconfirmation increased satisfaction ratings, whereas negative disconfirmation decreased satisfaction ratings. The relationship between merchandising techniques utilized on generic products and consumers' formation of expectations as observed in the study indicates that, in terms of creating satisfaction, promotion of generic products with essentially negative cues has been appropriate.     

A comparison of determinants of consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the performance of apparel products between South Korea and the United States

The purpose of the present study was to identify the determinants of consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction (CS/D) with the performance of apparel products at the purchase and product-consumption stages for Korean consumers, and to examine if these determinants were similar to those for US consumers. Results showed that at the purchase stage, the three variables, found significantly related to CS/D at purchase for US consumers, were also significant for Korean consumers. These three at-purchase variables were: perceived at-purchase performance, performance expectation and experience-based norm disconfirmation (i.e. the discrepancy between consumers’ experience-based norm and their perception of product performance at purchase). When the variables related to CS/D at the product-consumption stage were examined, both similarities and differences were found between Korean and US consumers. For both countries, perceived consumption performance and satisfaction at purchase were significantly related to CS/D at the product-consumption stage. Differences were found in the effects of expectancy disconfirmation and performance expectation on CS/D at the product-consumption stage. Expectancy disconfirmation is the discrepancy between consumers' performance expectation and their perception of product performance after consumption. Expectancy expectation was found to be a significant determinant of CS/D for US consumers, but was not a determinant for Korean consumers. Performance expectation, which was found not to be a significant determinant of CS/D for US consumers, was a significant determinant for Korean consumers.     

Convenience stores in the digital age: A focus on the customer experience and revisit intentions

The digital age has posed challenges to the convenience store (c-store) industry regarding the types of technology investment required to compete in the digital world, and the c-store industry has experienced years of customer count declines. This research empirically examines what store stimuli are important to c-store consumers and how these factors affect the customer experience, satisfaction, and revisit intentions. The data were collected from 502 c-store consumers, and the covariance-based structural equation modeling technique was used to test the hypothesized associations. We found that hedonic customer experience mediates the association between store image, price, service quality, omnichannel, and customer satisfaction. Utilitarian customer experience mediates the association between store image, product assortment, price, and customer satisfaction. In addition, customer satisfaction has a positive effect on the revisit intentions. The findings of the research contribute to the theory building of customer experience of convenience stores. This research reveals that emphasizing hedonic experiences could be the answer to reversing the declining consumer trips in the convenience store industry. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Multiple reference effects in service evaluations: Roles of alternative attractiveness and self-image congruity

Customer satisfaction and service evaluation research has examined the reference effect but largely adopted an expectancy-disconfirmation paradigm that focuses on referents centered on the product or service in question. This study examines two additional reference effects, alternative attractiveness and self-image congruity, and their interaction. The framework of multiple reference effects in service evaluations integrates insights from regret theory, the investment model of interpersonal relationships, and self-image congruity theory. An empirical study of a hairstyling service confirms that comparisons involving other-object and self-based reference points contribute significantly to consumer service evaluations. Self-image congruity has the most significant impact on both customer satisfaction and commitment judgments. In general, the negative effect of alternative attractiveness on both customer satisfaction and commitment becomes weaker as the level of self-image congruity increases; as long as consumers find a good fit between their self-image and the service image, they are less likely to consider alternative services. However, for consumers with high self-image congruity with the focal service, the presence of an attractive alternative may induce them to exhibit an enhancement bias or “play up” effect (i.e., report higher satisfaction with the focal service).     

Expectations and Satisfaction in Channel Member Relationships in the Victorian (Australia) Fruit Industry

Abstract

The paper reports findings of research into the dynamics of customer satisfaction formation amongst fruit producers and their distribution channel(s), within the economically important northern Victorian (Australia) fruit industry. The paper suggests reasons why previous approaches to the issue of satisfaction in channel member relationships, which typically utilize constructs of ‘economic’ and ‘non-economic’ satisfaction, may usefully be supplemented by application of the ‘disconfirmation of expectations’ model. The research actually tests a modification of the traditional disconfirmation model that incorporates dimensions of ‘outcome’ and ‘process’ at the levels of expectations, performance and disconfirmation—a ‘dualistic’ model. This had previously been tested only in a radically different business-to business-context, that of advertising creative services. The findings suggest that satisfactory measurement of growers' expectations can be achieved. They also suggest that the disconfirmation model does appear to apply in this previously untested service context, whether unitary measures of expectations and performance, or the dualistic interpretation of expectations/performance, are utilized.     

An integrative conceptual framework for analyzing customer satisfaction with shopping trip experiences in grocery retailing

Grocery retailers aim to satisfy customers, and because grocery shopping trips are frequently recurring, they must do so continuously. Surprisingly, little research has addressed satisfaction with individual grocery shopping trips. This article therefore develops a conceptual framework for analyzing customer satisfaction with individual grocery shopping trip experiences within an overall ‘disconfirmation of expectations model’ of customer satisfaction. The contribution of the framework is twofold. First, by focusing on satisfaction with individual grocery shopping trips, previous research on satisfaction is extended to a context marked by frequently recurring, often tedious and routine activities. Understanding what causes satisfaction/dissatisfaction with individual shopping trips is required to explain overall, cumulative satisfaction with a retailer, which has been the focus of prior research on satisfaction in the retailing literature. Second, the framework synthesizes and integrates multiple central concepts from different research streams into a common framework for analyzing shopping trip satisfaction. Propositions are derived regarding the relationships among the different concepts in the framework and suggestions for future research are offered.     

Expectations and product performance as determinants of satisfaction for a high-involvement purchase

Customer satisfaction is a central issue for organizations wishing to create a sustainable competitive advantage in the 1990s. Empirical work to date, concentrating on low-involvement, nondurable products, has concluded that both prior expectations and postpurchase experience interact to influence the level of customer satisfaction. Only a few studies have examined the purchase of high-involvement, nondurable products. The current study employs a multiattribute approach using pre- and postpurchase questionnaires to assess determinants of customer satisfaction for a high-involvement product. Causal path analysis shows perceived product performance to be the most powerful determinant. Prior expectations did interact with performance to affect disconfirmation, which translated into only a minor impact on satisfaction. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Customer satisfaction and consumer expenditure in selected European countries

The relationship between customer satisfaction and company performance has been extensively researched at both the consumer and firm levels. However, little is known about the impact of customer satisfaction at the economy-wide level, especially in Europe. This study aims to link customer satisfaction to personal consumption expenditure using panel data collected from 1999 to 2011 and covering nine European countries. Our findings suggest a significant relationship between customer satisfaction and consumer expenditure in these countries. In addition, economic structure, culture, political economy and socio-economic factors have been examined to understand the impact of cross-country differences on this relationship. The results reflect the importance of satisfied consumers on the economy as a whole; thus, efforts at boosting customer satisfaction should become a national agenda.     

The demand for and the supply of distribution services: A basis for the analysis of customer satisfaction in retailing

This paper brings together two bodies of literature. One of them is a literature on the special role of the consumer in retailing. The other one is the literature on customer satisfaction. This joining of literatures is accomplished by identifying distribution services as outputs of retail firms and fixed inputs into the production functions of consumers and relaxing the standard assumption that the demand for these services is always equal to the supply of these services. The result is a new conceptual framework for the analysis of customer satisfaction in retailing. This framework extends the basic ideas on customer satisfaction developed for manufacturing in a homogeneous single product setting to the heterogeneous multi-product setting relevant for many retailers. The paper illustrates one approach to the implementation of this framework with data for a set of supermarkets in Pamplona, Spain, that measure distribution services by asking consumers questions explicitly identifying these services. The five main categories of distribution services identified by the conceptual framework and measured in the data are economically important and statistically robust determinants of customer satisfaction with supermarkets. These results are obtained controlling for other variables typical of the customer satisfaction literature and measuring customer satisfaction in a manner consistent with that literature. The results are robust to corrections for sample selection and alternative estimation methods. Perhaps our most interesting novel result is that the effect of the determinants of customer satisfaction on future purchase intentions in the supermarket case is different when measured directly in a one stage process than when measured indirectly in a two stage process through the attributes/satisfaction/ purchase intentions chain.

Determinants of App Stores Continuance Behavior: A PLS Path Modelling Approach

Prior research has mostly examined the satisfaction, intention, and behavior of users toward technology and systems in general, and little research has been dedicated to understanding apps commerce and app stores. Drawing upon the extended model of IT continuance and theory of information overload as a theoretical foundation, the aim of this study is to examine consumer satisfaction, continuous intention, and behavior toward apps shopping. A total of 347 valid questionnaires were collected from experienced consumers with app stores to statistically test the theoretical model using the partial least squares path modelling approach, a structural equation modelling technique. The results show that apps self-efficacy, post-usage usefulness, disconfirmation, facilitating conditions, perceived information overload, apps satisfaction, and apps continuance intention can be used to predict and explain 75.7% of variance in consumer’s continuance behavior in using app stores. The negative and positive causal relationship between constructs, managerial implications, and limitations are discussed.     

Customers' judgment of the customer service in appliance sales departments in an emerging economy

Evidence that consumers in emerging economies are more tolerant of ineffective customer service (CS), instigated an investigation into controllable elements of the service offering in a specific context in South Africa, namely, appliances sales departments in retail stores. The research aimed to identify possible shortcomings in CS amidst evidence that consumers are exposed to sophisticated merchandise that they have limited experience and understanding of. The intention was to suggest initiatives to augment the service offering so that it becomes more conducive for informed, responsible buying decisions. Household appliances represent a category of complex, durable and expensive merchandise that require more extensive information search before concluding buying decisions. A survey was done in 2007 through a pre‐tested structured questionnaire. Several branches of five prominent department stores were involved through liaison with industry. A store intercept method was used to recruit respondents: 296 questionnaires were filled in on the spot under supervision. Three sections of the questionnaire are relevant for this report: (1) consumers' satisfaction with CS; (2) a product knowledge test; and (3) demographic information. Factor analysis revealed a reduction of the original five elements of CS in the scale to three distinct elements that were labelled Personnel, Processes and Value for Money, and Product Presentation. The simpler scale suggests a less intricate judgment of CS in the context of this research. Means indicated that consumers were generally satisfied with all elements of CS, i.e. the service offering coincided with their expectations. Analysis of variance indicated no significant differences in the interpretation of any of the elements of CS by gender. A significant inverse relationship between satisfaction with CS and years of experience occurred for respondents with more than 25 years of experience in terms of Personnel (Element 1) and Processes and Value for Money (Element 2). Findings of the product knowledge tests were meant to verify consumers' CS judgments. However, scores were disappointingly low for all appliances across all respondent categories. Consumers' product knowledge could therefore not have supported informed buying decisions, despite prior experience and the opportunity to acquire additional product information during the in‐store encounter. Consumers' positive CS judgments suggest that they not necessarily realize their lack of crucial product knowledge. In the interest of informed and responsible buying decisions that have consequences for proper use and maintenance of appliances in the long term, retail stores that serve a broad customer base are encouraged to attend to in‐store customer assistance during the pre‐purchase phase, notwithstanding positive CS judgments. Non‐formal consumer education by competent, well‐trained salespeople is recommended to encourage evaluative rational product judgments. It is also suggested that store displays are designed to encourage consumers to be more inquisitive during store visits.     

A latent structure factor analytic approach for customer satisfaction measurement

The linkage of customer satisfaction, customer retention, and firm profitability has been well established in the marketing literature, and provides ample justification as to why customer satisfaction measurement (CSM) has been a focal point in marketing decision making. Although aggregate market level research on understanding the determinants of customer satisfaction is abundant, CSM decisions at segment level are possible only if the individual or market segment differences in the formation of overall satisfaction judgments and subsequent heterogeneity in the role these various determinants play are understood. Based on expectancy-disconfirmation theory in customer satisfaction, we propose a maximum likelihood based latent structure factor analytic methodology which visually depicts customer heterogeneity regarding the various major determinants of customer satisfaction judgments involving multiple attributes, and provides directions for segment-specific CSM decisions. We first describe the proposed model framework including the technical aspects of the model structure and subsequent maximum likelihood estimation. In an application to a consumer trade show, we then demonstrate how our proposed methodology can be gainfully employed to uncover the nature of such heterogeneity. We also empirically demonstrate the superiority of the proposed model over a number of different model specifications in this application. Finally, limitations and directions for future research are discussed.     

Understanding Customer Role and its Importance in the Formation of Service Quality Expectations

A search of the Service Quality (SQ) and Customer Satisfaction (CS) literature reveals a gap in knowledge relating to the ‘expectation’ formation aspect of the disconfirmation paradigm.

Little consideration has been given to the ‘role’ of the customer in the service encounter, albeit that the above literature mostly customer that one measure of output performance comprises a customer comparison of the various delivery components with a self-established standard, of which ‘expectations’ appears the most common. A need exists to identify not only how customers define the standards and parameters for evaluation, but also, how the customers’ understanding of their role during service interaction affects the expectations they form.

This paper addresses the above need through the development and subsequent exploratory testing of a conceptual model of expectation formation. In addition to the recognised expectation antecedents of ‘experience’ and ‘familiarity,' two ‘role’ construct dimensions ‘role understanding’ and ‘role benefit’ are introduced in a broader expectation antecedent framework. The relationship between ‘experience’ and ‘familiarity’ with respect to expectations is found to be indirect in nature; with ‘role understanding’ and ‘role benefit’ both performing a mediator function. Managerial and research implications are discussed.     

Share of wallet in retailing: the effects of customer satisfaction, loyalty cards and shopper characteristics

In retailing, consumers typically patronize multiple outlets. Thus, an important issue is why consumers vary in how they divide their purchases across outlets and how outlets can get a greater share of consumer expenditures. Two potential avenues for increasing customer share are to raise customer satisfaction, and increase repeat purchase through loyalty cards. This study examines the effects of customer satisfaction and loyalty cards as well as consumer characteristics on customer share spent on the primary grocery store. The findings suggest that customer satisfaction has a positive, albeit modest, effect on share while consumer economic shopping orientation has a negative direct effect on share. The economic orientation of shoppers, their felt importance of a personal relationship with store personnel, and the level of their aggregate purchase volume moderate the effect of satisfaction on customer share. Finally, the results provide mixed support for the impact of loyalty cards on customer behavior.     

The effects of service quality,perceived value and trust in home delivery service personnel on customer satisfaction: Evidence from a developing country

The rapid growth of online purchasing in recent years has emphasized the accompanying role of home delivery service provided by delivery personnel in ensuring customer satisfaction. On-time delivery, better service, generating positive customer perceived value, and trust towards service providers are influential factors that contribute to customer satisfaction. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of service quality of home delivery personnel and perceived value on customer satisfaction, with trust playing an intervening role. It was conducted in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a less developed country with a new but rapidly growing digital sector. Data was collected from 259 respondents who received home delivery service, using a structured questionnaire. The conceptual model was analysed using partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS tool. The findings revealed that service quality, customer perceived value, and trust influenced customer satisfaction. The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction and the relationship between customer perceived value and satisfaction were both partially mediated by trust. The findings contribute to the development and validation of a trust-based satisfaction model by extending the SERVQUAL model to incorporate perceived value in the presence of trust, while complying with expectation disconfirmation theory This study provides insights for managers to develop reliability and build trust in their service delivery personnel.