Towards an understanding of satisfaction : the experiential and affective components

The research investigates factors driving consumer satisfaction by examining theexperiential and affective components of satisfaction. This research was motivated bythe fact that service firms have tried to deal with the complexities of consumersatisfaction by often heavily depending on satisfaction scoring which follows that highscoring implies that consumers are satisfied with their offerings, while on the other handlow scoring implies that they are not satisfied. These processes are commendablehowever satisfaction scoring fails to capture certain facets in consumers' serviceexperiences that are highly valuable to the consumer while judging a serviceconsumption experience as satisfying. Using a realist perspective and content analysis,the research was conducted in two phases and both were carried out by using qualitativeresearch techniques. The research allowed for the use of consumers sense makingprivileges, in the study of satisfaction from their individual service experiences in selectservice organisations which are; hospitality, mobile phone, health and airline industries.In the first study, a semi-structured interview was used as a primary source of datacollection. The second study involved the use of recorded video clips depicting serviceevents, whereby participants were asked to identify and evaluate the activities thereinbased on how they feel about it. The study provides empirical evidence for experientialand affective compositions of satisfaction from the consumers' point of view, leading tothe development of a conceptual framework of consumer satisfaction, such as: speedydelivery, staff competency, care/ personalisation, safety, information exchange, serviceenvironment, promise delivery and other consumer activities/ dead time management.

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral (Level 8)

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Uche, UO

Language dc:language

en

Identifier

oai:salford-repository.worktribe.com:1337507

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:salford-repository.worktribe.com:1337507