CHAPTER 14 CONSUMPTION TO SATISFACTION

CHAPTER 14

CONSUMPTION TO SATISFACTION

WHAT DO YOU THINK POLLING QUESTION

When I’m treated unfairly by a business, dissatisfaction describes my feelings well.

Strongly disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly agree

Have students access www.cengagebrain.com to answer the polling questions for each chapter of CB. Ask them to take the online poll to see how their answers compare with other students taking a consumer behavior course across the country. Then turn to the last page of the chapter to find the What Others Have Thought box feature. This graph is a snapshot of how other consumer behavior students have answered this polling question thus far.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

After studying this chapter, the student should be able to:

L01 Gain an appreciation of the link from consumption to value to satisfaction.

L02 Discuss the relative importance of satisfaction and value in consumer behavior.

L03 Know that emotions other than satisfaction can affect postconsumption behavior.

L04 Use expectancy disconfirmation, equity, and attribution theory approaches to explain consumers’ postconsumption reactions.

L04 Understand problems with commonly applied satisfaction measures.

L06 Describe some ways that consumers dispose of products.

SUGGESTED LECTURE OPENER

When we think about consumer satisfaction and the consumption process, the link seems clear. Businesses with high levels of consumer satisfaction succeed, and those with low levels fail. However, this isn’t always the case. According to a major recent survey, the social networking website Facebook ranks in the bottom five percent of consumer satisfaction with privately held companies in the U.S. Respondents had no shortage of complaints about the site’s performance and user-friendliness. Yet, Facebook continues to grow at an explosive rate. How is this? Consumers who want to participate in social networking and want access to the largest possible community have little choice but to use the Facebook system. This means that the value of access outweighs the value of performance satisfaction. [Source: Matthew Shaer, “Why Facebook Enjoys Explosive Growth—Despite Its Many Stumbles,” The Christian Science Monitor, August 19, 2010, http://www.csmonitor.com.]

LECTURE OUTLINE WITH POWERPOINT® SLIDES

Slide 1 Slide 2

LO1. Gain an appreciation of the link from consumption to value to satisfaction.

Consumption, Value, and Satisfaction

Slide 3

Consumption Leads to Value

The important role of consumption becomes apparent when you consider that, without consumption, there is no value. The basic consumption process is illustrated in Exhibit 14.1.

Slide 4

Consumption and Product Classification

Important differences exist for the consumption of durable and nondurable goods. Durable goods are goods that are consumed over long periods of time. A washing machine is a durable good. Nondurable goods are consumed quickly. A bag of chips is a nondurable good. Marketers try to increase consumption frequency as much as possible, especially for nondurable goods. Consumption frequency refers to the number of times a product or service is consumed in a given time period.

Slide 5

Situations and Consumer Reactions

The temporal factors, antecedent conditions, and physical environment are influential on the consumption experience. How, what, and when we consume is largely dependent on our environment. The environment greatly influences consumption and consumer satisfaction. When golfers play on a crowded golf course, their pace of play is determined more by other golfers.

Slide 6

Consumption, Meaning, and Transference

Value depends on a process called meaning transference. Meaning transference is a process by which cultural meaning is transferred to a product and onto the consumer. Value is affected largely by the meaning of goods, services, and experiences.

Few material items are as symbolic as the diamond wedding ring. During the recent economic downturn, researchers found that the demand for diamonds fell, but the symbolism of the diamond wedding ring kept those rings selling. Consumers may not have bought as expensive a ring now as they might have a few years ago, but they still bought a ring as a symbol of their love and commitment.

Slide 7 Slide 8

Consumption Outcomes and Emotion

Consumers choose products, services, and experiences that they believe will deliver value and satisfy their wants and needs. Consumers experience a variety of emotions during the consumption experience including feelings of pleasure, arousal, joy, disgust, fear, and sadness. The relationship between consumption, value, and satisfaction is shown in Exhibit 14.3.

Slide 9

Q: Ask students what emotions they feel during the consumption process. Have students provide examples.

A: Answers will vary.

LO2. Discuss the relative importance of satisfaction and value in consumer behavior.

Value and Satisfaction

Slide 10

Is satisfaction the key outcome variable for marketers and consumers? Consider

Exhibit 14.4. If marketers ever faced the decision of providing value or satisfaction, value should be prioritized. As illustrated by the ACSI, firms can do well even when they do not enjoy the highest industry satisfaction scores, but a firm that does not provide value cannot do well.

Slide 11

What Is Consumer Satisfaction?

Consumer satisfaction is a mild, positive emotional state resulting from a favorable appraisal of a consumption outcome. Several points distinguish consumer satisfaction from other important consumer behavior concepts:

• Consumer satisfaction is a postconsumption phenomenon because it is a reaction to an outcome.

• Like other emotions, satisfaction results from a cognitive appraisal. Some refer

to this appraisal as the satisfaction judgment.

• Satisfaction is a relatively mild emotion that does not create strong behavioral reactions.

What Is Consumer Dissatisfaction?

Consumer dissatisfaction can be defined as a mild, negative affective reaction resulting from an unfavorable appraisal of a consumption outcome.

Slide 12 Slide 13

LO3. Know that emotions other than satisfaction can affect postconsumption behavior.

Other Postconsumption Reactions

Slide 14

Many other factors, including other emotions, may also occur postconsumption. This view can cause other important postconsumption reactions to be overlooked. Among these are the following:

• Delight

• Disgust

• Surprise

• Exhilaration

• Anger

The particular emotion experienced by consumers will do much to determine the behavioral reaction.

Slide 15

Q: Ask students if they have purchased an item from a website thinking it was real and later found out it was counterfeit (e.g., a watch or a purse). How did that make them feel? Were they ok with the fake? Would they buy from the same site again?

A: Answers will vary.

LO4. Use expectancy disconfirmation, equity, and attribution theory approaches to explain consumers’ postconsumption reactions.

Theories of Postconsumption Reactions

Slide 16 Slide 17

The theories of postconsumption reactions are expectancy/disconfirmation theory, equity theory, and attribution theory.

Expectancy/Disconfirmation

The most commonly accepted theory of consumer satisfaction is the expectancy/disconfirmation theory or model. The basic disconfirmation model proposes that consumers enter into a consumption experience with predetermined cognitive expectations of a product’s performance.

When performance perceptions are more positive than what was expected, positive disconfirmation occurs. Positive disconfirmation leads to consumer satisfaction. When performance perceptions do not meet expectations, meaning performance is less than expected, negative disconfirmation occurs. Negative disconfirmation leads to dissatisfaction. If performance perceptions exactly match what was expected, confirmation (sometimes simply referred to as neutral disconfirmation) is said to occur.

The expectancy disconfirmation approach is shown in Exhibit 14.5, which reveals that expectations can also directly impact satisfaction (by the dotted line), independent of their role in the disconfirmation process.

Slide 18

Expectations

Expectations may be thought of as preconsumption beliefs of what will occur during an exchange and/or consumption of a product. Consumer expectations have two components:

1. The probability that something will occur

2. An evaluation of that potential occurrence

Types of Expectations

Consumers have different types of expectations that they bring into a consumption situation:

• Predictive Expectations  These are expectations that form about what the consumer thinks will actually occur during an experience.

• Normative Expectations  These are expectations of what

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