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When do customers get what they expect? Understanding the ambivalent effects of customers’ service expectations on satisfaction
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Habel, Johannes, Alavi, Sascha, Schmitz, Christian, Schneider, Janina-Vanessa and Wieseke, Jan (2016) When do customers get what they expect? Understanding the ambivalent effects of customers’ service expectations on satisfaction. Journal of Service Research, 19 (4). pp. 361-379. doi:10.1177/1094670516662350 ISSN 1094-6705.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1094670516662350
Abstract
Extant research established that customers’ expectations play an ambivalent role in the satisfaction formation process: While higher expectations are more difficult to meet and thus cause dissatisfaction, they simultaneously increase satisfaction via customers’ perceived performance owing to a placebo effect. However, to date, knowledge is scarce on the question under which conditions either the positive or negative effect of expectations on satisfaction prevails. Building on information processing theory, the authors hypothesize that an essential contingency of the indirect, placebo-based effect is the degree to which customers are able and motivated to process a service experience. Three studies with a total of over 4,000 customers in different service contexts provide strong evidence for this hypothesis. Thus, managers are well advised to provide a realistic or even understated prospect if the service context favors customers’ ability or motivation to evaluate. Conversely, if customers are neither able nor motivated to evaluate the service, increasing customer expectations represents a viable strategy to enhance satisfaction. Relatedly, if customers hold low service expectations, managers should foster customers’ ability and motivation to evaluate the service. In contrast, if service expectations are high, managers may benefit from reducing the likelihood that customers overly focus on the service performance.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HF Commerce | ||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Marketing Group Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Consumer satisfaction, Customer services | ||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Journal of Service Research | ||||||
Publisher: | Sage Publications, Inc. | ||||||
ISSN: | 1094-6705 | ||||||
Official Date: | 2016 | ||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 19 | ||||||
Number: | 4 | ||||||
Page Range: | pp. 361-379 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.1177/1094670516662350 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 20 March 2019 | ||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 26 March 2019 |
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