Compare and contrast customer satisfaction and expectation
Student-written example
Shared for study and reference. Not a sample of our professional writing.
About this example
This assignment was contributed by a student. The views expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of UKEssays. Use it to inform your reading and develop your own work.
Question
Compare and contrast customer satisfaction and expectation
Answer
Customer satisfaction is a judgement following consumption experience – it is the consumer’s judgement that a product/service provided (or is providing) a pleasurable level of consumption-related fulfilment. (Oliver 1997). While the literature contains significant differences in the definition of satisfaction, all the definitions share some common elements. When examined as a whole, three general components can be identified: 1) consumer satisfaction is a response (emotional or cognitive); 2) the response pertains to a particular focus (expectations, product, consumption experience, etc.); and 3) the response occurs at a particular time (after consumption, after choice, based on accumulated experience, etc) (Giese and Cote 2000)
Whereas, customer expectations are beliefs about service delivery that serve as standards or reference points against which performance is judged. In other words, customer expectation is the perceived value customers seek from the purchase of a good or service. It should be noted that expectations are an important aspect of customers’ satisfaction. Ensuring customer satisfaction comes down to meeting customer expectations or exceeding them. When meeting the expectations, the customer confirms his or her expectations. When the expectations are not met they are however disconfirmed, which can then be done in either a positive manner, resulting in a high level of customer satisfaction, or in a negative manner, resulting in dissatisfaction (Andersson and Liedman 2013)
References
Oliver, Richard L. (1997), Satisfaction: A Behavioural Perspective on the Consumer, New York: McGraw Hill
Giese, Joane L., and Cote, Joseph A. (2000), Defining Customer Satisfaction, Academy of Marketing Science Review 2000 (1)
Anderson, M. and Liedman, G. (2013) Consideration of Expectations to Enhance Customer Satisfaction. Department of Technology Management and Economics, Division of Innovation Engineering and Management, Chalmers University of Technology
UKEssays writing support
Need support with your own question?
Our experienced academic writers hold at least a 2:1 degree from a reputable university, with most exceeding this minimum.
Send us your question and, if you wish, any marking criteria. We’ll write a model answer to your brief.
Cite This Work
To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below:
Related Services
View all
DMCA / Removal Request
If you are the original writer of this assignment and no longer wish to have your work published on UKEssays.com then please click the following link to email our support team:
Request essay removal