A cognitive model of consumer emotions and satisfaction.

This dissertation brings together the two streams of research, the psychology and social psychology literature on emotions and the marketing literature on consumer satisfaction. We show that satisfaction has been conceptualized in the psychology literature as an emotion, and in the marketing literature as an overall evaluation not unlike an attitude. We propose a cognitive model of consumer emotions and satisfaction in which satisfaction is modeled as one of the many consumption emotions. The model also includes an overall evaluation of satisfaction, (which we term CS&D--consumer satisfaction & dissatisfaction--to distinguish it from the emotional term) which we suggest is similar if not identical to attitude towards the focal object. This dissertation does not attempt to verify all aspects of the proposed theoretical model. The focus of the current research is on verifying the cognitive model of consumer emotions, and on showing that consumer emotions have a significant impact on behavior. Following the theory of emotions suggested by Richard Lazarus, our cognitive model of consumer emotions and satisfaction models consumer emotions (including the emotion of satisfaction) as consequences of cognitive appraisals. The cognitive appraisals leading to various emotions include the appraisals of goal relevance, goal congruence, attribution, coping potential and future expectancy to name a few. Two experiments are conducted in which the cognitive appraisals of goal relevance, goal congruence, coping potential and attribution are manipulated. Numerous hypotheses are put forward predicting the effects of the experimental manipulations of the cognitive appraisals on various emotions. Strong evidence is obtained for the proposition that cognitive appraisals are determinants of consumer emotions. This research also proposes that post-consumption phenomena (such as word-of-mouth, complaint behavior, repurchase intentions, brand loyalty) are better predicted using consumer emotions (including the emotion of satisfaction) than by using satisfaction as the only predictor. Two experiments are conducted to demonstrate that emotions are significant predictors of post-consumption variables such as positive and negative word-of-mouth, and intention to use. We suggest that marketers should pay attention not only to their customer's satisfaction but also to their emotional reactions, since these emotions can complement satisfaction in predicting subsequent behavior. A cognitive model of consumer emotions and satisfaction can also be used in designing and diagnosing emotion evoking advertisements.PhDBusiness AdministrationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/104215/1/9501053.pdfDescription of 9501053.pdf : Restricted to UM users only