Towards an understanding of satisfaction : the experiential and affective components

The research investigates factors driving consumer satisfaction by examining the experiential and affective components of satisfaction. This research was motivated by the fact that service firms have tried to deal with the complexities of consumer satisfaction by often heavily depending on satisfaction scoring which follows that high scoring implies that consumers are satisfied with their offerings, while on the other hand low scoring implies that they are not satisfied. These processes are commendable however satisfaction scoring fails to capture certain facets in consumers' service experiences that are highly valuable to the consumer while judging a service consumption experience as satisfying. Using a realist perspective and content analysis, the research was conducted in two phases and both were carried out by using qualitative research techniques. The research allowed for the use of consumers sense making privileges, in the study of satisfaction from their individual service experiences in select service 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 data collection. The second study involved the use of recorded video clips depicting service events, whereby participants were asked to identify and evaluate the activities therein based on how they feel about it. The study provides empirical evidence for experiential and affective compositions of satisfaction from the consumers' point of view, leading to the development of a conceptual framework of consumer satisfaction, such as: speedy delivery, staff competency, care/ personalisation, safety, information exchange, service environment, promise delivery and other consumer activities/ dead time management