Reference no: EM132965755

The Expectancy-disconfirmation model highlighted in chapter 10 is a good tool that could be used to assess whether a customer is satisfied or unsatisfied (read 'perceptions of product quality' section on page 313).

This model can be also expressed statistically as: S = ∑w(i) (p(i)-e(i)), where satisfaction (S) is a function of the importance weight w(i) that consumers assign to each attribute (i) and the difference between perceptions and expectations (p(i)-e(i)).

-When the sum of all perceptions minus expectations equals zero, consumers are perfectly satisfied.

-When this sum dips below zero, consumers become dissatisfied, and

-When returns a value greater than zero, consumers are delight

Imagine that you have been hired by a well-known marketing research firm. Your supervisor has asked you to use the expectancy disconfirmation model (for review refer to page 314 and the instructor notes of Module 8 in the syllabus) to evaluate a consumer's post-hoc satisfaction level for a recent purchase of running shoes. For the practice purpose of this assignment, you can ask a consumer who is your friend, your colleague or a member of your family.

1. Identify three determinant attributes for this consumer (e.g. Comfort, style, durability).

2. Determine the consumer's importance weights for each attribute, such that they total 100 percent. For example comfort=30%, style =10% and durability 60%.

3. On a 1 to 7 scale, ask the consumer to rate how s/he expected the brand to perform on each of these attributes, prior to purchase (for example, comfort=6, style = 4 and durability=6).

4. Also on a 1 to 7 scale, ask the consumer to rate his/her actual perceptions of how the shoe has performed on each of these attributes.

5. Plug the weights (w), expectations (e) and perceptions (p) into formula: S = ∑w (pe), where S is satisfaction level.

Does the outcome of the function suggest that this consumer is satisfied, delight or dissatisfied? Ask the consumer if s/he is satisfied to see if the model is consistent with consumer's response.