Abstract: Facing difficult times, retailers are anxious to stimulate store visits and positive word-of-mouth. Unfortunately, most retailing studies regard satisfaction as the ultimate dependent variable and fail to examine post-purchase variables. The ones that do, focus on dissatisfaction and its effect on complaining behavior and negative word-of-mouth. This study investigates possible relationships between satisfaction (overall as well as situational) and post-purchase intentions of shoppers. The results show that in some shopping situations, situational satisfaction has a direct influence on post-purchase intentions as well as an indirect effect mediated by overall satisfaction. In other shopping situations, situational satisfaction only has an indirect effect on post-purchase intentions or does not influence them at all. Overall satisfaction, however, has a strong positive influence on post-purchase intentions. These findings suggest that retailers should not simply focus on avoiding customer dissatisfaction; instead, they should be proactive in their efforts to create highly satisfied customers.
(Email: pratibha@love-and-learning.info)
Source: Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, 1994, Volume 7, 161-171.