UNDERSTANDING THE SATISFACTION PROCESS FOR NEW ASSURANCE SERVICES: THE ROLE OF ATTITUDES, EXPECTATIONS, DISCONFIRMATION AND PERFORMANCE

✍ Scribed by Kimberly Gladden Burke; Stacy E Kovar; Penelope J Prenshaw

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 246 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0882-6110
• DOI: 10.1016/s0882-6110(03)20003-1

✦ Synopsis

This study examines the consumer satisfaction formation process for new, non-traditional assurance services. Extending Oliver's (1997) expectancy disconfirmation model, our online survey mirrors the communications and activities in a typical ElderCare engagement. We find that consumers' attitudes toward advertisements for the new service, attitudes toward CPAs as providers, perceptions of performance, and disconfirmation are all significant determinants of satisfaction while expectations are not significant. Suggesting that consumers may not be able to form strong, stable expectations for new non-traditional services, these results imply that marketing should focus on professional qualifications and indicators of performance quality rather than on managing prepurchase expectations.