Beyond expectations: The effect of regulatory focus on consumer satisfaction

Remi Trudel, Kyle B. Murray and June Cotte

International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2012, vol. 29, issue 1, 93-97

Abstract: This paper examines the effect of regulatory focus on consumer satisfaction. In contrast to the disconfirmation of expectations model of satisfaction, we find that, although regulatory focus does affect consumers' expectations, the effect on satisfaction cannot be explained by differences in those expectations. Instead, our results reveal a direct effect of consumers' regulatory focus on satisfaction that is based on the conservative bias of prevention-focused consumers. Compared to promotion-focused consumers, prevention-focused consumers protect against making errors and demonstrate a conservative bias in their evaluations of satisfaction. The results of two experiments demonstrate this conservative bias, showing that, compared to promotion-focused consumers, prevention-focused consumers are less satisfied with positive outcomes and more satisfied with negative outcomes.

Keywords: Regulatory focus; Satisfaction; Expectations; Promotion and prevention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167811611000851
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ijrema:v:29:y:2012:i:1:p:93-97

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijresmar.2011.10.001

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Research in Marketing is currently edited by Roland Rust

More articles in International Journal of Research in Marketing from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().