Effects of Critical Incidents on Consumer Satisfaction

Abstract: Satisfaction is assumed to be an important cause of attitude change by mediating between preexposure and postexposure attitudes. A number of factors account for whether one is satisfied or not with a specific product or service. One factor is expectations, another performance of the product or service, and a third disconfirmation of expectation. Another possible factor that influences satisfaction is the affective reaction to product/service performance. The present thesis aimed at investigating satisfaction with public transport services. More specifically, the role of critical incidents in satisfaction was examined. In Studies I and IV the characteristics of critical incidents in public transport services were analyzed. Three different methods were in Study I applied to explore perceptual/cognitive experiences of negative critical incidents. The results suggested that employee behavior, reliability, simplicity, and design constitute perceived quality attributes in public transport services. Study IV investigated how individuals respond affectively to and evaluate satisfaction after such encounters. The results showed as expected that the critical incidents varied in both valence (positive-negative feelings) and activation (arousal). Study II confirmed the quality attributes found in Study I by means of further analyses of the covariances of rated frequencies of remembered negative critical incidents as well as of ratings of attributes-specific satisfaction. Some explanations of how frequencies of remembered negative critical incidents are coded in memory were tested in Studies II and III. The results showed that frequency of negative critical incidents, defined as disconfirmation of expectations, negatively affected overall satisfaction with public transport. The relationship was however not direct but mediated by attribute-specific satisfaction. Furthermore, the results obtained in Study IV showed that difference in satisfaction caused by different types of critical incidents were related to the affective reactions to the incidents.