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ABSTRACT
Previous research suggests that satisfaction processes may vary across different types of products and different time periods, but little research has sought to determine if satisfaction processes vary across different consumer groups. This qualitative study of disadvantaged consumers compares the existing satisfaction paradigm with consumers' actual consumption experiences to highlight limitations and deficiencies with the current theory as it applies to disadvantaged consumers. The results indicate that disadvantaged consumers do not seem to form or articulate prepurchase expectations, while performance, equity, and affect appear to play strong roles in their satisfaction judgments. Equity in terms of interactional fairness was especially dominant for services. The disadvantaged consumers in this study also failed to complain when dissatisfied, passively accepting inferior service and products. Implications for researchers, public policy makers, and marketing managers are discussed.
INTRODUCTION
Customer satisfaction remains a central construct in marketing as companies continue to keep customer satisfaction as one of their primary goals (Fornell 1992; Morgan, Anderson, and Mittal 2005; Oliver 1997). As a result, a considerable amount of consumer satisfaction research in the last 30 years has focused on the discovery of the antecedents and outcomes of satisfaction. Many theoretical models of the satisfaction process have been developed and tested, and strong support for several antecedents has been found, including expectations (Bearden and Teel 1983; Churchill and Surprenant 1982; Oliver 1980, 1981), disconfirmation (Bearden and Teel 1983; Churchill and Surprenant 1982; Oliver 1981), performance (Churchill and Surprenant 1982; Oliver and DeSarbo 1988), experience-based norms (Woodruff, Cadotte, and Jenkins 1983), equity/fairness (Bowman and Das Narayandas 2001; Davidow 2003; Oliver and DeSarbo 1988; Oliver and Swan 1989a), affect/emotion (Westbrook 1980, 1987; Westbrook and Oliver 1991), desires congruency (Spreng and Olshavsky 1993; Spreng, MacKenzie and Olshavsky 1996), and causal attributions (Folkes 1984; Oliver and DeSarbo 1988) to name a few. The expectancy-disconfirmation framework, in particular, has garnered considerable attention, and variations of Oliver's (1980) model continue to build the satisfaction literature base.
While previous research on satisfaction suggests that satisfaction processes may vary across different types of products and different time periods (e.g., Cadotte, Woodruff, and Jenkins 1987; Churchill and Surprenant 1982), little research has sought to determine if satisfaction processes vary across different consumer groups. Furthermore, the traditional focus on the expectancy-disconfirmation...