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Abstract
This research empirically examines for the first time the determinants of customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction (CS/D) in the context of business professional services. The simultaneous effect of key CS/D constructs (expectations, performance, and disconfirmation) and several variables—fairness (equity), purchase situation (novelty, importance, and complexity)—and individual-level variables (decision uncertainty and stakeholding) are examined in a causal path framework. Data were obtained from a two-stage longitudinal survey of client organizations. The results indicated substantial support for the hypothesized model. The effect of purchase situation and individual-level variables (via their indirect affects) rivals that of disconfirmation and expectations in explaining CS/D. Performance was found to affect CS/D directly but not as powerfully as disconfirmation.
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Authors and Affiliations
the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Paul G. Patterson (associate professor of marketing)
the Graduate School of Business, The University of Sydney, Australia
Lester W. Johnson (professor of marketing)
Department of Marketing and Logistics, Eli Broad Graduate School of Management, Michigan State University, East Lansing
Richard A. Spreng (assistant professor of marketing)
- Paul G. Patterson
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- Lester W. Johnson
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His current research interests include modeling customer satisfaction and service quality, services marketing (especially in a business-to-business environment), and relationship marketing. His research has appeared in theInternational Journal for Research in Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Advances in Services Marketing and Management, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, Psychology & Marketing, Asia-Pacific Journal of Management, R & D Management, Journal of International Marketing, and others.
he has been on the faculty of a number of U.S. and Australian universities. His research interests focus on services marketing, marketing research methods, and modeling satisfaction processes. He has published in theJournal of Advertising Research, Journal of Business, Journal of Services Marketing, and others. He is currently the editor of theAustralasian Journal of Market Research.
He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University. His research interests include consumer satisfaction, service quality, and consumer information processing. His work has appeared in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Product Innovation Management, and others.
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Patterson, P.G., Johnson, L.W. & Spreng, R.A. Modeling the determinants of customer satisfaction for business-to-business professional services.J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci.25, 4–17 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02894505
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