Effect of expectation and disconfirmation on postexposure product evaluations: An alternative interpretation.

Abstract

Interpretations of the effect of expectation and disconfirmation on perceived product performance are reviewed. At issue is the relative effect of the initial expectation level and the degree of positive or negative disconfirmation on affective judgments following product exposure. Although the results of prior studies suggest a dominant expectation effect, it is argued that detection of the disconfirmation phenomenon may have been clouded by a conceptual and methodological overdetermination problem. To test this notion, 243 subjects responded to expectation and disconfirmation measures in a three-stage field study of reactions to a recently introduced automobile model. These measures were later related to postexposure affect and intention variables in a hierarchical analysis of variance design. Although the results support earlier conclusions that level of expectation is related to postexposure judgments, it is also shown that the disconfirmation experience may have an independent and equally significant impact. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Consumer Trade-Offs and the Evaluation of Services

“…For example, in terms of differences, CS/D is also thought to have an affective component (Oliver 1993) and to be experiential; therefore, it is best judged after a purchase (Howard and Sheth 1969;Hunt 1977;Oliver 1993).' By comparison, in the literature value seems to be tied more closely to the specific concepts of costs and pricing, relative to quality.…”

“…Churchill and Surprenant 1982;Oliver 1977Oliver , 1980. We do not test such causal linkages, have not collected data that speak to those linkages, or made any sort of conclusive statements regarding such linkages.…”

“…Previous studies that have looked at the consumer evaluation process have used different service industries as the context for evaluation, including hotels (Voss 1993), telephone services (Bolton and Drew 1991), stockbrokers (Oliver and DeSarbo 1988), banking services (Surprenant and Solomon 1987), and flu vaccinations (Oliver 1980). Because the trade-offs consumers are willing to make can vary, depending on the industry they are evaluating, we had subjects evaluate multiple service industries.…”

“…Cadotte, Woodruff, and Jenkins 1987;Churchill and Surprenant 1982;Fomell 1992;Oliver 1977Oliver , 1980Oliver and Swan 1989;Tse and Wilton 1988;Westbrook 1987. ) Much of the recent research on consumer evaluations has focused on applications to services marketing as researchers attempt to examine questions such as the conceptual relationship between customer satisfaction and service quality (Bitner and Hubbert 1993;lacobucci, Grayson, and Ostrom 1994;Oliver 1993;Oliver and DeSarbo 1988;Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry 1994).…”

The effects of interaction sequencing on user experience and preference

“…The study found that participants who felt a game failed to meet expectations rated the game negatively (on several affective measures), while those who felt it exceeded expectations gave positive ratings. Michalco et al framed their studies around the idea of expectation (Oliver, 1977) -a framework for contemplating the relationship between expectations and outcomes that was prevalent in marketing research in the 1970s and 80s. Expectation disconfirmation does not predict any empirical outcomes; rather, various adaptation theories (including contrast theory (Sherif, 1961), assimilation theory (Sherif, 1961), and cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957)) explain how disconfirmation is resolved into subjective preferences.…”