The Effect of Group Interactions on Satisfaction Judgments: Satisfaction Escalation

Abstract

This study investigates how people's satisfaction judgments are modified after they interact with other group members. It integrates research on customer satisfaction and social influence to develop hypotheses about how an individual's satisfaction is influenced by discrepancies between her expectations about the satisfaction of other group members and their actual opinions as revealed in group discussion. It also considers how this effect is moderated by the individual's susceptibility to social influence and perceptions of group cohesiveness. Two empirical studies demonstrate significant social influence effects on satisfaction judgments in groups. Study One analyzes group satisfaction data collected over time using a mixed-effects regression. It shows that an individual's perceived discrepancy between others' satisfaction judgments and expected group satisfaction has an important influence on her postdiscussion satisfaction judgments. Moreover, individuals discount the prediscussion satisfaction judgments of other group members in favor of perceived satisfaction and its discrepancy with expectations. Group cohesiveness accentuates the perceived discrepancy with expected group satisfaction. Study Two analyzes survey data from dyads drawn from a cross-sectional sample of organizational buyers who purchase from the same supplier. It models the decision maker's satisfaction with a service supplier as a function of end-user satisfaction. It shows that social influence effects exist in purchasing groups within organizations. Both studies demonstrate that individual-level postdiscussion satisfaction judgments tend to become more extreme, a phenomenon we call .satisfaction, social influence, organizational buying decisions, group cohesiveness, escalation

E-auction web assessment model in China

“…This moderating effect of interactions on user satisfaction mostly comes from the individual's susceptibility to social influence and perceptions of group cohesiveness [28]. Recent empirical study results repeatedly confirm that good virtual interactions can lead to consumer website satisfaction, and undesirable interactions will negatively affect service quality and user satisfaction [69,89,97].…”

What do stakeholders think about knowledge transfer offices? The perspective of firms and research groups in a regional innovation system

“…Perception can influence the strength of subsequent judgements on that attribute. By the same token, it can be said that the perception of knowledge transfer effectiveness may be directly influenced by initial expectations (Bohlmann et al 2006). If a particular actor believes that the process is effective, effectiveness can be taken-for-granted as an external belief that will influence future behaviours.…”

The contrasting effects of negative word of mouth in the post‐consumption stage

“…On the basis of experimental data, Rao and Steckel (1991) verified that a decision model that incorporates the polarization effect outperforms models that do not. Recently, Bohlmann, Rosa, Bolton, and Qualls (2006) demonstrated that satisfaction judgments of both individual consumers and organizational buyers are susceptible to the polarizing influence of group interactions-a phenomenon they labeled as "escalation. "…”

“…The aggravating effect of NWOM A large amount of WOM occurs in the context of group discussions with family and friends (Ward & Reingen, 1990), colleagues (Bohlmann et al, 2006), and strangers (Schlosser, 2005). When dissatisfied consumers exchange NWOM information in a group setting, dissatisfaction should be escalated.…”

“…It is no coincidence that the polarization effect is often investigated in the context of social and political issues (e.g., Downing et al, 1992;Lord et al, 1979;Myers, 1978). The deliberative/ evaluative focus is also evident in pertinent consumer research, which has verified the polarizing influence of "evaluative beliefs" (Ward & Reingen, 1990), "preference evaluations" (Rao & Steckel, 1991), and "product performance evaluations" (Bohlmann et al, 2006). In a post-consumption NWOM context, the exposure to negative evaluations of salient product attributes likely prompts dissatisfied consumers to deliberate on the performance of these attributes.…”