Abstract
The study explored the process through which customers assess their satisfaction with service organizations. Our theoretical analysis suggests that when a general satisfaction question appears after questions about specific domains were asked (SG order), the earlier questions increase the accessibility of both positive and negative information. In contrast, when a general satisfaction question appears prior to any other question (GS order), negative information is more accessible than positive information. On the basis of these differences in accessibility we predicted (1) greater asymmetry in the impact of positive and negative information on the general satisfaction response in the GS order, (2) higher correspondence between domain-specific satisfaction and general satisfaction in the SG order, and (3) higher levels of general satisfaction in the SG order. These predictions were supported in analyses of customers' responses in a national survey of satisfaction with the Israel Telecommunication Corporation (Bezeq).
| Original language | American English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 536-551 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Public Opinion Quarterly |
| Volume | 57 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 1993 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:YAACOV SCHUL is associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the Hebrew University, MIRIAM SCHIFF is a researcher at the Louis Guttman Israel Institute of Applied Social Research and a doctoral student in the Department of Psychology at the Hebrew University. The authors wish to thank George Mayer and Tal Kahana of Bezeq Telecommunications for making these data available for secondary analysis and publication. Preparation of this manuscript was also supported by funds from the Kmart International Center at the Hebrew University and a grant from the Israel Foundation Trustees. We would like to thank Elihu Katz, scientific director of the Guttman Institute, for his advice and interest in this project. Nathaniel Katz and Haviva Bar led the focus groups from which some of the variables were derived.