RLS 183: Marketing Recreation Services
Satisfaction, Quality and Value
Satisfaction
Most commonly a measure that compares perceived performance/outcome against expected performance/outcome
Quality
Most commonly a measure that compares perceived performance/outcome against an ideal or desired performance/outcome
Thus, quality is a comparison to a standard of excellence
Value
Value is typically described as a function of quality and price. Value increases as quality increase and/or as price decreases.
Each of these may be aggregated for a whole product experience as some combination of perceived measurements of the components of the whole product experience. That is, a product may perform adequately, but satisfaction remains low because of an unsatisfactory delivery or environment associated with the product (or some such combination of factors).
Also, each of these concepts may be assessed in an encounter specific basis or as a global/overall assessment of multiple encounters. It has been shown that consumers can perceive of encounter satisfaction, overall satisfaction and service quality as being distinct, but they are highly correlated, especially the pairing of overall satisfaction and quality.
There are competing ideas in quality measurement, especially between subjective and objective measures. Subjective measures are based on individual perceptions of performance, where objective measures are set in the context of a comparison to some specifically measurable criteria. Quality is sometimes said to be a comparative measure within the consumer’s evoked set of products.
Satisfaction, quality and value may exist independently of each other. That is, it is possible to experience high satisfaction in conjunction with low quality, low value with high quality, low satisfaction with high value, etc.
Measurements have been shown to differ significantly after a passage of time. One study showed different measurement of satisfaction with a day hike when measured during the event, immediately following the event, three months later, and nine months later. In this case Real Time Satisfaction may have been similar to a single or limited factor encounter satisfaction type measurement, while Post Hoc Satisfaction seemed to involve more introspection and assessment of the overall experience.
Cognitive Dissonance
Dissonance (a sort of internal disagreement) occurs when what you do or purchase doesn’t seem to fit very well with what you wanted or intended. If the characteristics of the product can’t be changed, individuals will rationalize their former desires, essentially changing their own parameters to fit the product. This is the process of convincing yourself you made the right decision, with the alternative being some acceptance of a bad choice (generally not a desirable admission).