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The concept and assessment of customer satisfaction
In all sectors of the economy, organizations need to know how well they are satisfying customer needs and expectations. To achieve this, they have to translate general conceptions of customer satisfaction into decisions about what to measure and what methods to use to collect data. A full understanding of the customer satisfaction assessment thus requires a look beyond technical (analytical methods and models) into substantive and methodological issues. Both conceptualization and operationalization of customer satisfaction, as well as the logic of measuring it, have to be examined. This chapter offers a roadmap for such examination. Following the introductory section, Section 7.2 addresses the interrelated concepts of customer satisfaction, perceived service quality and customer loyalty. Section 7.3 deals with methodological issues relevant in survey collection of customer satisfaction data. Section 7.4 evaluates the ABC ACSS questionnaire from the conceptual and methodological points of view discussed in Sections 7.2 and 7.3.
7.1 Introduction
How can organizations improve their assessment of customer satisfaction? We suggest that they have to properly translate general conceptions of customer satisfaction into decisions about what to measure and what methods to use to collect data. A full understanding of the issues involved in assessing customer satisfaction thus requires a look beyond the technical ...
