When Does Mood Matter?

Abstract

Abstract Despite the growing interest in mood in consumer research literature, little empirical research has been conducted on the effects of post-consumption mood states on customer evaluations of hospitality services. This study was designed to close this gap by contrasting the impacts of post-encounter mood on evaluations of two opposing types of service encounters: (a) brief, routine type encounters (e.g., hotel check-outs) and (b) extended encounters with multiple contacts with the same employee (e.g., fine-dining). The results of this field study suggest that the mood bias might be limited to customer evaluations following brief customer-employee interactions. In a hotel check-out setting, post-consumption mood was a significant predictor of satisfaction, service quality, and repurchase intention. Conversely, post-consumption mood failed to influence customers overall evaluations in a fine-dining context. Key Words: Mood biasbrief service encountersextended encountershotelfood and beverage