The retrospective and the prospective mind and the temporal framing of customer satisfaction

Abstract

This study explores the potential for differences and similarities between two ways of conceptualizing customer satisfaction: current customer satisfaction (CCS) and anticipated customer satisfaction (ACS). The analysis shows that these two constructs share a substantial amount of variance, and that there is no significant difference in the level of the two types of satisfaction. With regard to the two constructs’ ability to explain future intentions, CCS outperforms ACS for behavioral expectations. However, for conscious plans, no significant difference exists between CCS and ACS. The similarities between the two constructs suggest that ACS may be used in studies of potential customers and thus that the satisfaction construct may be expanded to customers who, by definition, have no prior experience and therefore no current level of satisfaction.