Another look at consumer dissatisfaction as a measure of market performance

Abstract

In this article consumer dissatisfaction (CD) is explored in some depth on the basis of cross-national data. Two issues are focused upon. First, what is behind the figures indicating quite a lot of dissatisfaction? To what extent is CD affected by the quality of goods and services bought and present marketing practice, and to what extent by other variables such as social and cultural characteristics of the consumers? Second, what are the basic differences in the perception of CD between consumers themselves and their “ombudsmen”?