Approaches to Developing a College Course on Consumer Satisfaction

Abstract

Consumer satisfaction is now constantly measured and assessed both online and in face-to-face encounters between marketers and customers. The attainment, measurement, and analysis of consumer satisfaction have grown to ubiquity in the overlapping worlds of the consumer and of the marketer, yet the topic is relatively uncovered by marketing educators in contemporary university marketing curricula. Three approaches to developing a consumer satisfaction course are presented: a stand-alone course on consumer satisfaction, a curriculum-wide integration of consumer satisfaction material, and an integration of two courses. Using this third approach, a masters-level course integrating a consumer satisfaction course with a course on social media marketing, is proposed. The structure for the course based on Richard Oliver’s four-phase purchase decision model is recommended. Administrative and faculty issues are discussed.