Dismantling "Positive Affect" and its Effects on Customer Satisfaction: An Empirical Examination of Customer Joy in a Service Encounter

Abstract

In this study, in which we argue for a disaggregated approach to customer emotions, we examine the antecedents of one specific customer emotion, namely joy, and how it affects customer satisfaction in a service encounter. Our proposed model contains four variables linked to each other as follows: (1) The service employee's emotional display behavior affects (2) the customer's assessment of the joyfulness of the service employee, and this assessment affects (3) the customer's own level of joy, which in turn has an impact on (4) the customer's level of satisfaction. This model received empirical support, thereby suggesting that cognitive judgments, particularly in terms of the customer's assessment of the service employee's emotional state, affect the customer's own emotional state.