Profiles of Consumer Emotions and Satisfaction in Ownership and Usage

Abstract

We report a study of the relationship between emotional reactions and product satisfaction and show how the emotions relate to specific product outcome experiences. It was hypothesized that one's reaction to such experiences could be conceived as a complex pattern of fundamental emotions, as suggested in recent studies of affect in the satisfaction response. To test this notion, subjects reported on their emotional reactions to automobile consumption (usage) using a modified version of the Izard DES. Cluster analysis of the emotional response measures revealed patterns of affective experience which, although broadly consistent with recent work, also suggested two new dimensions, tentativeness and guilt/shame, which have not been previously considered as bases for the satisfaction response. Specific hypotheses were tested relating product consumption experiences to the emotional dimensions. Mixed but encouraging support is reported.