From Involvement to Satisfaction in Media Consumption

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of involvement as a determinant of consumer satisfaction. The conceptualization of involvement used in this research extends previous ones to include the whole relationship established between a person and an object in the usage situation. Eight main dimensions of this relationship (including components -antecedents and consequences- of involvement, and satisfaction level) have been identified:
- hedonic (mixing of importance and pleasure, which may be looked at as involvement in a restricted meaning). sign (social expressiveness of the product)
- cognitive (information seeking and expertise)
- sociability (social context of usage)
- stimulation (including affective aspects of consumption experience). choice process (complexity level of usage decision)
- frequency of usage
- satisfaction (generated by product usage)
These dimensions have been measured and validated for six products:
-TV
- Radio
- Videotex
- Videogames
- Home computer
- Video-recorder
The paper presents, for each product, the patterns of relationships between the level of satisfaction generated by product usage and the facets of involvement A structural model is tested at the whole data set level. Results show the evidence of an "affective path" to satisfaction, linking hedonic involvement, stimulation associated with consumption experience, and satisfaction. Contradictory results are obtained on the influence of cognitive consequences of involvement (information search and mastery).