Customer Satisfaction

As one of the most studied areas in marketing, there is a wide variance in the way the term satisfaction has been defined. In addition, most of the existing definitions of customer satisfaction seem to have overlapping components. In general terms, customer satisfaction can be defined as the fulfillment or gratification of a desire, need, or appetite of a customer. It is the pleasure or [Page 537]contentment derived from such gratification. The Free Dictionary defined customer satisfaction as a source or means of gratification. To better operationalize the nature and content of customer satisfaction, Joan Giese and Joseph Cote conducted an extensive review of the related literature, covering some 20 definitions utilized by organizational scholars over the past 30 years of research on customer satisfaction. Their review ...