A Model Of Customer Satisfaction

Introduction
Customer satisfaction has always been considered an essential business goal because it was assumed that satisfied customers would buy more.   Patterson, Johnson, and Spreng (1997) have demonstrated empirically that a strong link exists between satisfaction and repurchase intention.   Peterson and Wilson (1992) argue that customer satisfaction is not only necessary, but actually a primary obligation of organizations.   Fierman (1995) goes so far as to say that “Ultimately, a business is worth nothing if it fails to satisfy its customers”.
Fueled by global competition and a need to achieve and retain competitive advantage, many companies are turning their focus to customer satisfaction.   Fornell (1992) identifies several benefits of high customer satisfaction.   Among these are increased customer loyalty, reduced price elasticities, lower costs of future transactions and of attracting new customers, reduced failure costs, and enhanced reputation for the firm.   Additionally, according to a U.S. Department of Consumer Affairs study, selling costs are said to be only 20% as much as the cost of winning new customers (Rust, Zahorik, and Keiningham, 1995).
Management has been slow to react but now understands that it must develop and manage an organization which provides the quality level that its customers demand.   In goods-producing industries, this means measuring and improving the quality of both the product and the accompanying services.   In service organizations it involves measuring and improving the quality of the service process as well as the outcomes (Saunders, Scherer, and Brown, 1995).   An Information Week Research Priorities survey of 250 Information Technology executives reveals that senior business executives are making customer management a higher priority for three out of four IT departments (Weston, 1998).   The survey also indicates, however, that spending on customer management is still modest.   In all, 58% of the executives surveyed said...