Several individual, social-setting, and choice-set factors have been shown to be related to satisfaction. This article argues that these factors operate through a set of choice goals. Using panel data on purchasers of consumer electronics, the authors examine how five goals (justifiability, confidence, anticipated regret, evaluation costs, and final negative affect) drive decision and consumption satisfaction, which in turn determine loyalty, product recommendations, and the amount and valence of word of mouth. Choice Goal Attainment and Decision and Consumption SatisfactionRecent research has emphasized the importance of decision satisfaction and how it differs from consumption satisfaction (Fitzsimons, Greenleaf, and Lehmann 1997). Analogous to the distinction between procedural and distributive justice (Homans 1974;Sheppard, Lewicki, and Minton 1992), this work separates the process of making a choice from the experience with the choice outcome. However, relatively little is known about how these two forms of satisfaction are related to each other or what their antecedents and consequences are. Using data from a two-part study, this article examines how choice-set factors, individual characteristics, and social factors affect choice goals, which then lead to satisfaction.

the participants in the Tuck Marketing Seminar Series for their valuable comments and helpful suggestions. The Impact of Brand Equity on Customer Acquisition, Retention, and Profit Margin ABSTRACTThis paper examines the relationship between brand equity and customer acquisition, retention, and profit margin, the key components of customer lifetime value (CLV). We examine a unique database from the U.S. automobile market that combines 10 years of acquisition rate, retention rate, and customer profitability data with measures of brand equity from Young & Rubicam's Brand Asset Valuator (BAV) over the same time period. We hypothesize and find that BAV brand equity is significantly associated with the components of CLV in expected and meaningful ways. For example, customer Knowledge of a brand has an especially strong positive relationship with all three components of CLV. Interestingly, however, Differentiation is a double-edged sword. While it is associated with higher customer profitability, it is also associated with lower acquisition and retention rates. We also find that marketing efforts exert indirect impacts on CLV through brand equity. Simulations show that changes in marketing, or exogenous changes in brand equity, can exert important effects on CLV. Overall, the findings suggest the "soft" and "hard" sides of marketing need to be managed in a coordinated fashion.We discuss these and other implications for researchers and practitioners.

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Purpose -This study aims to show that brand success can be improved if the brand promise that is communicated through mass media campaigns is lived up to by each employee of a company. The paper terms such brand consistent employee behaviour behavioural branding and identifies managerial instruments for its implementation and management. Design/methodology/approach -The model in the paper explains the brand's contribution to company success by brand consistent employee behaviour, functional employee performance and brand congruent mass media communication. Brand consistent employee behaviour and functional employee performance in turn are modelled as determined by formal and informal management techniques as well as employee empowerment. The model is tested on a sample of 167 senior managers using partial least squares and finds empirical support. Furthermore, practical implications are provided based on additional top management focus groups. Findings -The paper finds that behavioural branding determines the brand's contribution to company success. Further, the results show that informal management and employee empowerment have a far stronger impact on the brand consistency of employee behaviour than formal management instruments. Practical implications -Managers should spend more time explaining and discussing targets of behavioural branding, and they should create an organisational environment that enables employees to find their own individual ways of articulating a brand to customers. Originality/value -The framework in the paper integrates personal and non-personal facets of interaction for a holistic explanation of brand performance. It provides a broader understanding of factors affecting the accruement of a customer's brand experience and enables researchers and practitioners to develop more consistent and promising brand management activities.

Differentiated product models are predicated on the belief that a product's utility can be derived from the summation of utilities for its individual attributes. In one framed field experiment and two natural field experiments, we test this assumption by experimentally manipulating the order of attribute presentation in the product customization process of custom-made suits and automobiles. We find that order affects the design of a suit that people configure and the design and price of a car that people purchase by influencing the likelihood that they will accept the default option suggested by the firm. (c) 2010 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved..