Consumer delight and outrage: scale development and validation

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate measurement scales for consumer delight and outrage. Design/methodology/approach – The paper used both qualitative, survey, and experiment methodology. Findings – First, develop and validate the scale of customer delight, second, conceptualize the construct of customer outrage, as well as develop and validate its scale; third, explore the differential behavioral results of delight vs satisfaction, and outrage vs dissatisfaction; and fourth, further our understanding of the satisfaction-dissatisfaction continuum. Originality/value – While researchers increasingly recognize that delight and outrage are distinct from satisfaction and dissatisfaction, it is important to have scales that differentiate between these constructs. To this end, this paper develops and validates scales to measure consumer delight and outrage, respectively. These scales will be useful to other researchers interested in measuring consumer delight and outrage in various research contexts.

Predicting Thalasso Tourist Delight: A Hybrid SEM—Artificial Intelligence Analysis

“…As believed by Liu and Keh [29] and Berman [60], moving consumers from the satisfaction zone to the delight area is very positive for the company in terms of getting better results in customer retention and sales, word of mouth, and market share. In addition, it increases the value of the brand and the ability to resist the entry of new bidders [60].…”

“…To do so, companies must compete in order to provide higher quality services that lead them to achieve the tourist satisfaction [27]. Satisfaction is a very important aspect in the tourism area [28], and it is also a matter of interest for scholars [13,29]. Thus, in a changing and dynamic environment, providing quality services to their customers becomes an important tool for suppliers to maintain the competitive advantage [30].…”

“…According to Liu and Keh [29], in the last decades, the interest in the emotional states of the consumers has increased. Among these emotional states, delight stands out [29,52,53]. It is important to note that delight and satisfaction are not the same [54,55].…”

“…Following Finn [57], satisfaction and delight do not have exactly the same effects on behavioral intentions, and he suggests that existing research on satisfaction cannot be applied in full to delight. Thus, it can be considered that there are three levels along the continuum of satisfaction: the area of no satisfaction, mere satisfaction, and delight [29]. There must be high satisfaction and an emotional response for delight to exist [58].…”

“…There must be high satisfaction and an emotional response for delight to exist [58]. Liu and Keh [29] believe that delight is defined by managers in a pragmatic way as what goes beyond satisfaction. However, academics define it as a pleasant surprise.…”