Rediscovering satisfaction

The authors present a phenomenological and longitudinal investigation of sa tisfaction, as revealed through consumers' ownership experiences with techn ological products. The study seeks to serve a provocative role in this matu re research area by stepping back from the historically dominant comparison standards paradigm to question, invigorate, and, in certain ways, redirect satisfaction research along emergent lines. Although results show that the dominant paradigm of satisfaction and its competing models (i.e., those ba sed on the confirmation/disconfirmation of preconsumption standards) are di stinctly operative in some of the consumer cases, they are also found to be insufficient or even irrelevant in others. The authors consider several th eoretical extensions in light of this learning and induct a new satisfactio n paradigm. Overall, the findings support a more holistic, context-dependen t, and dynamic process of satisfaction. This process is revealed as a multi -model, multi-modal blend of motivations, cognitions, emotions, and meaning s, embedded in sociocultural settings, which transforms during progressive and regressive consumer-product interactions.