Article One Summary
There are a lot of emotions involved in consumer behavior. However, progress in its application has largely been hindered by uncertainty about two interconnected subjects namely, the content and structure of emotions.
There has been a lot of confusion regarding the content and structure of emotions and this has hindered plans to apply and interpret emotions in empirical research, especially, the consumer behavior theory. The purpose of the article by Westbrook and Oliver was to extend the knowledge on the link between satisfaction and consumption emotion of consumers (84). The study targeted owners of newly purchased cars as its target population.
The study wished to determine the discrete, discernible patterns of emotional response and how emotional content varies from one consumer to the next. Also, the researchers endeavored to examine the extent to which optimal satisfaction instruments reflected the respondents’ emotional content as regards to their consumption experiences.
The study was designed in the form of a field questionnaire. The study questionnaire was administered to respondents and the DES-II measure instrument used to assess the respondents’ emotional reactions to their purchases. A correlation analysis of the study’s variables was conducted using the same tool.
Westbrook and Oliver undertook a content analysis of a total of 10 decisive studies on emotional words and emotions (1440). They categorized emotion words as either negative or positive emotion. The authors also differentiated negative affect from positive affect using their hierarchy of consumer emotions.
The study revealed contentment/happiness patterns among the respondents, and this was linked to high satisfaction levels with their purchases. The study unearthed five discriminable characteristics of affective experience that were linked to three elements, namely, pleasant surprise, interests and hostility. The research findings indicated that the measure of satisfaction differs in terms of signifying consumes purchase patterns and experiences. It also differs with a variation in the associated affective content.
Article Two Summary
The purpose of the article by Laros and Steenkamp was to first combine the ostensibly opposing research perspective in consumer behavior and psychology by creating a hierarchical approach to consumer emotions.
The second purpose of the article was to carry out a preliminary test on both the negative and positive affect of emotions for four various food types. Considering that not much is known about the link between satisfaction and consumption emotion, the paper was written with a view to exploring the connection between the aforementioned two constructs (Lans and Steenkamp 84).
Emotions measures parameters that the researchers sought to address included joy, interest, guilt, anger, surprise, disgust, fear, sadness, joy, contempt, and shame. By and large, the respondents experienced such positive affects as joy and interest, more frequently in comparison with the negative effect (Laros and Steennkamp 87).
Data collection was carried out nationally and included the study sample consisted of 645 consumers from the Netherlands to whom the study questionnaire was administered (Lans and Steenkamp 86).
The researchers tested the hierarchical emotions model using the ISREL 850 instrument. The mean across food groups was determined using ANOVA and multiple regression analyses of different belief disparity measures and the mean satisfaction (Lans and Steenkamp 87). The empirical study by the researchers revealed that basic emotions enables us to better comprehend consumers’ feelings as regards various food products in comparison with both negative and positive affect.
Works Cited
Laros, Fleur, and J-B. Steenkamp. “Emotions in consumer behavior: a Hierarchical Approach”. Journal of business research, 58(2005):1437-1445. Print.
Westbrook, Robert, and R. Oliver. “The Dimensionality of Consumption Emotion Patterns and Consumer Satisfaction.” Journal of Consumer Research 18.1(1991): 84-91. Print.