Practitioners firmly believe that customer delight, through surprise, offers a source of competitive advantage. Yet, competing conceptualizations, methodologies, and stimuli in existing studies of delight leave the relationship between surprise and delight ambiguous. This research note assesses the different conceptualizations of delight and offers an overview of existing empirical evidence regarding the surprise-delight relationship. According to the assessment, the conceptualization of delight as extreme satisfaction is both valid and parsimonious, which suggests its superiority. Moreover, empirical data reveal that during highly hedonic experiences, surprise indirectly influences satisfaction (through joy) and can increase satisfaction overall. This research note concludes with several suggestions for further research.
AndersonE. W.MittalV. (2000), Strengthening the satisfaction — profit chain, Journal of Service Research, 3, 2, 107–120.
2.
AndrewsF. M.WitheyS. B. (1976), Social indicators of well-being, New York, Plenum Press.
3.
ArnoldM. J.ReynoldsK. E.PonderN.LuegJ. E. (2005), Customer delight in a retail context: Investigating delightful and terrible shopping experiences, Journal of Business Research, 58, 8, 1143–1145.
4.
AurierP.EvrardY. (1998), Elaboration et validation d'une échelle de mesure de la satisfaction des consommateurs, in SaportaB.TrinquecosteJ.-F. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Conférence de l'Association Française du Marketing, 14, 1, Bordeaux, IAE, 51–71.
5.
BénaventC.EvrardY. (2002), Extension du domaine de l' expérience, Décisions Marketing, 28, October-December, 7–11.
6.
BermanB. (2005), How to delight your customers, California Management Review, 48, 1, 129–151.
BossJ.-F. (1999), La contribution des éléments du service à la satisfaction des clients, Revue Française du Marketing, 171, 1, 115–128.
9.
BouchetP. (2004), l'expérience au cœur de l'analyse des relations magasin-magasineur, Recherche et Applications en Marketing, 19, 2, 53–71.
10.
CarùA.CovaB. (2006), Expériences de consommation et marketing expérientiel, Revue Française de Gestion, 32, 162, 99–115.
11.
ChinW. W. (1998), The partial least squares approach for structural equation modeling, in MarcoulidesG. (Ed.), Modern methods for business research, Hillsdale, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 295–336.
12.
ChurchillG. A.SurprenantC. (1982), An investigation into the determinants of customer satisfaction, Journal of Marketing Research, 19, 4, 491–504.
13.
CohenJ. B.AreniC. S. (1991), Affect and consumer behavior, in RobertsonT.S.KassarjianH.H. (Eds.), Handbook of consumer theory and research, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice Hall, 188–240.
14.
DerbaixC. (1995), The impact of affective reactions on attitudes toward the advertisement and the brand: A step toward ecological validity, Journal of Marketing Research, 4, 11, 470–479.
15.
DerbaixC.CornilleM. (1992), La mesure des réactions émotionnelles à l'aide d'une méthode de décodage des expressions faciales, Document IREP n° 5, Facultés Universitaires Catholiques de Mons (FUCAM), Mons
16.
DuhachekA.CoughlanA.TIacobucciD. (2006), Résultats sur l'écart type de l'alpha de Cronbach, indice de fiabilité, Recherche et Applications en Marketing, 21, 2, 83–96.
17.
EkmanP.FriesenW. V. (1975), Unmasking the face, New Jersey, Prentice Hall.
18.
EstelamiH. (2000), Competitive and procedural determinants of delight and disappointment in consumer complaint outcomes, Journal of Service Research, 2, 3, 285–300.
19.
FilserM. (2002), Le marketing de la production d'expérience: Statut théorique et implications managériales, Décisions Marketing, 28, October-December, 13–18.
20.
FinnA. (2005), Reassessing the foundations of customer delight, Journal of Service Research, 8, 2, 103–116.
21.
FlanaganJ.-C. (1954), La technique de l'incident critique, Revue de Psychologie Appliquée, 4, 165-185 and 267–295.
22.
FornellC.BooksteinF. L. (1982), Two structural equation models: LISREL and PLS applied to consumer exit-voice theory, Journal of Marketing Research, 9, 4, 440–452.
23.
FornellC.LarckerD. F. (1981), Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error, Journal of Marketing Research, 18, 3, 39–50.
24.
GardialS. F.ClemonsD. S.WoodruffR. B.SchumannD. W.BurnsM. J. (1994), Comparing consumers' recall of prepurchase and postpurchase product evaluation experiences, Journal of Consumer Research, 20, 4, 548–560.
25.
GraillotL. (1998), Émotions et comportement du consommateur, Recherche et Applications en Marketing, 13, 1, 5–23.
26.
GremlerD. W. (2004), The critical incident technique in service research, Journal of Service Research, 7, 1, 65–90.
27.
GundlachG. T.AchrolR. S.MentzerJ. T. (1995), The structure of commitment in exchange, Journal of Marketing, 59, 1, 78–92.
28.
HarrisL. C.GoodeM.H.H. (2004), The four levels of loyalty and the pivotal role of trust: A study of online service dynamics, Journal of Retailing, 80, 2, 139–158.
29.
HausknechtR. (1990), Measurement scales in consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction, Journal of Consumer Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, 3, 1–9.
30.
HavlenaW. J.HolbrookM. B. (1986), The varieties of consumption experience: Comparing two typologies of emotion in consumer behavior, Journal of Consumer Research, 13, 3, 394–404.
31.
HetzelP. (2002), Planète conso: marketing expérientiel et nouveaux univers de consommation, Paris, Éditions d' Organisation.
HetzelP.VolleP. (2003), l'expérientiel: De la théorie à l'action, Décisions Marketing, 28, October-December, 5
34.
HicksJ.PageT.J.Jr.BeheB. K.DennisJ. H.FernandezR. T. (2005), Delighted customers buy again: An investigation into the impact of consumer knowledge on consumer satisfaction and delight of flowering potted plants, Journal of Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction, and Complaining Behavior, 18, 94–104.
35.
HolbrookM. B.HirschmanE. C. (1982), The experiential aspects of consumption: Consumer fantasies, feelings and fun, Journal of Consumer Research, 9, 2, 132–140.
36.
HonebeinP. C.CammaranoR. F. (2005), Creating do-it-yourself customers: how great customer experiences build great companies, Ohio, Thomson Higher Education.
37.
IzardC. (1977), Human emotions, New York, Plenum Press.
38.
JonesT. O.SasserW. E. (1995), Why satisfied customers defect?, Harvard Business Review, 73, 6, 89–99.
39.
KumarA.OlshavskyR. W.KingM. F. (2001), Exploring alternative antecedents of customer delight, Journal of Consumer Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, 18, 14–26.
40.
LaSalleD.BrittonT. A. (2002), Priceless: turning ordinary products into extraordinary experiences, Boston, Harvard Business School Press.
41.
ManoH.OliverR. L. (1993), Assessing the dimensionality and structure of the consumption experience: Evaluation, feeling, and satisfaction, Journal of Consumer Research, 20, 3, 451–466.
42.
MarionG. (2003), Le marketing expérientiel: Une nouvelle étape ? Non de nouvelles lunettes, Décisions Marketing, 30, April-June, 87–91.
43.
n'GoboP. V. (1999), Decreasing returns in customer loyalty: Does it really matter to delight the customers? in ArnouldE.J.ScottL.M. (Eds.), Advances in Consumer Research, 26, Provo, Utah, Association for Consumer Research, 469–476.
44.
O'ConnorB. P. (2000), SPSS and SAS programs for determining the number of components using parallel analysis and Velicer's MAP test, Behavior Research Methods, Instrumentation, and Computers, 32, 3, 396–402.
45.
OhanianR. (1999), Expertise, in BeardenW.O.NetemeyerR.G. (Eds.), Handbook of marketing scales: multi-item measures for marketing and consumer behavior research, Thousand Oaks, Sage, 302.
46.
OliverR. L. (1980), A cognitive model of the antecedents and consequences of satisfaction decisions, Journal of Marketing Research, 17, 4, 460–469.
47.
OliverR. L. (1997), Consumer satisfaction: a behavioral perspective on the consumer, New York, MacGraw-Hill.
48.
OliverR. L.SwanJ. E. (1989), Equity and disconfirmation perceptions as influences on merchant and product satisfaction, Journal of Consumer Research, 16, 3, 372–383.
49.
OliverR. L.WestbrookR. A. (1993), Profiles of consumer emotions and satisfaction in ownership and usage, Journal of Consumer Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, 6, 12–27.
50.
OliverR. L.RustR. T.VarkiS. (1997), Customer delight: Foundations, findings and managerial insight, Journal of Retailing, 73, 3, 311–336.
51.
PetersonR. A.SauberM. (1983), Mood short form: MSF, in BeardenW.O.NetemeyerR.G. (Eds.) (1999), Handbook of marketing scales: multi-item measures for marketing and consumer behavior research, Thousand Oaks, Sage, 251.
52.
PineJ. B.GilmoreJ. H. (1999), The experience economy: work is a theatre and every business a stage, Boston, Harvard Business School Press.
53.
PlutchikR. (1980), Emotion: a psychoevolutionary synthesis, New York, Harper & Row.
54.
PodsakoffP. M.MacKenzieS. B.LeeJ-Y.PodsakoffN. P. (2003), Common method biases in behavioral research, Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 5, 879–903.
55.
PriceL. L.ArnouldE. J.DeiblerS. L. (1995), Consumers' emotional responses to service encounters, International Journal of Service Industry Management, 6, 3, 34–63.
56.
ReisenzeinR. (2000), Exploring the strength of association between the components of emotion syndrome: The case of surprise, Cognition and Emotion, 14, 1, 1–38.
57.
RichinsM. L. (1997), Measuring emotions in the consumption experience, Journal of Consumer Research, 24, 2, 127–146.
58.
RustR. T.CooilB. (1994), Reliability measures for qualitative data: Theory and implications, Journal of Marketing Research, 31, 1, 1–14.
59.
RustR. T.OliverR. L. (2000), Should we delight the customer?, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28, 1, 86–94.
60.
RustR. T.ZahorikA. J.KeininghamT. L. (1996), Service Marketing, New York, Harper Collins.
61.
SaucierG. (1994), Mini-markers: A brief version of Goldberg's unipolar big five markers, Journal of Personality Assessment, 63, 3, 506–516.
62.
SchneiderB.BowenD. E. (1999), Understanding customer delight and outrage, Sloan Management Review, 41, 1, 35–45.
63.
SchmittB. H. (1999), Experiential marketing: how to get customers to sense, feel, think, act, and relate to your company and brands, New York, The Free Press.
64.
SchmittB. H. (2003), Customer experience management: a revolutionary approach to connecting with your customers, Hoboken, NJ, John Wiley and Sons.
65.
SoulezS.Guillot-SoulezC. (2006), Vingt ans de Recherche et Applications en Marketing, Recherche et Applications en Marketing, 21, 4, 5–24.
66.
St-JamesY.TaylorS. (2004), Delight-as-magic: Refining the conceptual domain of customer delight, in KahnB.E.Frances LuceM. (Eds.), Advances in Consumer Research, 31, Valdosta, GA, Association for Consumer Research, 753–758.
67.
TenenhausM. (1998), La régression PLS: théorie et pratique, Paris, Éditions Technip.
68.
TokmanM.DavisL. M.LemonK. N. (2007), The WOW factor: Creating value through win-back offers to reacquire lost customers, Journal of Retailing, 83, 1, 47–64.
69.
VanhammeJ. (2001), l'influence de la surprise sur la satisfaction des consommateurs: étude exploratoire par journal de bord, Recherche et Applications en Marketing, 16, 2, 1–32.
70.
VanhammeJ. (2002), La satisfaction des consommateurs spécifique à une transaction: Définition, antécédents, mesures et modes, Recherche et Applications en Marketing, 17, 2, 55–85.
71.
VanhammeJ.SneldersD. (2003), What if you surprise your customer… will they be more satisfied? Findings from a pilot experiment, in KellerP.A.RookD.W. (Eds.), Advances in Consumer Research, 30, Valdosta, GA, Association for Consumer Research, 48–55.
72.
VermaH. V. (2003), Customer outrage and delight, Journal of Services Research, 3, 1, 119–133.
73.
WestbrookR. A. (1980), A rating scale for measuring product/service satisfaction, Journal of Marketing, 44, 4, 68–72.
74.
WestbrookR. A.OliverR. L. (1991), The dimensionality of consumption emotion patterns and consumer satisfaction, Journal of Consumer Research, 18, 1, 84–91.
75.
WheelerJ.SmithS. (2002), Managing the customer experience: turning customers into advocates, New Jersey, Prentice Hall.
76.
WoldH. (1980), Model construction and evaluation when theoretical knowledge is scarce: Theory and applications of partial least squares, in KmentaJ.RamseyJ.B. (Eds.), Evaluation of econometric models, New York, Academic Press, 47–74.
77.
ZaichkowskiJ. L. (1985), Measuring the involvement construct, Journal of Consumer Research, 12, 3, 341–352.
