As business environment is getting globalized,. how to rapidly integrate information for improving the competitiveness of enterprise becomes a key issue. Therefore, adopting the information system outsourcing to increase the ability of an organization becomes one of the management trends. To obtain a suitable information system is always a critical challenge for most of the companies. Many researches of information system outsourcing showed a lot of un-satisfactions from the user side. Some of the projects are not only un-satisfied but even failed. Did improper expectations exist between the both sides? It is very important to find a trustful, experienced and professional partner for developing the system. Improper expectations and biases can be reduced so as to reduce the risk and avoid the un-necessary delay or conflicts. There were many researches and discussions about the critical success factors of outsourcing ,the relationship between the two sides and outsourcing satisfaction. However, very few researches are devotedto the issue of differences in perception and expectation between the two sides. In this research, multi-case study was adopted as the research method. Fourteen people in eleven cases were interviewed. Differences in perception and expection were investigated under the dimensions of objective, responsibility, relationship, culture and external environment. A framework was proposed to explain the phenomena under investigation. This framework can serve as a reference model for practical information system outsourcing as well as future research.

In the areas of Service Failure Recovery and Expectancy-Disconfirmation, the extant literature contains studies of predictive expectations conducted in a consumer services setting, which show how a customer believes a seller would respond during a service failure situation. However, a focus on the expectations of enterprise managers and purchasing decision-makers for how a provider should respond in such a situation has not been explored. In addition, the literature contains studies that support the influence of service criticality and failure severity on recovery satisfaction, but the mechanisms by which these variables impact recovery satisfaction has not been extensively discussed. In order to contribute to this discussion, the current study adds to the current Recovery Disconfirmation model by illustrating how service criticality and failure severity influences customers’ normative recovery expectations, which in turn affect customer disconfirmation and recovery satisfaction. This research contributes to the marketing and information technology literature by applying the expectancy disconfirmation model to managers and purchasing decision-makers in an enterprise Internet services setting. Practical implications of this research include helping information technology services providers to understand how customers establish expectations of their provider, and how to design recovery responses to optimize customer satisfaction after a service failure.

During the last decade online retail sales have been growing constantly. This growth has been possible due to different factors like online reviews. Online reviews have been proven successful in predicting different variables like trust and sales in online settings; however, the impact of online reviews on other variables like customer satisfaction has not been widely studied. Based on expectation-disconfirmation theory, this study analyzes the effect of online reviews on customer satisfaction. A set of six hypotheses were proposed and tested by using a controlled experiment. A total of 278 usable responses were obtained from a sample of college students from a major Midwest US university. Five of the six hypotheses were supported. Results indicated that expectations and perceived performance are significant predictors of disconfirmation. They also indicate that disconfirmation is a significant predictor of satisfaction. Regarding the effect of online reviews on satisfaction, results showed an indirect effect of online reviews on satisfaction mediated by expectations and disconfirmation. Results have implications for research and practice. For research, results help to increase the understanding of customer expectations formation in online settings. For practice, results give advice to sellers about how to increase customer satisfaction.

Hunter satisfaction has received extensive attention in the literature, but the role of expectations on satisfaction has been neglected. Consumer satisfaction researchers often use the expectancy disconfirmation paradigm (i.e., differences between expectations and reality) to address relationships between expectations and satisfaction. I used this paradigm to examine the relationship between expectations and satisfaction for waterfowl hunters in Arkansas and Mississippi. I found hunter satisfaction was a partial function of fulfilled expectations in both studies. Performance-only measures generally correlated more strongly with overall satisfaction than disconfirmations measured by a difference score. Conversely, disconfirmation of expectations for a season measured on a single item scale, had the greatest relationship with overall satisfaction for a season. Knowledge of congruence between hunter expectations and outcomes offers managers an avenue to effectively focus management efforts to improve satisfaction levels.

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Within the education literature, satisfaction with the quality of public schools has received very little scholarly attention. Conversely, in the public administration literature, citizen satisfaction with public services has been studied since the late 1970s and in the past decade, models based on expectancy disconfirmation theory have increasingly been utilized. Of these models, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) model goes beyond satisfaction to examine the effect of satisfaction on behavioral consequences, such as the desire to move away from a locality, which may be of inherent interest to policymakers and public managers. This study extends the research on the ACSI model in the public sector by examining the effects of expectations, perceived quality, perceived disconfirmation, and grade on satisfaction with school quality. In turn, the effect of satisfaction on behavioral outcomes that are of interest to policymakers, modeled as the desire to choose a different schooling option or willingness to recommend public schools to others, are also examined. Using existing data from a public opinion poll, models for two groups of participants were estimated via regression-based path analysis. The study found a small negative effect of expectations on satisfaction and a larger role, directly and indirectly, of perceived quality on satisfaction judgments. Addition of the grade variable dispersed the effect of perceived quality but the total effect of the variable was unchanged. As theorized, satisfaction had a strong negative effect on the desire to choose a different schooling option and a strong positive effect on the willingness to recommend public schools to others. Suggestions for further research include a qualitative study incorporating interviews and focus groups to identify the information sources utilized in making satisfaction decisions and how individuals’ synthesize various pieces of information to determine whether their expectations have been met. In addition, use of objective measures, such as test scores, along with subjective measures may provide increased understanding of the influence of exogenous variables on the model.

The current study examines the roles of expectancy disconfirmation and pseudo-altruistic behaviors as communication strategies to increase receiver compliance, and their effects on perceptions of the source, including credibility and likeability ratings. While adding to the previous research, this investigation examines the effects on compliance when pseudo-altruistic practices are employed in a sales situation. Additionally, subjects’ compliance responses in the treatment groups are analyzed for relationships between compliance and several possible mediators, including participant’s evaluations of the source, and feelings of obligation and guilt. A focus group was held to discuss the face validity of the scenarios. Additionally, a pilot study was conducted to verify the operationalization of the independent variable, and to reveal any items that needed to be modified before the actual study was conducted. 141 undergraduate students were assigned to one of six treatment groups, and responded to the scenario and questionnaire. Five-point Likert type scales were used for the source factor and compliance items, and seven-point semantic differential scales were used for the items which measured source perceptions. Additionally, an optional open-ended item was employed for subjects to explain the motives behind their decisions. Analysis of the data showed that participants in the pseudo-altruistic treatment conditions were more likely to return to Store or Dealership A, or tipped the server more than usual. They also rated the source as more expert and of higher character in the treatment groups that the neutral, control groups. This increase in compliance was consistent across all three scenarios. Regression analyses also revealed that source factors including concern, helpfulness, unexpected behavior, expertise, character, honesty, and likeability predicted 26% of the compliance variance. In conclusion, subjects were more likely to comply in the pseudo-altruistic treatment condition, regardless of the scenario. Their compliance is attributed to feelings of liking and higher ratings of the source, which facilitated reciprocal altruism and benefited the salesperson or server for their selfless behavior.

Le lancement d'un nouveau produit sur le marché est une étape à risque pour l'entreprise qui peut se conclure par un échec. Une raison partielle de cet échec est que le produit ne correspond pas aux attentes des consommateurs. L'enjeu consiste donc à mieux comprendre et intégrer dans le design de produits les attentes des consommateurs. Les théories contemporaines en psychologie cognitive nous permettent d'améliorer les méthodologies actuelles de tests consommateurs et à concevoir les produits sur la base des connaissances des consommateurs. L'objectif de cette recherche est de mieux comprendre l'influence d'une adéquation entre les attentes des consommateurs et leurs perceptions sur leurs jugements affectifs dans le contexte de consommation alimentaire. Dans le champ de la cognition incarnée et située, nous avons utilisé la théorie du Perceptual Symbol System qui suppose une forte relation entre les concepts et les propriétés sensorielles. Trois études ont été menées sur des gammes de produits familiers et non familiers. Les résultats nous permettent de conclure que les attentes des consommateurs sont des catégories ad-hoc dépendantes d'une situation de consommation, c'est-à-dire une motivation à consommer le produit dans un contexte de consommation donné. Les propriétés de la catégorie définissent les attentes de type concepts et les propriétés sensorielles attendues du produit. Ainsi, nous avons mis en évidence que les concepts et les propriétés sensorielles sont associées à travers les catégories réactivées en mémoire. Les résultats de cette thèse ont aussi permis de proposer des améliorations aux méthodologies de tests consommateurs. Plus particulièrement, ces méthodologies permettent d'une part d'expliciter les attentes des consommateurs à travers une tâche de catégorisation et d'autre part de sélectionner les produits les plus adéquats aux attentes des consommateurs à travers l'évaluation de leurs jugements affectifs / One challenge when dealing with the launching of new products is to understand consumers’ expectations towards the product experience. Many innovations fail because they do not address the right expectations, for the right consumers, and for the right product.Theories in cognitive psychology allow us to improve current methodologies of consumer tests and to design food products based on the knowledge of consumers. The objective of this research is to better understand the influence of the discrepancy between consumers’ expectations and perceptions on the affective judgment in the context of food consumption. Within the framework of Grounded and Embodied cognition, we use theories developed on Perceptual Symbol System assuming a strong relationship between conceptual knowledge and sensory properties. Three studies were conducted on familiar and non-familiar product ranges. Results allow us to conclude that consumers’ expectations are defined as ad-hoc categories dependent on a situation of consumption, i.e. a motivation to consume the product in a determined context of consumption.Properties of the category define conceptual expectations and expected sensory properties of the product. Thus, we provide evidence that concepts and sensory properties are strongly related through retrieval of categories.The results of this thesis also provide methodological improvements to elicit consumers’ expectations through categorization tasks and to screen samples fitting the best with consumers’ expectations through affective judgment

Singularité et bien d’expérience, le film est source de grands plaisirs et de nombreuses déceptions qui participent à la construction de la carrière cinématographique des spectateurs. Alors que l’industrie cinématographique cherche à satisfaire le goût du public, les recherches sociologiques et économiques sur le cinéma se sont peu intéressées à la construction de la satisfaction et insatisfaction dans le temps.Cette thèse se propose de montrer que le degré de satisfaction est le résultat d'un processus qui commence avant la projection et s'achève bien après celle-ci. C’est un parcours personnel et social qui conduit le spectateur à rencontrer trois oeuvres : le film attendu, le film interprété et le film-souvenir. Elle constitue une approche de la manière dont ces trois représentations mettent en jeu les schémas personnels du spectateur et les influences externes auxquelles il est soumis. Elle s’appuie sur une analyse théorique pluridisciplinaire ainsi que sur des cas pratiques construits à partir de données :- qualitatives (tirées de 22 séries de quatre entretiens rapportant l’opinion de spectateurs sur le film Solaris - de Steven Soderbergh – avant et après la projection),- quantitatives (à partir d’une base de données portant sur 577 films répartis sur 11 genres différents) / A movie is at once a work of experience and a singularity. It can be a source of pleasure or disappointment and such emotions are part and parcel of the spectator’s cinematographic journey. While the movie industry seeks to please the public, sociological and economic research have focused very little on the development of spectator satisfaction over time.This thesis aims at demonstrating that the degree of satisfaction is the result of a process that starts before the screening and ends well after it. This personal and social process leads the spectator to meet three representations: the expected movie, the interpreted movie and the souvenir-movie. We will thus carry out a theoretical multi-disciplinary analysis of the way in which these representations of film reflect on the spectator’s inner schemata and external influences, as well as a practical case study based on the following types of data:- qualitative (from 22 series of four interviews about the spectators’ opinions of Steven Soderbergh’s movie Solaris, before and after the screening),- quantitative (from a data base of 577 movies of 11 different genres)

This study has investigated the effect of service quality on customer satisfaction and Word of Mouth in the grocery retail industry. The purpose of the study was to measure the dimensions of service quality and see its effect on customer satisfaction and Word of Mouth. The research question was created to investigate the aforementioned effect, expectations vs performance, How does service quality affect customer satisfaction and Word of Mouth? In order to compare expectations and perceived performance the service quality model, SERVQUAL was used. The thesis is a quantitative study and the data was collected through an online questionnaire where 106 respondents participated. The data was analyzed, both through measuring the gap score between expectations and perceived performance and also regressions were made to test the relationship of the variables. The findings of this study shows that service quality does affect both customer satisfaction and Word of Mouth. However the effect of service quality showed to affect customer satisfaction and Word of Mouth differently, where customer satisfaction had a higher explanatory power than Word of Mouth. Furthermore, the expectations exceeded the perceived performance of service quality in all the dimensions. This created a negative overall comparison gap between the expectations and performance. The comparison gap was fairly low and according to the theory it showed both customer satisfaction and positive Word of Mouth in the grocery retail industry in Luleå. The arithmetic mean which was collected from the questionnaire showed a high value of customer satisfaction and Word of Mouth even though a negative overall gap. However, it could be seen that only a few of the SERVQUAL dimensions could show a significant relationship, two with customer satisfaction and one Word of Mouth. / Denna studie har undersökt tjänstekvalitetens effekt på kundnöjdhet och Word of Mouth inom dagligvaruhandeln. Syftet med studien var att mäta dimensionerna av tjänstekvalitet och se dess påverkan på kundnöjdhet och Word of Mouth. Forskningsfrågan skapades för att undersöka den ovan nämnda effekten, förväntningar mot upplevd prestation, Hur påverkar tjänstekvaliteten kundnöjdhet och Word of Mouth? För att jämföra förväntningar och upplevd prestation användes tjänstekvalitetens modellen SERVQUAL. Uppsatsen är en kvantitativ studie och datan samlades in genom ett online-enkät där 106 respondenter deltog. Datan analyserades, både genom att mäta gapet mellan förväntningar och upplevd prestation samt även genom regressioner som skapades för att testa sambandet mellan variablerna. Resultaten för denna studie visar att tjänstekvaliteten påverkar både kundnöjdhet och Word of Mouth. Effekten av tjänstekvaliteten visade sig dock påverka kundnöjdheten och Word of Mouth på olika sätt, där kundnöjdhet hade en högre förklaringskraft än Word of Mouth. Dessutom var förväntningarna högre än den upplevda prestationen av tjänstekvaliteten i alla SERVQUAL-dimensioner. Detta skapade ett negativt jämförelse gap mellan förväntningarna och upplevde prestation. Jämförelse gapet var ganska lågt och enligt teorin visade det sig ge både kundnöjdhet och positiv Word of Mouth inom dagligvaruhandeln i Luleå. Medelvärdet som samlades in från enkäten visade ett högt värde av kundnöjdhet och Word of Mouth även om det totala jämförelse gapet var negativt. Det kunde dock ses att endast ett fåtal av SERVQUAL-dimensionerna kunde visa på en singifikant relation, två med kundnöjdhet och en Word of Mouth.