The impact of pricing on customer satisfaction and purchasing behavior

Literature Review

1 . Customer satisfaction in business studies

Satisfaction can be characterized as an evaluation post-purchase of a product quality in comparison to the expectations before the purchase (Kotler 1991 . The difference of the pre-purchase expectation is evaluated during post-purchase that can either be satisfactory or unsatisfactory

The role of satisfaction represents a crucial cornerstone between the provider-customer relationship . This relationship has its starting point even before the customers purchase the products and services . Speng et al (1993 ) proposed that an important influence on overall satisfaction judgments is that the

customers ' satisfaction starts with the availability of product information when comparing different product options . Satisfaction is also defined as a result of the purchase process and satisfaction with the purchase outcome . Purchase process refers to product comparisons and interactions with the sales team while purchase outcome is the actual product or service purchased . The stages of the consumer-provider relationship include formation search comparison of alternatives , and the sales team interaction . Once the consumer finds satisfaction or is able to meet his or her expectation then the more likely it will yield satisfaction with other stages . The purchase process and purchase outcome is similar to the pre-purchase and post-purchase evaluation that either leaves the customer satisfied or not satisfied

The purpose of the literature review is to provide extensive reviews on the impacts of pricing on customer satisfaction related to the purchasing behavior . It is equally important to managers to have a better understanding of the link between satisfaction and the...