Assessing the Dimensionality and Structure of the Consumption Experience: Evaluation, Feeling, and Satisfaction

TLDR

The study investigates the dimensional structure of post‑consumption experience by examining product evaluation, affect, and satisfaction. Using a causal framework, students evaluated high‑ and low‑involvement products, reported affective responses, and assessed satisfaction. Results reveal that utilitarian and hedonic evaluations predict pleasantness and arousal, which in turn predict product satisfaction, supporting the proposed framework.

Abstract

This article examines the underlying dimensionality of three aspects of the post-consumption experience—product evaluation, product-elicited affect, and product satisfaction. In addition, the article integrates these concepts through a suggested causal framework. Students evaluated either a high- or a low-involvement product in current use, reported affective responses evoked by it, and assessed their levels of product-derived satisfaction. Analysis shows that two primary dimensions of product evaluation—utilitarian and hedonic judgment—can be viewed as causally antecedent to two dimensions of affect—pleasantness and arousal—and to product satisfaction. Implications of the conceptual framework and empirical findings for the study of consumption events are discussed.