Customer Satisfaction and Purchase Behavior: The Role of Customer Input

Abstract

Prior work emphasizes the role of satisfaction and positive word-of-mouth in affecting customer behavior. This research introduces customer input as an additional important mediating variable and driver of actual customer behavior. Specifically, we combine survey-based data with behavioral data to show that the impact of satisfaction on customer behavior is fully mediated by customer input, while word of mouth acts as a partial mediator in the satisfaction-customer behavior relationship. We thus reveal that the effect of customer satisfaction on actual behavior is contingent on levels of customer input. Furthermore, we demonstrate that satisfaction affects customer input, which ultimately leads to greater future customer purchase from a firm. The results of the study empirically demonstrate that customer participation plays an important role in understanding how satisfaction influences actual customer purchasing behavior.