Factors That Influence Customer Satisfaction With Hedonic Services

1.0 Introduction

This report aims to explore all the research literature available on the topic ‘factors that influence customer satisfaction with hedonic services’. Customer satisfaction is a very important concept because it leads to repeat patronage, positive word of mouth and ultimately increased profits for the business. It is therefore of much benefit to understand the factors which influence customers satisfaction to allow businesses to better serve their customers. This report begins by defining hedonic services and customer satisfaction according to the relevant literature. The factors which influence customer satisfaction on hedonic services are then outlined. The selected factors are the seven Ps of the service marketing mix; price, promotion, place, physical evidence, people, process and product. The gaps in the literature are then mentioned with recommendations for future research which will provide a full view of this topic.

2.0 Definitions

2.1 Hedonic Services

Hedonic services are those which are fun, emotive or pleasure driven and are sought after by customers to fulfil a psychological or emotional need (Joseph-Matthews, Bonn & Snepenger 2009; Ng, Russell- Bennett and Dagger 2007; Fiang & Wang 2006; Hirschman & Holbrook 1982). It must be noted that services are not simply classified as hedonic or not hedonic but instead services have different degrees of hedonism (Strombeck & Wakefield 2008). The hedonic nature of a service is also dependant on the consumer, their motivations and context, not solely on the product itself (Strombeck & Wakefield 2008). The same service may be seen as hedonic to one consumer and non hedonic to another, generally though services can be classified as mainly hedonic services or main...

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