A View from the Aisle Revisited: Delight and Outrage in the Classroom

Abstract

This research explores marketing students’ emotional reactions to classroom encounters. We identify what types of critical incidents lead to specific emotional outcomes. The study included a sample of 1,208 marketing undergraduates. Findings confirm the viability of the taxonomies identified by Swanson and Davis (2000). We expand their framework to include the emotions of outrage and delight. Results confirm the conceptual distinctions among satisfaction, delight, dissatisfaction, and outrage, while suggesting that the absence of those factors that contribute to students’ dissatisfaction and outrage will not necessarily lead to their satisfaction and delight. Suggestions for responding are identified and associated with specific incident types.