An empirical study on antecedents of aggregate customer satisfaction: Cross-country findings

Abstract

In recent years, customer satisfaction has come to be used not only as a performance indicator for individual firms but also an aggregate measure for economic analysis. In particular, it has been reported that changes in customer satisfaction are a leading, positive indicator of other financial and economic indicators such as GDP growth and consumer spending. While the extant literature analyses the consequences of aggregate-level customer satisfaction, there has been relatively little study of its antecedents at the aggregate level. In our research, we have examined antecedents of aggregate customer satisfaction by analysing the relationships between various economic indicators and national customer satisfaction data from the US, Sweden and Japan. The results indicate the existence of two significant factors that affect customer satisfaction, both positively and negatively. One of these factors, an ‘economic growth factor’, has a positive impact on aggregate customer satisfaction, while the other, an ‘economic condition factor’, has a negative impact on it. The effects of these two antecedents are observed in all countries studied, regardless of differences in measurement methods or country-related institutional factors. Our findings provide useful information for predicting customer satisfaction index values and analysing subsequent financial performance of industries and firms.

Keywords:

• national customer satisfaction indices
• American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)
• Swedish Customer Satisfaction Barometer (SCSB)
• economic growth factor
• economic condition bias