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The value of treating customer satisfaction (CS) as a marketing objective began to be questioned in the 1990s. Achieving customer delight (CD) was the suggested alternative. However, CD is used for a distinct response and for an upper zone of positive nonlinear response to CS. This research investigates these two perspectives by examining the linearity of how CS influences behavioral intentions while controlling for CD measured as a distinct response. Unique data, crossing online retailers with respondents, confirm CD and CS are distinct responses that both determine behavioral intentions. CD has a positive quadratic effect; contrary to the zone of delight conceptualization, CS has a negative cubic effect. This suggests that CD is a service performance metric that needs to be monitored and managed just as much as CS. Once CS is above average, resources should be used to increase CD rather than CS.
Adam Finn (Wed,) studied this question.