Beyond satisfaction: a dual-process psychological model of public service reuse

Background Understanding why individuals repeatedly engage with public services is essential for promoting sustained service utilization. Although satisfaction has long been considered the primary psychological determinant of service reuse, behavioral decisions often unfold within broader social environments, suggesting the presence of additional explanatory mechanisms. Objective This study investigates how individuals' service experiences give rise to reuse behavior by integrating affective responses and socially shared evaluations into a unified psychological model. Method Using a mixed-methods design, this study first conducted grounded theory analysis of in-depth interviews to inductively identify key psychological and contextual constructs underlying public service reuse and to develop a theoretical model. This study then validated the model using structural equation modeling (SEM) with survey data from 433 public legal aid service users in China. Results The results reveal two distinct yet complementary mediating pathways: an affective pathway, in which perceived service quality enhances public satisfaction and subsequently increases service reuse; and an attitudinal pathway, in which perceived service quality shapes public opinion, a socially constructed evaluation that independently predicts reuse behavior. Both mediators jointly transmit the effects of service capacity and perceived service quality on service reuse, supporting a dual-process model that incorporates emotional reactions and social-normative judgments. Contributions This study advances psychological research on service behavior by (a) identifying public opinion as a distinct attitudinal mediator alongside satisfaction, (b) demonstrating how individual experiences and socially shared perceptions operate in parallel to shape behavioral persistence, and (c) clarifying the formation pathway linking service capacity, perceived quality, psychological mediators, and behavioral outcomes. The mixed-methods design further enhances construct validity and provides a more comprehensive understanding of how public service experiences translate into repeated engagement.