The Influence of Consumers' Emotions on Their Service Product Evaluation

There is a lack of attention to the role of emotions in consumers' product evaluation. Much of the literature concerned with services' evaluation focuses on the distinction between the tangible and intangible aspects of the service offered and how they contribute towards the consumer's satisfaction. However, these differences may be contingent upon a wider range of factors including the duration of the service, the individual's personality, natural preferences, and emotional state prior to, during, and after the service encounter. The leisure/charter airline industry provides an ideal setting to study the effects of the aforementioned conditions. This article reports the findings of a study that currently comprises more than 1400 cases and focuses on the influence of emotions on service evaluation. The findings indicate that the leisure/charter airline passengers' emotions prior to, and during, the flight are related to service provision and that emotions are related to the passengers' overall satisfaction rating for the services received.