Antecedents of post purchase consumer dissatisfaction in household white goods

Abstract

The triggers of "post-purchase dissatisfaction" are emerging as a highly debated aspect in the case of consumer electronics and electric goods worldwide. The triggers of the phenomenon of "consumer dissatisfaction" often involve the dimensions of "consumer-driven" or "product-driven" or "non-product driven" as well as "organization driven". Such "triggers" seem to instigate the consumer to feel either satisfied or dissatisfied. This research article emphasizes and explores the role of two evident triggers "Product based functional failure" and "Product based visible failure" as two obvious causes of post-purchase dissatisfaction. The study operationalizes the factors with the aid of pre-validated scales and concentrates on a sample size of 648 across Chandigarh capital region and suburban areas with access to white goods. The study relied on factor analysis for extraction and incorporated AMOS based modelling of relationships across constituent factors. The study based operationalized scales achieved reliability (Cronbach's alpha) in a range of 0.5 to 0.9. The study established the prevalence of statistically significant relationship between "product failure" and "consumer-based dissatisfaction" as well as the prevalence of statistically significant relationship between "visible failure" and "consumer-based dissatisfaction". The study based outcomes owe implications for theory, practicing managers and marketers. The research findings support the earlier outcomes with regard to contextual antecedents of consumer's dissatisfaction based perceptions and behaviour.