Can an Applied Discipline Lead?
My advice that our discipline should focus on research topics that are somewhat removed from the mainstream of social science research implies isolationism and the potential of irrelevance. To allay these criticisms, I would like you to consider three areas in which consumer researchers were the driving force behind theory development. • 1970s: Consumer satisfaction / dissatisfaction. Consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction are consequences of consumption or service experiences. Consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction research began during the 1970s as a response to the concerns of government regulators and consumer advocates. The initial research focused on the measurement of consumer satisfaction (Pfaff 1972) and the role of expectation disconfirmation in dissatisfaction (Anderson 1973; Olshavsky and Miller 1972). Subsequently, research indentified the antecedents and consequences of consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Antecedents include performance expectations and the p
