Penalty-Reward Analysis with Uninorms: A Study of Customer (Dis)Satisfaction

Abstract

In customer (dis)satisfaction research, analytic methods are neededto capture the complex relationship between overall (dis)satisfactionwith a product or service and the underlying (perceived) performanceon the product�s or service�s attributes. Eventually, the methodshould allow to identify the attributes that need improvement andthat most significantly enhance the business relationship with thecustomer. This paper presents an analytic design based on uninorms,which is able to capture the nature of the relationship between attribute-level(dis)satisfaction and overall (dis)satisfaction in the context ofdifferent attributes. In contrast to alternative statistical approaches,ours allows for full reinforcement and compensation in the satisfactionmodel without a priori defining the formal role of each attribute.Impact curves visualize the relationships between attribute-level(dis)satisfaction and overall satisfaction. Penalty-reward analysison the basis of uninorms is illustrated on a satisfaction study ofan energy supply firm. The analysis confirms the three-factor structureof (dis)satisfaction. The interpretation of the impact curves allowmanagers optimizing their attribute scores in order to maximize customer(dis)satisfaction.