2. This consistency can be explained by the coginitive Regulatory fit is experienced when people pursue a
consistency theory(Festinger 1959; Heider 1958). goal in a manner that sustains their regulatory orientation.
According to this theory, When our inner systems (beliefs, Previous research on promotion and prevention
attitudes, values, etc.) all support one another and when orientations has found that regulatory fit increases
these are also supported by external evidence, then we people_s perception that a decision they made was ‘right’,
have a comfortable state of affairs. The discomfort of which in turn transfers value to the decision outcome,
cognitive dissonance occurs when things fall out of including being willing to pay more for a product than
alignment, which leads us to try to achieve a maximum those who chose the same product without regulatory fit
practical level of consistency in our world. (Higgins, 2000; Higgins et al., in press). Accordingly,
We also have a very strong need to believe we are being when customers participating in the service, if scenario is
consistent with social norms. When there is conflict consistent to their regulatory focus, they will be more
between behaviors that are consistent with inner systems satisfied than those who do not participate in the service.
and behaviors that are consistent with social norms, the So we propose the following hypothesis:
potential threat of social exclusion often sways us H3: When customers participate in the production or
towards the latter, even though it may cause significant delievery of service, if the scenario they perceived is
inner dissonance. consistent to their regulatory focus, the customers with
Avnet and Higgins(2006) find besides the results the promotion focus will be more satisfied than the customers
difference of the action process will have effection on with prevention focus.
customers affect experience. Because customer H4: When customers participate in the production or
participation is the mutual actions between customers and delievery of service, if the scenario they perceived is not
contact employees, so the attitude of the customers is consistent to their regulatory focus, the customers with
determined by the customers themselves and service promotion focus will be less satisfied than the customers
provider. General speaking, the whole scenario of the with prevention focus.
participation is designed by the service provider, so the
psychological feeling of the customers is coming from
their feelings about the whole scenario. The customers III. RESULTS
who participated in the service always expect good results We adopt simulative scene experiment to test all the
of the service, according to the recognitive consistency hypotheses. In the literatures of psychology and
thoery, customers will be more satisfactied if the scenario marketing, simulative scene experiment method is
the perceived are consistent with or superior to their abroadly accepted, and by using this method, we can
expected situations than the customers who do not control complicated variables easily, which has quite high
participate in the service. If the scenario designed by the exterior validity(Hui and Bateson,1991; Reeder, 2001).
service provider is not consistent with their expected, There are totally 120 EMBA students voluntarily
customers will neglect this information because they are participated in the experiment. We divide all the
always looking for the proof to support their consistency. participants into two groups randomly. We can see table 1
What is more, customers who participate in the service the whole scenario pirture.
spend so much energy and time cost, so they will be more TABLE I
dissatisfied. Then we propose the following hypothesis: THE DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENARIO
H1:when customers participate in service, if the The control of customers participation
scenarios they perceived are consistent with or superior to You are on of the potential customers You are the potential customers for A
their expected, they will be more satisfied than the for A brand car, now they invite you brand car, before you purchase this
customers who do not participate in the service. to participate in the design of the new car,you do not have the chance
H2: when customers participate in service, if the model, for the following two design toparticipate in the design of the car.
scenarios they perceived are not consistent with their idea, which one is suitable to you?
expected, they will be more dissatisfied than the a、 The outlin should be stydle and
customers who do not participate in the service. inner design be humanistic.
According to regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997, b、 Safety and responsible, and
1998), different regulatory states arise when people durable.
follow different types of “self-guides:” (a) ideal self For the two groups, one group members will read the
guides, individuals’ representations of desired states as scenario they participate in the service and the other one
hopes or aspirations; and (b) ought self-guides, will read the other scenario they do not participate at their
individuals’ representationsof desired states as duties or own pace. After the participants finished reading the
responsibilities. Higgins (1987) suggested that a scenario, they will answer one item, nine points
promotion focus is associated with a person’s desire to questionaire, and “1” represtents “totally dissatisfied”, “9”
achieve ideal states, which are defined as that person’s represents “totally satisfactied”. We adopt selves
hopes, desires, or aspirations. In contrast, a prevention questions to test participants’ regulatory focus(Brocker,
focus is associated with a person’s desire to achieve ought 2002; Idson and Higgins 2000).
states, which are defined as that person’s duties
obligations, or responsibilities.
3. To test H1 and H2, we performed ANOVA test for the IV. DISCUSSION
two groups. For the customers who participated in the Although the researchs about customer participation
service and their perceived scenarios are consistent with are quite abundant in the marketing, but we do not get
or superior to their expected, their mean satisfaction consistent opition about whther customer participation
points is 7.63; fot those who did not participate in the certainly cause customer satisfaction. Which means some
service and their perceived scenarios are not consistent influencing factors between these two variables. But
with their expected, their mean satisfaction points is 6.67. current literatures pay little attention to this point, they
And for the customers who do not participate in the want to settle this problem directly by using different
service, their mean satisfaction point is 5.47. The two theory. So the factors between the two variables are still
differences of the points(7.63 and 5.47; 6.67 and 5.47) are like “black case”. From the research background of
all significant(p=0.001;p=0.001). So H1 and H2 is
customer participation and the prior research results, we
certified. That is to say, when customers participate in
take customers regulatory focus and the consistency of
service, if the scenarios they perceived are consistent with
perceived scenario as the influencing factors between
or superior to their expected, they will be more satisfied
than the customers who do not participate in the customer participation and customer participation, which
service.And if the scenarios they perceived are not fill the gap in the customer participation theory at some
consistent with their expected, they will be more degree.
dissatisfied than the customers who do not participate in The results give us some illuminations: when
the service. customers participate in service, if the scenarios they
To test H3 and H4, we devided the group in which the perceived are consistent with or superior to their expected,
group members participate in the service into two groups they will be more satisfied than the customers who do not
according to their perceived scenarios. The we performed participate in the service.And if the scenarios they
ANOVA test for the two groups and we get the results as perceived are not consistent with their expected, they will
table 2 and table 3. be more dissatisfied than the customers who do not
participate in the service.
TABLE 2 What is more, when customers participate in the
THE RESULTS OF ANOVA FOR PERCEIVED SCENARIO production or delievery of service, if the scenario they
perceived is consistent to their regulatory focus, the
Regulatory focus Mean F Sig.
customers with promotion focus will be more satisfied
Prevention focus 6.00 than the customers with prevention focus. And if the
consistent 31.925 .001 scenario they perceived is not consistent to their
Promotion focus 7.17
regulatory focus, the customers with promotion focus will
Prevention focus 7.56
Not be less satisfied than the customers with prevention focus.
14.336 .007
consistent Promotion focus 6.67
V. CONCLUSION
When customers participate in the production or Because most of the researches about customer
delievery of service, if the scenario they perceived is participation and customer satisfaction are descriptive,
consistent to their regulatory focus, the mean satisfaction very few literatures in marketing and management can
point for the customer with prevention focus is 6.00 and give the managers detail and normative suggestions. So
for those with promotion focus is 7.17, the difference of another purpose of this article is to help the company to
these two points are significant(p=0.001). So H3 get design effective customer participated scenarios to
supported. That is to say, when customers participate in increase customer satisfaction. Particularly, this article
the production or delievery of service, if the scenario they provide demonstration proofs that there are some factors
perceived is consistent to their regulatory focus, the between customer participation and customer satisfaction.
customers with promotion focus will be more satisfied Firstly, customer participation can lead to customer
than the customers with prevention focus. satisfaction, but which will behind some kind of
And if the scenario they perceived is not consistent to precondition. From our lives, we can see many cases in
their regulatory focus, the mean satisfaction point for the which customers feel too bad even they participate in the
customer with prevention focus is 7.56 and for those with service such as the shopping during their tourism.The
promotion focus is 6.67, the difference of these two points scenarios they perceived are consistent with or not to
are significant(p=0.007). Then H4 is proved. So when their expected are very important to their satisfaction. So
customers participate in the production or delievery of just designing a scenario randomly is not enough for the
service, if the scenario they perceived is not consistent to companies, managers must do some investigations to find
their regulatory focus, the customers with promotion which kind of scenarios are suitable to their potential
focus will be less satisfied than the customers with customers. Then by designing most suitable scenarios to
prevention focus. increase customer satisfaction.
At the same time, because the results show customers
different regulatory focus will have effect on their
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