This document discusses the Expectancy Disconfirmation Model and how it can be used to measure consumer satisfaction and brand loyalty. The model measures the difference between a customer's expectations of a product or service and their actual experience. If expectations match experience, it leads to satisfaction, but if expectations are not met, it leads to dissatisfaction. Apple is used as a case study of a brand that sets high expectations and consistently meets them through innovation, uniqueness, and customer service. This leads to high consumer satisfaction, positive disconfirmation, and strong brand loyalty over time.

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APPLYING EXPENTANCY
DISCONFIRMATION MODEL TO
BRAND PURCHASING
Khairunnissa Virani
University of Waterloo
Businesses are progressively realizing the importance of customer satisfaction, improving which
they can make profits. This article addresses such businesses who are the owners of small or big
brands. Trusting a brand can make shopping easier for a consumer, however, as per my point of
view and as the facts suggest the post-purchase evaluation phase is where the brand product
purchased either succeeds or fails to satisfy a consumer. In-case it fails to satisfy the consumer i.e.
if their expectations are not met by that particular brand product, it can damage the brand image
and brand loyalty either in an individual’s conscious or a bad word can be spread through various
channels and reach out to masses.
The level of consumer satisfaction or dissatisfaction can be determined using the Expectancy
Disconfirmation Model. The model has its roots in the Cognitive Dissonance Theory (CDT) which
was introduced by Leon Festinger in 1957 and defines a dissonance between cognition of
something and its reality. In that essence, EDT measures the difference between a customer’s
expectation and the experience in perceived product and/or service. The consumer engages in a
purchase transaction and anticipates some outcome or result from it and when they utilize the
purchase, consumers form valid perceptions of the performance. If the pre-and post-purchase
expectations match then that influences satisfaction and we call this as “positive disconfirmation”
and on contrary, if the expectations and performance do not match it influences dissatisfaction or
a “negative disconfirmation”. Figure 1 is a good depiction of this model, showing all the relevant
components and the process.

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Fig. 1: The Expectancy Disconfirmation Model
Why is Apple by far the most loved and successful brand? Why Apple, as a business/company is
considered to be “the most innovative” (Business Week, 2009)?, when purchasing a brand a
consumer is either; buying it for the first time or is committed to that brand because s/he
experiences a same or an increased level of satisfaction each time they purchase a product or
service. The variation in a consumer’s attitude after the purchase and usage is seen in two
dimensions; affection and cognition, it is indicated that customers, experience satisfaction or
dissatisfaction after purchasing and the customer’s internal psychological change affects the
subsequent behavior (Kotler). Talking about Apple, I have observed a tremendous growth in the
number of Apple product users over time and many customer satisfaction surveys show Apple
scoring more than any of its competitors. Unpacking the brand according to the disconfirmation
model, Apple sets high expectations and doesn’t let its users down in terms of its performance.
Since the time Apple launched its first line of products they created a huge hype of its uniqueness,
better performance, aesthetics, usability and the other key areas where it excelled. This publicity
created anticipation within the audience fabricated with high expectations and Apple was mindful
of meeting the expectations they were creating.
Apple offers innovation, creativity, uniqueness and a human centric factor. This triggers the
development of affection or liking for their products as they assimilate into people’s lifestyles and
the cognition also plays its part allowing the intention and action of repeating the purchase process
and/or recommending it to others and also at times buying additional items of the same brand. This
indicates a high level of satisfaction and a positive expectancy disconfirmation. Another
contributing factor is maintaining the relationship with their users, as determined by Consumer
Reports’ survey of 3,200 computer owners, Apple has the highest customer satisfaction for tech.

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support, and even most of their retail stores offer appointment booking and receiving face-to-face
technical support and troubleshooting for all kinds of Apple products with no charge for helping.
This stimulates the emotional connection that the brand cares about you and even the cognitive
effect that the performance is not compromised. As a result, in 2015 in Calgary hundreds of people
lined-up outside the Apple store at Chinook Center to be the first ones to purchase the latest iPhone
6. One of the hardcore Apple enthusiast (Sam Nakutnok) said that he loves Apple as they make
really good products and he comes every year, every launch and always lines up.
Prus & Brandt (1995) suggested brand loyalty reflects a long-term choice probability for the brand
or company and is driven by customer satisfaction and comprises of both customer’s attitudes and
behaviors. If the expectancy disconfirmation is positive for a consumer then it is more likely for
that consumer to continue with brand commitment and also participate in brand extension, which
are identified by cognition when brand extensions are judged by the fitness of product features to
their parent brands. If the expectancy disconfirmation is negative then it is likely for the consumer
to start evaluating competitors of that brand and there is a fair chance of the consumer disengaging
from that brand, also a bad word can be spread.
Conclusively, EDT is a very efficient model in measuring consumer’s level of satisfaction and
post-purchase phase of the purchase process is crucial in evaluating what a consumer perceives
and what they experience. The Apple is a good example of positive disconfirmation and a brand
that has met every customer satisfaction at all levels by knowing in advance the expectations their
product will create and by delivering the performance.

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References
 Scientific research – open access
 Review on “expectancy disconfirmation theory” (edt) model in b2c e-commerce by
Naeimeh Elkhani.
 The impact of expectation disconfirmation on customer loyalty and recommendation
behavior: investigating online travel and tourism services Alexander Serenko.
 http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?id=11826
 Study on the relationships among customer satisfaction, brand loyalty and repurchase
intention - Ji Feng
 https://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/mygsb/faculty/research/pubfiles/4566/firm%20innovativ
eness.pdf
 Examining two expectation disconfirmation theory models - examining two expectation
disconfirmation theory models: assimilation and asymmetry effects journal of the
association for information systems
 http://www.macrumors.com/2015/05/29/apple-top-tech-support-consumer-reports-2015/
 http://betanews.com/2015/04/07/microsoft-vs-apple-which-has-the-most-loyal-and-
satisfied-customers/