Paradigms of satisfaction research: A conceptual foundation

The notion of satisfaction has been the focal point of interest in the understanding of human behavior. In academic literature satisfaction has been viewed from various branches of academics. Satisfaction has been used to indicate the ‘effectiveness of a marketing system’ in economics, ‘social well-being’ in sociology, and an individuals’ ‘emotional feeling’ in psychology). In analyzing behavior of consumers, understanding ‘satisfaction’ has become an area of monumental interest and addressed by the researchers extensively in the last three decades. This paper aims at presenting a comprehensive account of the major paradigms of satisfaction research understanding of which is important for marketing personnel in strategy formulation to ensure customer satisfaction.