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Westbrook and Oliver (1991) stated that while emotional experiences could be characterized by
two separate dimensions in Westbrook’s (1987) study, he adapted Izard’s (1977) DES, which
can be described as positive and negative subsets of basic emotions, for measuring emotional
reactions. In other words, this insufficient measure may have worked as a constraint reducing
the observed dimensionality of emotion space in his study (Westbrook & Oliver, 1991). Further,
in their empirical study, Machleit and Eroglu (2000) pointed out the inadequacy of constructing
summary dimensions (positive and negative) in a consumer research. Their study findings
illustrated that while combining emotions types into summary factors (i.e., positive and negative
factors) have the benefits of simplifying data analysis and reducing potential problems of
multicollinearity among emotion types, the summary dimensions cannot be an appropriate
representation of emotional responses. Overall, uncovering the greater number of dimensions of
consumption emotions than the simple positive/negative dimensions enables assessment of the
complexity of emotional experiences in a consumption situation (Westbrook & Oliver, 1991) and
helps us further comprehend the role of various types of consumption-induced emotions in
explaining consumer behaviors, especially in the context of service consumption (Dube &
Menon, 2000). In the present study, multi-dimensions of emotional responses were uncovered
and used to wholly capture the diversity and nature of consumption experiences in a restaurant.
Conceptualization of Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is an important concept in business and marketing as the notion of
satisfying customers’ needs and wants (Mittal & Lassar, 1998; Spreng, MacKenzie, &
Olshavsky, 1996). It has long been regarded as a fundamental determinant of long-term
consumer behavior, such as repeat-buy behavior (Oliver, 1980; Yi, 1990). Researchers agree
that more satisfied customers mean greater retention (Anderson & Sullivan, 1993; Fornell,
1992). The positive word-of-mouth is generated by these customers (Schneider & Bowen,
1999), and the firms who serve them will benefit financially (Fornell et al., 1995). Thus,
satisfying customers increasingly becomes the ultimate goal of every business. Recognizing its
potential impact on retention and future profitability, organizations dedicate substantial energies
to tracking customer satisfaction, which is also a fundamental measure of performance
(Anderson, Fornell, & Lehmann, 1994).
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