PhD Research Proposal on Customer Satisfaction Sample

CRM.<strong>PhD</strong>researchon.com
PHD RESEARCH PROPOSAL ON
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
Customers in today's world have a wide range of products and services available. These same customers expect
their expectations of products and services to be fulfilled and to be satisfied, so companies must continually look
for new, innovative ways to meet the demands and expectations of their customers with the goal of survival on the
market. It is also argued that meeting customer expectations is not enough, but the goal is to delight the customer,
and it is important to always be a step ahead of the competition. Customers represent the heart of the company,
nothing more important than them. In most cases, the buyer knows what he wants or has a vision of a perfect
product or service. Products and services have certain features and characteristics that customers want, while
other features the customer only wishes and they do not possess. These specific requirements and their fulfillment
will determine whether the customer will be satisfied with the purchased product or the service provided. Today,
it is becoming increasingly popular and commonly used to track and analyze praise and customer complaints, and
based on feedback, calculates a customer satisfaction index that may point to the necessary defects or problems
within the company before they adversely affect the profitability and business of the company. Customer
Satisfaction is an opinion that customers have about a particular product. It is based on the perceived
characteristics of the purchased and used products with their own expectations. Monitoring and measuring
customer satisfaction is important for businesses because a satisfied customer can become loyal, expanding the
positive voice of the company and its products and services, paying less attention to competing companies, it is
cheaper to retain existing customers than to attract new and satisfied customers are less vulnerable to change the
price of products and services. Customer satisfaction surveys vary according to the type of customer contact and
the method of collecting customer data, and may be qualitative or quantitative depending on the way in which the
results are processed. The most common ways of researching and tracking customer satisfaction are to track
complaints and suggestions from customers, mysterious purchases, analysis of lost customers, and customer
inquiries about their satisfaction. The aim of this graduate thesis is to define customer satisfaction, explain the link
between value for customers and customer satisfaction, identifying possible customer satisfaction research
techniques, and the most efficient way to use them in the business.
There are many definitions of customer satisfaction, but most of them relate to a comparison of the expectations
and perceptions of users when they encounter a product, service, and/or company. Customer satisfaction, the
transfer of positive experiences, and customer retention are the result of a positive difference between perception
and expectation, while dissatisfaction results when expectations are higher than perceptions and still result in the
transmission of negative oral experiences, thereby contributing to the negative publicity of the company.
Customer Satisfaction represents their perception of the level of fulfillment of their requirements for a particular
product or service. Customer satisfaction is of utmost importance for marketers, manufacturers and
ultimately merchants. Satisfaction can be defined as a judgment on the performance of a product or service based
on the cognitive (functional) and psychological (emotional) value of a product. The customer can evaluate a
particular product based on the characteristics of that product as well as the psychological expectations of its
performance. Likewise, pleasure can be internal to its own nature, meaning that it functions at the level of the
buyer's state of consciousness. But while satisfaction is the psychological state of the customer, influenced by
social norms and behaviors as well as a cultural system like belief, emotion, and conflict. the client's satisfaction
can be observed in two ways: (1) as a result of exactly determined transactions and (2) cumulatively as a sum of all
past transactions that a customer had with a product, service or company. When it comes to a particular

CRM.<strong>PhD</strong>researchon.com
PHD RESEARCH PROPOSAL ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
transaction, pleasure is viewed as a judgment after purchase, while cumulative satisfaction is assumed to be a
product choice, product purchase and experience related to using same. Most satisfaction definitions are aimed at
comparing unfulfilled expectations and the performance and performance of a product/service, while few
definitions focus only on product or service performance. Satisfaction can be defined in different ways, but most
when defining satisfaction, satisfaction is viewed as a result of a subjective assessment of the customer about
whether a particular product or service has met or exceeded expectations.
Therefore, it can be concluded that the satisfaction and value of the buyer are extremely related because
satisfaction is the result of the value received in relation to the expected value for the buyer. Every company or
company that seeks to achieve the satisfaction of its customers gains multiple benefits. Along with the already
mentioned positive publicity, realized through the oral communication of satisfied users, the most obvious
advantages are:
a) The loyalty of the existing and attracting a large number of new users;
b) Satisfied users use the service more often and more, and the risk of their departure to competition is reduced;
c) The company gains competitive advantages - especially in the area of prices. Satisfied users are willing to pay
more and remain loyal to a company that meets their needs, and do not want to risk going to a company whose
offer is cheaper;
d) Atmosphere and working conditions in such a company are better - developing a specific organizational
culture, employees are motivated and rewarded for their efforts;
e) Surveys and other types of research form formal means of collecting feedback from users, simplifying and
facilitating identification and recording of existing and potential problems;
f) Surveys and other types of research provide users with a message that the company cares about them and the
value the service the company has for them.
Customer Satisfaction leads to customer loyalty by product, service, or enterprise, so it's important for
companies to understand the importance of their customers' satisfaction and to adopt satisfaction tracking
systems, all aimed at improving their business, building a positive image, and taking on more market share than
competitors. The concept of customer satisfaction and value for customers represents a new and revolutionary
way of thinking about the customers and the value that companies need to deliver to meet their expectations and
thus gain customer satisfaction. Equity theory focuses on a fair distribution of resources between two relational
partners. Equality is measured by comparing the contribution (or cost) ratio and benefit (or reward) for each
person. It is considered one of the theories of fairness and developed in 1969 by J. Stacy Adams, a psychologist of
behavior and work environment, who found that employees are trying to maintain equality between the inputs
they bring to their work and the output they receive from it versus the perceived inputs and outputs of their
colleague. This theory rests on the belief that people value the just treatment that causes them to be motivated
to preserve fairness within the relationships of their associates and the entire organization. The theory of equality
implies the mechanism of an individual's need to activate when the ratio of received funds such as awards by an
individual is unequal to others in exchange relations. The inputs in this theory are the contribution of the
exchange participants that an individual or observer sees as the right to the award, and the results are positive or
negative consequences that an individual has achieved in exchanging with others. The activated need for equality
promotes behavior aimed at creating a fairer distribution, the one in which the relationship is invested and
obtained equal. The state of perceived injustice creates the tension that an individual wants to reduce or avoid,
and a possible reduction in injustice may include diminution of input, change of perception of exchange rate
outcomes, or outbound exchange. Many researchers point out that equality is an individual need, but can also be
seen as a common cultural value, a norm that prescribes the way in which resources should be subdivided, but
there are also deviations in cultural patterns. When a person experiences injustice, a feeling of dissatisfaction or
some other emotional state, such as anger, anger or guilt, is considered to motivate the individual to establish
equality or balance. According to the theory of equality, the customer estimates their own inputs and outputs and
compares them with the observed inputs and outputs of the reseller in an effort to estimate the equality of

CRM.<strong>PhD</strong>researchon.com
PHD RESEARCH PROPOSAL ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
transactions. Cultural differences, however, can influence the assessment of equality in the following ways:
1) In some societies, not all exchange transactions are considered. For example, in collective societies, there is a
possibility of developing relationships between the owners of trade in the neighborhood and the consumer,
which is different from the relationship between the owners of trade and consumers in the individualistic society.
This is because the owner of a store and a consumer in the neighborhood are more likely to have close social
connections outside the context of the trade and are considered to be part of the same society. In this type of
relationship, equality setting would not play a major role in evaluating the transaction. Customers in the
collectivist companies are loyal to distribution channels and are more tolerant of the bad service they offer and
will not go to another store because the nature of the relationship between the buyer and the store owner extends
beyond the scope of the exchange.
2) In certain societies there is a high level of tolerance of inequality and this is not considered unacceptable. In
these companies, buyers accept hierarchical relationships and inequality. In these cases, equality theory has no
effect on customers. Customers will not necessarily compare the relationship invested and gained in determining
satisfaction. This implies that buyers can accept situations where the product and/or service is of inferior quality
and/or at a higher price than elsewhere. In such companies the buyer accepts the fact that the inferior is in the
process of exchange and therefore inequality is not a problem.
3) Different cultural groups evaluate investment or exchange results differently. For example, buyers in a
particular culture can look for a good deal of a particular product in a shopping center as a pleasant activity, while
in another culture it can be seen as an awkward task. Search for a particular product at a shopping center is
considered a buyer's investment and the nature of the activity has an impact on the estimate of trade equity. Also,
exchange results are perceived differently in different cultures. For example, in some cultures, wrapping gifts is
seen as an extra effort, while in other cultures this is also expected. This has important implications in marketing
because in cases where gift wrapping is considered additional effort, the merchant can charge gift wrapping. On
the other hand, in companies where wrapping gifts is expected, the salesperson will not be able to charge a higher
price for gift wrapping.
References
Burt, S. & Sparks, L. (2002) Corporate branding, retailing and retail internationalization, Icorporate
Reputation Review, Vol 5, 194 - 212.
Mill, R. (2002). A comprehensive model of customer satisfaction in hospitality and tourism: Strategic
implications for management, International Business & Economic <strong>Research</strong> Journal, Vol. 1., No. 6, 7 – 18.
Brink, A. & Berndt, A. (2009). Customer Relationship Management & Customer Service, Lansdowne: Juta
and Co Ltd.