A systems view of customer satisfaction

Purpose – Aim of the paper is to discuss the notion of customer satisfaction in the light of the transition from a Goods-Dominant Logic to a Service-Dominant Logic of marketing. The key research questions are: Does the general scheme of customer satisfaction change in the new service view? If yes, are there any implications for the satisfaction measurement systems? Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is based on an integrated conceptual framework developed adopting the Viable Systems Approach (VSA) as a lens to interpret the evolution from transactional, to relational, to interactional approach realized with the transition to a Service-Dominant Logic (S-DL) of marketing. The wearing of the systems thinking lens allows addressing the key of this evolving view highlighting relevant theoretical and practical implications. Findings – The evolutionary pathway started with the affirmation of Relationship Marketing (RM) and accomplished with the introduction of S-DL has marked a paradigm change in the approach to marketing highlighting the need for a deep rethinking of the view of market exchange. This evolution has significantly changed the general scheme of customer satisfaction which has to take into account the changing role of customers and the interactional nature of market exchange. The S-DL co-creational view of value underlines its emerging nature in a typical multi-actor context which significantly complicates both the outcome of the interaction process and its measure in terms of average satisfaction. In such contexts, traditional customer satisfaction models, techniques and measurement systems appear to be challenged. Through the lens of the VSA, the main criticalities of the evolving view of customer satisfaction are identified and possible new approaches and methods are discussed. A consonance-based framework of synthesis is developed that highlights: a view of market exchange as a (service) system, a changing role of customers that participate in the co-creation process as resources integrators, and a new view of systems satisfaction on which the overall survival capability of the system ultimately depends. Practical implications – The proposed changing view of customer satisfaction has relevant theoretical and practical implications that suggest shifting attention from the technical to the methodological problem when dealing with the new view of (service) systems satisfaction. Originality/value – Through the adoption of the VSA framework, the paper gives new light to the view of customer satisfaction, on the one hand extending its scope to a wider than dyadic relational context, on the other hand suggesting a rethinking of the conceptual basis of its measurement systems. Keywords: Customer satisfaction; Viable Systems Approach; Relationship Marketing; Service-Dominant Logic; Value Co-creation; Measurement systems.