Conflict management approaches, customer expectation evaluation, and customer satisfaction : an empirical investigation

Abstract

This study investigates the potential impacts of different conflict management approaches and expectation evaluation on customer satisfaction. Using three approaches of conflict management theory and three possibilities for customers’ expectation evaluation, nine scenarios have been developed. The results of this experiment-based study suggest that the interaction of customer expectation evaluations and conflict management approaches do not have a significant effect on customer satisfaction. However, the study also suggests that both the style of conflict management and expectation evaluation have a significant, direct impact on customer satisfaction.