“Do I Like It if You Choose for Me? The Influence of Relationship Norms on Consumer Satisfaction”

Author: John T. Gourville and Dilip Soman

Esin Ergür
107604230

The present research hypothesizes that the norms underlying different types of relationships between marketers and consumers moderate consumers’ satisfaction with a self-chosen relative to a marketer-chosen outcome. This hypothesis draws on recent research suggesting that consumers’ responses to the marketer’s actions are a function of the relationship norms between the two (Aggarwal 2004; Fournier 1998). Two types of consumer-marketer relationships are examined: communal and exchange (Mills and Clark 1982). In a communal relationship, people give benefits to relationship partners due to a concern for their well-being.

People know that benefits are given in order to get something in return. As such, if in an exchange relationship the choice is made by the marketer, consumers will expect the marketer to be motivated by its own interests, and they will be less likely to be satisfied with it. We therefore hypothesize that the consumers’ satisfaction with a marketer-chosen outcome will be lower compared to a self-chosen outcome when they have an exchange relationship than when they have a communal relationship with the marketer.