Post-purchase behavior

The post-purchase phase of consumer behavior is important because it influences loyalty, complaining and whether consumers will spread positive or negative word-of-mouth. This chapter addresses the post-purchase issues of satisfaction and dissatisfaction, loyalty and switching, complaining behavior and post-purchase dissonance. Satisfied consumers recommend the store or brand to others, purchase it again and show an increased willingness to pay. The role of culture is presented with findings such as consumers in collectivist cultures are more likely to shop at stores and buy the same brands as their in-group (relatives, friends, business colleagues); behaving otherwise, would risk disturbing social harmony. Relatedly, willingness to complain is usually lower in collectivist societies, and susceptibility to experiencing dissonance is also lower in collectivist societies. This dissonance immunity is attributed to how the Eastern cultural area deals with contradictory cognitions and emotions.