Behavioral Indicators of Customer Satisfaction with Vendor-Provided Information Services

Behavioral dimensions of customer satisfaction with Vendor-Provided Information Services (VPIS) were investigated and three categories of satisfaction-related behaviors were identified:· (1) discretionary collaborative behaviors, (2) switching behaviors, and (3) contending behaviors. Of these three classes, discretionary collaborative behaviors appear to have the strongest relationship with satisfaction. Negative behaviors, such as switching and contending, appear to have more complex determinants and thus, in tenns of their usefulness as indicators of satisfaction, more error variance. Of the behaviors identified as being most strongly related to satisfaction, none had system usage or system exploration as their primary focus. Behaviors that are most strongly related to satisfaction appear to be non-system oriented, and instead deal with various aspects of the relationship between the vendor and the customer.