Development of a satisfaction inedx for Mexican supermarkets customers. An exploratory research

Abstract

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IS ONE ON THE CONCEPTS OF INTEREST TO BOTH PRACTITIONERS AND RESEARCHERS BECAUSE ALMOST ALL ACTIVITIES OF THE ORGANIZATION CAN BE EVALUATED IN TERMS OF THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO CUSTOMER SATISFACTION. THEN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SATISFACTION MEASURES REQUIRES OF A CAREFUL COMPREHENSION, INTERPRETATION AND OPERATIO NALIZATION OF THE SATISFACTION CONCEPT SO THE RESULTING MEASURES CAN REALLY BE USEFUL TO THE ORGANIZATION. THE NEED TO PROVIDE SUITABLE SATISFACTION MEASURES IS THE MAIN MOTIVATION FOR THIS WORK, WHOSE MAIN OBJECTIVE IS TO DEVELOP AND PROVIDE EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE VALIDITY OF A SATISFACTION INDEX FOR THE CUSTOMER OF MEXICAN SUPERMARKETS. A SURVEY AMONG THE CUSTOMERS OF A SUPERMARKET CHAIN WITH REGIONAL COVERAGE SUPPLIES THE REQUIRED DATA TO CONDUCT A FACTOR ANALYSIS THAT PERMITS TO VERIFY THE MULTIDIMENSIONALITY OF THE SATISFACTION CONCEPT AND TO DENTIFY SEVEN UNDERLYING LATENT DIMENSIONS FOR THE CONSTRUCT WHOSE STRUCTURE GIVES EVIDENCE OF CONVERGENT VALIDITY. A POSTERIOR REGRESSION ANALYSIS WITH INTENTIONAL LOYALTY AS THE DEPENDENT VARIABLE SUPPORTS THE PREDICTIVE VALIDITY OF THE SATISFACTION INDEX AND ALLOWS THE IDENTIFICATION OF THOSE SATISFACTION'S COMPONENTS WITH A SIGNIFICANT INFLUENCE ON THE LOYALTY OF THE SUPERMARKET'S CLIENTS