Pursuing personal constructs through quality, value, and satisfaction

The theoretical notion of personal constructs implies that the very meaning of things, including activities, ultimately is determined by the extent to which it moves one closer to attaining central ideological states known as terminal personal values. Marketing and consumer research models traditionally approach deeply held personal values as an important, motivational, individual difference characteristic that orients behavior. This research takes a value-based perspective and examines personal values achievement as a climactic result of customer-retailer interaction. Field research across two service contexts provides a test of whether and how key service constructs contribute to the perception of progress toward a preferable state. Results from two studies provide consistent evidence that retail services including shopping and dining can allow customers to incrementally achieve a preferred personal value state through a sequence of quality, experiential (hedonic) value realized and customer satisfaction. Theoretical and managerial implications discuss the process and business implications.