Cognitive and Affective Antecedents of Consumers’ Satisfaction: A Systematic Review of two Research Approaches

: The study of consumers’ satisfaction has generated empirical research in the last few decades, with new challenges, such as a speciﬁc lens on online consumers’ satisfaction. During the last decades, two well-differentiated research traditions can be observed: cognitive and affective. A wide range of antecedents of consumers’ satisfaction has been proposed. The present contribution empirical research conducted under these two perspectives to determine which variables are related to satisfaction, the direction of these relationships, and the differences between the two dominant approaches. We conducted a systematic review of 104 empirical studies on consumers’ satisfaction published between 1975 and 2017. The ﬁndings showed that both the cognitive and the affective tradition yield statistically signiﬁcant precursors of satisfaction. A comparison between empirical studies exploring consumers’ satisfaction in traditional versus by Internet purchasing behavior showed an increasing relevance of cognitive facets in traditional consumer behavior. Empirical evidence exploring differences between consumers’ satisfaction with purchasing goods versus hiring services showed that both cognitive and affective predictors strongly impact when services are hired versus consuming goods. This article concludes with a discussion of these results and their implications.


Introduction
The old assumptions about consumers' satisfaction no longer seem useful, because people today can choose between online and face-to-face purchasing for almost all goods and services. This rapid and constant change in consuming trends puts retailers under high pressure to satisfy their consumers. Because literature has firmly established the relationships between customers' satisfaction and loyalty, defining the main antecedents of satisfaction became a strategic question. Currently, consumers are considered more autonomous, reflective, and critical [1], however, at the same time, they seem to be demanding lower costs and high-quality goods and services [2].
A plethora of studies highlighted that consumers are immersed in their social context, and their thinking and emotion could be partly due to social influences [3] but can also be affected by their knowledge, previous attitudes, personality traits [4], and other variables. Hence, consumers' satisfaction and other affects associated to consumers' experiences should be deeper analyzed in order to explore them as predictors of consumption behavior [5].
The study of satisfaction has become a focus of attention, not only for researchers, but also for businesses that offer their goods and services to consumers and that are immersed in an increasingly competitive market [6]. Thus, achieving consumer satisfaction becomes a source of advantage and competitive differentiation [7] that involves a series of beneficial results for organizations, such as "word of mouth" communication among potential clients [8], loyalty [9], and financial profitability [10].
Within this context, there has been much research of the antecedents of consumer satisfaction, with consumers' psychological processes playing a key role [11,12]. One strong research tradition emphasizes the cognitive processes that underlie consumers' appraisals [13]. Along with this tradition, researchers have also begun to underline the role of affective experiences in consumption experiences as a source of satisfaction [14]. The diversity of approaches and investigations leads to a variety of satisfaction determinants proposed in the studies, their direction, and magnitude [15].
Since some seminal studies began studying consumer's satisfaction [16,17], a plethora of variables was added to the dominant approaches, both cognitive and affective. Even though each variable can improve our understanding of the phenomena, these is still a lot of debate in the literature about what model (cognitive versus affective) explains satisfaction better [18]. Moreover, the specific role of affect in the customers' experience remains unclear and its statistical contribution to explain a higher percentage of variance in satisfaction should be clarified [19].
Thus, the aim of this work was to carry out a synthesis of empirical research to better explain consumers' satisfaction. We attempted to determine which variables are related to satisfaction, the direction of this relation, and the differences between the two dominant approaches. Emphasis was placed on the constructs that have been investigated more extensively, both in the cognitive and in the affective traditions, as Figure 1 shows. Moreover, even though our systematic review was focused on cognitive versus affective approaches on customers' satisfaction, we briefly explored whether the relations among the predictors and satisfaction differ as a function of the kind of transaction (traditional versus Internet) and the type of purchase (consumer goods versus services). We started out from the contingent viewpoint of satisfaction, which can become a stimulus for the advance of investigation and knowledge. Thus, as previous studies confirmed [13][14][15], the processes underlying consumer satisfaction do not always function in the same way. This approach allowed us to move toward a more complete and complex conception of satisfaction.  Moreover, even though our systematic review was focused on cognitive versus affective approaches on customers' satisfaction, we briefly explored whether the relations among the predictors and satisfaction differ as a function of the kind of transaction (traditional versus Internet) and the type of purchase (consumer goods versus services). We started out from the contingent viewpoint of satisfaction, which can become a stimulus for the advance of investigation and knowledge. Thus, as previous studies confirmed [13][14][15], the processes underlying consumer satisfaction do not always function in the same way. This approach allowed us to move toward a more complete and complex conception of satisfaction.

Literature Search
In order to select the studies that can fulfill the selection criteria, we adopted formal search procedures. The following computerized databases, both thematic (Psycinfo, Econlit) and Multidisciplinary (Academic Search Premier, Jstor), have been used for the electronic search. It was carried out using the search equation ["customer satisfaction" OR "consumer satisfaction"] AND ["expectations" OR "confirmation of expectations" OR "perceived achievement" OR "positive affect" OR "negative affect"]. Additionally, we resorted to descendent searches from the bibliographical references of the articles found and we contacted researchers from the area to locate more studies. At this step, no limits were set for time, language, or document type. The first screening provided us with a total of 12,819 references. The titles and abstracts were examined and we retained 3569 references to academic sources, with peer reviewer processes, published in English, and full text accessible. These references have been retrieved and we applied to them an individualized scrutiny process, which resulted in the exclusion of several sources due to their focus (i.e., customer satisfaction with therapies, mental health services, E-learning services, or educational programs) [20] or due to their methodology (i.e., in-depth interview, observational studies, and secondary analyses of data) [21,22]. Finally, 620 full-text papers were stored and read. Ph.D theses, critiques, commentaries, revisions of the literature, and qualitative and case studies were excluded. A total of 104 primary studies were included in the present review. To sum up, the selected studies fulfilled these inclusion criteria: (a) being a study that included quantitative results about the relation between satisfaction and any of the formerly proposed variables (expectations, confirmation, performance, positive and negative affect); (b) they were based on samples of consumers' individual level responses, (c) published up to 2017, and (d) written in English. The complete list of studies is provided in Table 1.    Level of satisfaction with the most recent online purchase of cosmetics. A Likert five-point scale was used, with 1 meaning "strongly disagree, very unimportant, very dissatisfied", 2 meaning "disagree, unimportant, dissatisfied", 3 meaning "average", 4 meaning "agree, important, satisfied" and 5 meaning "strongly agree, very important, very satisfied"  represents the ideal version of a car/accommodation sharing option. Scale answer options anchored 1 = "strongly disagree" and 7 = "strongly agree" and included the additional option = "I cannot tell". Customer satisfaction (the America's customer satisfaction index (ACSI) score is calculated as a weighted average of three survey questions that measure different facets of satisfaction with a product or service). First, please consider all your experiences to date with (Company/Brand). Using a ten-point scale on which "1" means "very dissatisfied" and "10" means "very satisfied, how Positive, negative and neutral sentiment words, online opinions, expectations, perceived performance, disconfirmation, and satisfaction Malaysia Tourism, business intelligence, and the hotel industry Satisfaction level of users associated with online reviews is calculated by three items (SA1-3). 1. Using the online review makes me feel very satisfied (strongly disagree . . . strongly agree), 2. Using the online reviews makes me feel very connected with others (strongly disagree/strongly agree); 3. Using the online reviews makes me feel pleased with others   Oliver (1980): "I feel happy about my decision concerning the choice of this hotel"; "I believe I did the right thing when I used this hotel"; and "In the future, I will be happy to come to this hotel." Likert type scale": 1 (=strongly disagree); 7 (=strongly agree).

Coding of the Variables
The information retrieved and summarized by this review was: variables related to the primary data collection, country of data collection, commerce sector, the type of purchase (goods versus services), and the type of transaction (Internet versus traditional purchase). Finally, we summarized the information about the different kinds of assessments for the criterion variable: consumers' satisfaction.

Sample of Studies
Of the total 104 primary studies, only one was published in 1975, eight between 1980-1984, 13 between 1988-1994, five between 1995-2000, 18 between 2001-2005, 12 between 2006-2010, 22 between 2011-2014, and 24 between 2015-2017. In the case of the variables included in theory of the confirmation of expectations, the time frame of the studies included was broader, given that this theory has awakened interest among investigators since the 1980s, and even before. In the case of the affective variables, the time interval was shorter, because, as mentioned, it was not until the mid-1990s that this began to be clearly incorporated in research. Figure 2 depicts the amount of studies by publication year.

Coding of the Variables
The information retrieved and summarized by this review was: variables related to the primary data collection, country of data collection, commerce sector, the type of purchase (goods versus services), and the type of transaction (Internet versus traditional purchase). Finally, we summarized the information about the different kinds of assessments for the criterion variable: consumers' satisfaction.

Sample of Studies
Of the total 104 primary studies, only one was published in 1975, eight between 1980-1984, 13 between 1988-1994, five between 1995-2000, 18 between 2001-2005, 12 between 2006-2010, 22 between 2011-2014, and 24 between 2015-2017. In the case of the variables included in theory of the confirmation of expectations, the time frame of the studies included was broader, given that this theory has awakened interest among investigators since the 1980s, and even before. In the case of the affective variables, the time interval was shorter, because, as mentioned, it was not until the mid-1990s that this began to be clearly incorporated in research. Figure 2 depicts the amount of studies by publication year. Related to the country where data have been collected, 36 were conducted in the United States of America, eight in Taiwan, seven in South Korea, six in Spain, and the rest were from Germany, Greece, Israel, China, Malaysia, Japan, Belgium, and Scandinavian countries. An increasing amount of studies did not inform the region of data collection, due to their focus on Online consumers. Table 2 summarizes the origin of the sample of the studies. Related to the country where data have been collected, 36 were conducted in the United States of America, eight in Taiwan, seven in South Korea, six in Spain, and the rest were from Germany, Greece, Israel, China, Malaysia, Japan, Belgium, and Scandinavian countries. An increasing amount of studies did not inform the region of data collection, due to their focus on Online consumers. Table 2 summarizes the origin of the sample of the studies.
Related to the purchasing sector, food, automobiles, and household appliances were the most frequent sectors before 1990, while restaurants, travels, gyms, and computers being representative during the 2000s', and mobile phones-related services and goods increased during the 2010-2015 period. During the period from 2015 to 2017, most of the studies assessed consumers' satisfaction in online shopping, e-commerce and, more recently, a number of studies have focused on consumers' websites, such as TripAdvisor, and collaborative consumers websites, such as Groupon.
Most of the studies were based on primary data, collected by the researcher group, and only two or three examples included secondary data, as a re-analysis of wider surveys or other macro-research projects [23]. Related to the type of measure of consumers' satisfaction, there were a wide range of scales and instruments. The most common were based on SERVQUAL and Oliver's proposals. There are also different ad hoc measures, adapted from previous questionnaires or even designed for the specific study [24].

Results
While a plethora of new studies have recently considered challenging consumers' topics [4,25,26] in the study of consumers' satisfaction, two great research traditions emerged consistently: the cognitive and the affective. We organized the presentation of our findings in two steps. First, we summarized the main features of the studies within each theoretical approach. Second, we explained the novel findings related to type of transaction and type of purchase.

Synthesis of Both Approaches on Consumers' Satisfaction
The cognitive tradition was developed earlier and more extensively. In fact, it was not until the 1990s that studies defending the affective factors as complementary determinants of satisfaction began to appear [27][28][29]. From this approach, Oliver [27] defined satisfaction as a response by consumers that is the outcome of their previous expectations and the discrepancy between these expectations and the perceived performance of the product consumed [30].
In the initial models, previous expectations (assimilation) and the confirmation-disconfirmation of these expectations (contrast) were the two variables that were directly and independently related to satisfaction [31]. Performance or perceived quality only played implicit roles. However, it was subsequently observed that perceptions of quality or performance as such had an additional and statistically significant effect [32][33][34]. Hence, the experience of consumption has often been considered as a process of learning about the characteristics of the services and goods. Thus, the perceived quality has a significant impact on satisfaction independently of prior expectations and the processes of confirmation of expectations [35].
Despite the popularity of the cognitive approach, people do not always behave so rationally during their consumption activities; rather, their satisfaction also depends on a series of affective experiences that are partly subconscious and automatically generated, and do not require exhaustive information processing. Thus, during consumption activities, people experience affects that influence their satisfaction [14]. Therefore, it is not surprising that various authors have emphasized the affective nature of satisfaction [36][37][38].
Regarding the study of affect, the arguments about whether positive and negative affect are independent [39] or whether they are the opposite poles of the same construct [36] are well known.
However, within the concrete area of consumption, the conception of positive and negative affect as independent constructs has been predominant [40,41]. It is assumed that during consumption activities, people may simultaneously experience both positive and negative emotions. Thus, within this affective tradition in the study of satisfaction, positive and negative affect will be the inputs on which systematic review is applied, considering both as independent constructs.
To summarize, the different attention and interest that each of the two traditions (cognitive versus affective) have generated in the study of satisfaction is reflected in the amount of empirical studies published under them. In the present revision, we have found 61 studies with findings from the theory of the confirmation of expectations compared with the affective variables, which received much less attention in the study of satisfaction. Only 31 studies clearly relied on the affective components of the customers' satisfaction phenomenon, while the other used mixed approaches. Moreover, the sample sizes in the studies of satisfaction proceeding from the affective tradition present lower values than in the cognitive tradition.

Potential Moderators: Type of Transaction and Type of Purchase
Our first finding is that an increasing number of studies is devoted to Online transactions and E-commerce. 26% of the studies have been applied to these fields, with a novel group that explored the theoretical models with new kinds of transactions, such as group purchasing (Groupon) or Trip Advisor's reviewers or users. About the type of transaction, there is no consistent evidence about stable differences between consumers' satisfaction in Internet commerce than in physical stores [42,43]. However, some differential characteristics that surely affect the relations of the various predictors of satisfaction can be underscored. As Price et al. stated 20 years ago [44], there is no a priori reason why affective variables should have more impact on purchasing by Internet than on the traditional purchase of goods and services. When buying by Internet, there is no spatial proximity between buyer and employee or the people in charge of distributing or providing the goods or services. The specific transactions do not tend to long-lasting, thus, it is hard to imagine interpersonal relations in which affect would have any impact. On the contrary, what buyers seek is a functional and efficient outcome through a powerful media such as the Internet. All this suggests that the rational and cognitive aspects will be more important in purchases through the Internet than in traditional purchases, whereas affective constructs will be more important in traditional purchases than in Internet transactions [45]. Despite this fact, customers' experiences during online purchasing can exhibit great heterogeneity, as other researchers have stated [46][47][48].
Regarding the type of purchase, it is hard to establish the direction of the differences. One could imagine two scenarios or hypotheses, considering the idiosyncrasies of services versus consumer goods [49][50][51]. It is well known that services have a higher level of intangibility [52]. Although in many cases, it is necessary to use some installations, what is bought is an action that can only be experienced. Given such intangibility, it is difficult to elaborate and anticipate previous expectations in services, so users' satisfaction can be due to the quality and the experiences derived from the act of consumption [53]. Thus, the first scenario or hypothesis states that expectations and confirmation of expectations will be less important in services than in consumer goods. In contrast, perceived performance during the consumer action, as well as affective experiences, will tend to be more important in services than in consumer goods.
A second scenario or hypothesis is derived from the uncertainty associated with hiring services [54]. In services, the user often participates actively (i.e., educational services), the service is purchased at the same time it is being produced and, in contrast to goods, it is difficult to anticipate the experiences that may emerge during the hiring activity and the use of the services. In contrast, it is clearer and easier to anticipate what may occur when purchasing and using a tangible consumer good. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume the existence of different activation levels for services and consumption. The uncertainty associated with services will increase the level of users' attention towards all the aspects related to the consumption experience. In contrast, to some extent, the purchase of goods will be clarified and will become more routine. In this context, the level of attention to and processing of consumption-related actions will tend to decrease [51]. Thus, this second hypothesis describes a situation in which all the variables involved will be more important to predict satisfaction with services than satisfaction with consumer goods.
The purpose of the present paper was to perform a systematic review of the variables that, both from the theory of the disconfirmation of expectations and the affective tradition, have been proposed in research as determinants of satisfaction. Likewise, we wished to determine the differential behavior of these variables with two potential moderating variables: type of transaction (traditional purchase versus Internet) and type of purchase (consumer goods versus services).
The findings observed in most of the empirical studies are congruent with the idea that satisfaction is both of a cognitive and an affective nature [55]. Both approaches have proposed predictors that have statistically significant relations with consumer satisfaction, as most of the empirical study have stated [56,57]. Thus, we corroborated that people's assessments in consumption contexts are based on cognitive information processing, but also on the affective experiences derived from the purchase and/or hiring of products. This duality reflects the complexity associated with consumers' behavior. In satisfaction, there is a subjacent conscious analysis of the outcome and the degree to which it satisfies consumers' previous expectations. Moreover, people experience affect that are, to some extent, automatic, and therefore, do not require exhaustive information processing. In the same vein, our findings based on this systematic review partially coincide with those offered in previous reviews. In this venue, Szymanski and Henard [58] arrived at similar conclusions, even though they did not consider studies of purchasing by Internet, and their research was not based on European samples.
Perhaps one of the novelties that our review offers is related to the comparison between types of transaction. In fact, the type of transaction would moderate the relations between satisfaction and its determinants, thus, we can propose that purchasing by Internet is not the same as traditional purchasing when addressing the phenomenon of satisfaction [59,60]. Specifically, we observed stronger relationships in the empirical studies in the case of purchasing by Internet for the cognitive variables: expectations, confirmation, and performance. In contrast, it seems that there were lower differences about affect. Thus, cognitive variables probably would have greater impact on satisfaction when consumers purchase by Internet. This is congruent with the characteristics of on-line purchases. This setting does not favor spatial proximity between the buyer and the purveyor and, moreover, the transactions are not usually prolonged over time. People who use the Internet to purchase are seeking an efficient, safe, and functional transaction, thus, the cognitive and rational aspects are more important than in the case of traditional purchases. In accordance with these arguments, affective aspects will not be as important in purchases by Internet. According to Price et al. [32], the lack of physical proximity between purveyor and buyer as well as the short duration of the transactions should decrease the impact of affect. Nevertheless, in some empirical studies, positive affect seems to be just as important as in traditional purchases. A tentative explanation of this result may have to do with affective experiences that are specifically associated with purchases by Internet, as helplessness or fear of being cheated [61].
Finally, the type of purchase would moderate the relation between satisfaction and its determinants: buying consumer goods is not the same thing as hiring services. We had proposed two possible hypotheses or scenarios for explaining this topic. In one of them, considering the intangibility of services [62,63], and therefore, the difficulty of developing previous expectations, we anticipated that the experiences undergone during the consumption activity would have more impact on services than on the purchase of goods. Hence, in this first scenario, perception of performance and the affective experiences during the consumption activity would have more predictive capacity in services than in satisfaction with consumer goods. In contrast, prior expectations and their degree of confirmation would have more predictive power in the case of consumer goods. A second scenario was based on the greater uncertainty that usually accompanies services versus more clarity and definition of consumer goods [64]. This greater uncertainty when hiring services should increase consumers' attention towards the diverse aspects related with their consumption activities. Our results are congruent with this second hypothesis. Thus, our results indicate that the magnitude of the relations between consumer satisfaction and the diverse precursors we have studied tends to be higher in services than in consumer goods.
Some relevant practical implications were also extracted from the present findings. On the one hand, the idea that consumers base their satisfaction on rational judgments that involve information processing and the instrumentality of their purchase decisions was consolidated (the extent to which their expectations confirmed, and they perceive a good performance or outcome); on the other hand, affective experiences (that are more spontaneous or automatic) were also important. Organization managers should be aware of this duality, and therefore, their decisions should consider not only a functional design, but also an emotional design of the product, which promotes positive affect in consumers. On the other hand, the findings obtained were congruent with a contingent point of view of consumer satisfaction. Consumers do not always assign the same importance to the different elements involved in their satisfaction. Thus, we noted that cognitive judgments tend to be more important in purchases by Internet than in traditional purchases. People and organizations that offer their products by this electronic means are, to some extent, forced to pay more attention to functional aspects (paying attention to the results and fulfilling the expectations of the consumers that are attended). Likewise, we have observed that, when faced with the higher uncertainty associated with hiring services, consumers are more sensitive or attentive to various aspects of their satisfaction, both cognitive and affective. According to this, service purveyors should deal with the uncertainty associated with this sector and the difficulty of standardizing products.
This work has some limitations that may serve as stimulus for future research. Two moderators were suggested (type of transaction and type of purchase). However, there may be more moderating variables, both from the customers' side (age, gender, education) [65,66] or the purchasing channel (as multichannel context), as others suggested [56], about which there is hardly any information in previous research. Moreover, although some sociodemographic characteristics of consumers can be seen in the list of studies included in the revision, more information is necessary. In future works, it would be appropriate to explore variables that would help to define the way in which consumer satisfaction develops in diverse contexts and/or contingencies. This would enhance a more complete and complex view of consumer assessments. The moderating effects we observed could also be a stimulus for research of consumer satisfaction.
The systematic analysis has allowed us to find indications that the development of satisfaction follows different patterns for buying by Internet versus traditional purchases, and for hiring services versus purchasing goods. Although we suggested some mechanisms that may underlie these differences, we did not examine them specifically [67]. Therefore, it would be appropriate to carry out specific studies, such as wide meta-analyses of empirical studies, that address the differential functioning of the cognitive and affective processes involved in these diverse consumption contexts.

Conclusions
Despite its limitations, this work intended to offer some contributions to the study of consumer satisfaction. Firstly, it helped consolidate a complete image of satisfaction with the participation of cognitive and affective processes. Secondly, it allowed us to advance in a contingent perspective of satisfaction in which the importance of the processes involved varies as a function of contexts and contingencies. Moreover, the results are a stimulus for future research.
Author Contributions: F.P., A.S. and G.T. conceptualized the study, executed the empirical research and write the first draft. The manuscript has been revised several times for both F.P. and G.T. Finally, the final version of the article has been approved by F.P., A.S. and G.T.
Funding: This research received no external funding.

Conflicts of Interest:
The authors declare no conflict of interest.