Posted on 12/02/2021 6:58:16 PM PST by aimhigh
Researchers from Catholic University of Portugal, Boston College, Korea University, University of Texas at San Antonio, and Rice University published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that identifies customers’ political ideology as an important driver of their satisfaction.
The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled “How Political Identity Shapes Customer Satisfaction” . .
Customer satisfaction is of utmost importance to firms. It drives customer word-of-mouth, loyalty, and sales, which is why many firms spend millions or even billions of dollars innovating the customer experience. This new research identifies customers’ political ideology as an important driver of their satisfaction. Specifically, the researchers find that conservatives are more satisfied with their purchases than liberals.
This phenomenon is documented through multiple studies conducted in the lab and in the field. Some studies analyzed consumers’ satisfaction with their actual past purchases and measured their political identity on a nine-point scale (1 = “extremely liberal” to 9 = “extremely conservative” in the US and 1 = “extremely left-wing” to 9 = “extremely right-wing” in Europe). Findings show that a one-point increase in consumers’ political conservatism was associated with a 5% average increase in their satisfaction with actual purchases. In other studies, the researchers created an identical product experience that conservatives and liberals consumed during the study. Specifically, conservatives and liberals consumed the same online instructional videos about how to complete various tasks at home (e.g., exercise from home).
Results indicate that conservatives were more satisfied with this consumption experience than liberals. In other studies, the research team analyzed actual customer satisfaction data obtained in the field, such as online reviews and firms’ customer satisfaction surveys, spanning various product and service categories including restaurants, airport travel, health insurance, and B2B services. Regardless of the context or category, conservatives were found to be consistently more satisfied than liberals. Importantly, higher levels of customer satisfaction drive conservatives’ higher likelihood to re-purchase the products and services they consume and to recommend these products and services to others. This ultimately translates to higher firm sales.
The research team states that “We find that conservatives are consistently more satisfied than liberals because conservatives believe more strongly in free-will and their personal responsibility for their actions and outcomes than liberals do. This leads conservatives to trust their purchase decisions more and to ultimately feel more satisfied with the products they choose to buy and consume.” Other studies find that restricting conservatives’ choice freedom lowers their satisfaction levels. However, strategies that boost liberals’ confidence in their purchase decisions boosts their satisfaction levels.
These results have important implications for firms. First, by understanding the political identity of their customer base, companies can improve and better manage the satisfaction of their clients. “For instance, because conservatives believe in free will and individual responsibility, providing them with abundant choices further boosts their level of satisfaction,” says the research team. Indeed, one study found that conservatives’ (vs. liberals’) online restaurant reviews were even higher when there were abundant restaurant options nearby. They add that, “In contrast, liberals’ satisfaction can be increased through tactics that boost their confidence in their consumption choices.” For example, increasing perceptions of the positivity of the consumption experience, or category expertise, raises liberals’ customer satisfaction. This also means that companies should pay close attention to service and product failures that create negative experiences for liberal clients because liberals’ dissatisfaction in these cases may be particularly pronounced.
More broadly, this research indicates that accounting for customers’ political identity in analyses and interpretations of customer satisfaction data such as online reviews can benefit firms because customers’ political identity could bias customer analytics. Indeed, accounting for the role of political identity in satisfaction data can help companies better understand the extent to which their satisfaction data reflect actual product performance and customer service rather than their customers’ inherent tendency to feel content. This can ultimately help companies craft more effective strategies to improve their products and services.
Liberals want to stand out from the crowd. They make lots of noise, and wear attention grabbing clothes, and accessories, and just in general make nuisances out of themselves so they be remembered. A bunch of attention whores actually, therefore they complain to get attention, they talk loud as if they are the only ones in the room, etc. You get the picture.
I don’t in my 74 years recall anyone who I considered a Conservative acting like that.
like all those successful companies that cater to liberals in Venezuela ...
Need I go on?
// Translation: conservatives enjoy life more. //
We also tend to be more grateful; to consider & appreciate human effort, cost, creativity.
“For instance, because conservatives believe in free will and individual responsibility, providing them with abundant choices further boosts their level of satisfaction,” says the research team. Indeed, one study found that conservatives’ (vs. liberals’) online restaurant reviews were even higher when there were abundant restaurant options nearby. They add that, “In contrast, liberals’ satisfaction can be increased through tactics that boost their confidence in their consumption choices.” For example, increasing perceptions of the positivity of the consumption experience, or category expertise, raises liberals’ customer satisfaction.
Conservatives don’t follow the fads and fashions.
Conservatives research the products and alternatives before committing to purchase.
Conservatives seldom make “impulse buys”.
Liberals are lemmings.
“Actually, this proves that companies that cater to liberals are more stupid than the liberals.”
similar to my thought: conservatives might tend to research their buying decisions more carefully and more dispassionately than liberals, and therefore are more selective in what and how they buy, and THAT’S the reason they’re more satisfied: they were more careful to buy satisfying things!
“Regardless of the context or category, conservatives were found to be consistently more satisfied than liberals. Importantly, higher levels of customer satisfaction drive conservatives’ higher likelihood to re-purchase the products and services they consume and to recommend these products and services to others. This ultimately translates to higher firm sales.”
For anything that carries a significant price tag or which I expect to last for a long time, I thoroughly research the pros and cons and any alternatives. The result is that by the time I actually purchase something I already know everything about it and what to expect after the purchase. So if one of the product’s known weaknesses becomes apparent, I’m not surprised and I’m not upset because I already factored that into my decision. No product is perfect.
But if I was a liberal who always leaps before I look, and who is hyper-emotional, I’d probably fly to pieces if my purchase wasn’t 100% perfect. None of this should be surprising since conservatives are by nature realists, while liberals are irrational idealists.
I look for the best value for the price. Feelings have nothing to do with shopping.
Conservatives easier to please? Sure goes against the other side’s stereotype about us. /lol
// Translation: conservatives enjoy life more. //
“We also tend to be more grateful; to consider & appreciate human effort, cost, creativity.”
He also pointed out that people like Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and the like were definitely NOT thankful people...rather, they were perpetually dissatisfied and they took out their unhappiness on everyone else, that their only joy was to make others as miserable as they were (or more so). What he didn’t say (although he certainly implied it) was that people on the left tend to be dissatified to a far higher degree (i.e much less happy). I have noticed, as has just about any observer of the human condition, how utterly humorless those on the left are. I just wish that they wouldn’t inflict their unhappiness on the rest of us, especially with their Collectivist politics that has as its very goal the destruction of the individual in order to create a giant hive mind.
Leftists think they are entitled to happiness and they expect that this or that thing will “make them happy.”
Years ago I heard a communist or socialist say that America was bad and he gave the example of the many brands of toothpaste one could buy. He said it was an oppressive burden for a person to have to choose what toothpaste to get. He said communist countries were much better because people had few choices in consumer goods like toothpaste. He seemed to take comfort in the idea of people having few choices available.
Conservatives take responsibility for their choices, and the choice process, over which they gain mastery by viewing it realistically.
Liberals feel entitled to perfection, hence they view others’ best efforts with skepticism, and complain and blame others instead of doing the research first to make a selection, or just try a different brand if they don’t like the first one they tried.
Correct
“Conservatives don’t follow the fads and fashions.”
Well, they do, but less so probably. Its a matter of degree.
Fads and fashions are human problems after all. And so on with these other statements.
I disagree. People like Stalin, Mao, et. al. are outside of the normal run of humanity. Certainly outside the normal categories of their own followers. They certainly were on the spectrum of abnormal psychology, which is a stew of uncertainty to this day. One can say words like sociopath or megalomaniac, but that sort of verbal label explains nothing. People like this, with such a strange power to dominate, are an extreme that I doubt can be usefully analyzed.
I’m not satisfied one bit with the federal government we just got. Not one bit.
I don’t think conservatives are easy to please. We shop using our intelligence and evaluate our purchases the same way.
Liberals purchase based on emotion and evaluate accordingly.
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