The impact of involvement on satisfaction for new, nontraditional, credence-based service offerings Penelope J. Prenshaw Else School of Management, Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi, USA Stacy E. Kovar College of Business Administration, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, USA, and Kimberly Gladden Burke Else School of Management, Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi, USA Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the satisfaction formation process under conditions of varying involvement for new, nontraditional, credence-based service offerings. Design/methodology/approach – Hypotheses were tested using an on-line simulation of a service encounter, beginning with perceptions of an advertisement and continuing through satisfaction with the completed service report. ElderCare, an assurance service provided by Certified Public Accountants to the children of an elderly parent, was the context of study. Findings – The findings indicated expectations were not influential in the satisfaction formation process for these services, regardless of involvement. Under conditions of high involvement, performance evaluation was the dominant predictor of satisfaction. Low-involvement subjects used disconfirmation to assess satisfaction. Research limitations/implications – Limitations of the research stem from the use of a convenience sample in a simulated service encounter. Future research should examine the influence of individual characteristics, particularly innovation, on the results. Additional research examining the determinants of model variables, from disconfirmation to involvement, across subjects in a variety of situations would also be valuable. Practical implications – This research suggests a heightened need to guide the consumer experience where expectations are hard to develop and performance is hard to evaluate. Providers should carefully spell out key service dimensions, provide tangible information about performance outcomes for high-involvement individuals, and focus on emotional appeals, provider qualities and sensory aspects of the service for low-involvement individuals. Originality/value – This paper helps researchers and practitioners better understand the applicability of expectancy disconfirmation theory and role of involvement in the context of new, nontraditional, credence-based services. Keywords Services marketing, Customer satisfaction, Elder care Paper type Research paper An executive summary for managers can be found at the end of this article. Introduction For a number of reasons, including years of dependence on current markets for their services, professional service providers often approach market opportunity analysis from a very conservative perspective. Even when faced with a mature market for their services, where innovation and creativity are virtually demanded, many professional service providers rely on the less risky strategies of market penetration and market development, offering existing services to existing or new markets. For example, local law firms consider expanding and marketing their services to the larger region, or CPA firms consider offering estate planning services to their tax clients. What is less common and significantly more risky for these professional service providers, however, is adopting a service development or diversification strategies, i.e. offering new services to existing or new markets, respectively. Add to this mix that the new service offering may not be the kind of service typically associated with the provider, where branding and consumers’ existing knowledge of the provider may not transfer well or easily, then the risk and complexity of the situation mount. This kind of innovation among professional service providers calls for significant attention to understanding the consumer’s decision-making process, and in particular, the accurate articulation of the consumer satisfaction formation process. In pursuing these types of growth strategies, the marketing of new and nontraditional service offerings presents an interesting context for studying the satisfaction formation process. In no area is consumer satisfaction more critical than with new goods and services, where the viability of the product or service, and in some cases the provider, is dependent on the satisfaction of early adopters. For services, where experience and word-of-mouth are particularly The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0887-6045.htm Journal of Services Marketing 20/7 (2006) 439–452 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0887-6045] [DOI 10.1108/08876040610704874] 439