The American Customer Satisfaction Index: Nature, Purpose, and Findings
Abstract
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is a new type of market-based performance measure for firms, industries, economic sectors, and national economies. The authors discuss the nature and purpose of ACSI and explain the theory underlying the ACSI model, the nation-wide survey methodology used to collect the data, and the econometric approach employed to estimate the indices. They also illustrate the use of ACSI in conducting benchmarking studies, both cross-sectionally and over time. The authors find customer satisfaction to be greater for goods than for services and, in turn, greater for services than for government agencies, as well as find cause for concern in the observation that customer satisfaction in the United States is declining, primarily because of decreasing satisfaction with services. The authors estimate the model for the seven major economic sectors for which data are collected. Highlights of the findings include that (1) customization is more important than reliability in determining customer satisfaction, (2) customer expectations play a greater role in sectors in which variance in production and consumption is relatively low, and (3) customer satisfaction is more quality-driven than value- or price-driven. The authors conclude with a discussion of the implications of ACSI for public policymakers, managers, consumers, and marketing in general.
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Customer satisfaction plays a pivotal mediating role in shaping loyal customer behavior.
“Customer satisfaction, regarded as a post-purchase evaluation, plays a pivotal mediating role in shaping loyal customer behavior (Cronin et al., 2000;Fornell et al., 1996).”
From The MEDIATING ROLE OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRUST, EMOTIONAL BONDING, AND LOYALTY: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM AN SME AUTOMOTIVE WORKSHOP (2026) · cites this paper as Fornell et al., 1996
Customers' expectations of a product or service shape their evaluations of it when they compare their experience with what they expected.
“Third, customers' expectations of a product or service shape their evaluations of it (Anderson and Fornell 2000; Fornell et al. 1996; Szymanski and Hernard 2001) when they compare their experience with what they expected.”
From Mirage of Police Reform: Procedural Justice and Police Legitimacy (2017) · cites this paper as Fornell et al. 1996
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- Authors
- Fornell, C., Johnson, M. D., Anderson, E. W., Cha, J., & Bryant, B. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- ORCID
- Johnson, Michael D.
- Venue
- Journal of Marketing
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1996-10
- Volume
- 60
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 7-18
- ISSN
- 0022-2429 (ISSN-L)
- 1547-7185
- OpenAlex
- W2001916972
- Cited by
- 4,736
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 86 · 2025: 159 · 2024: 150 · 2023: 191 · 2022: 210 · 2021: 243 · 2020: 244 · 2019: 180 · 2018: 205 · 2017: 217 · 2016: 230 · 2015: 261 · 2014: 269 · 2013: 288 · 2012: 255
- FWCI
- 41.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Marketing (publishedVersion)
- Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- eCommons (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Customer Service Quality and Loyalty
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Patient Satisfaction in Healthcare
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Behavior and Marketing Influence
- Keywords
- American Customer Satisfaction Index, customer satisfaction, benchmarking, goods versus services, government agencies, economic sectors, customization, reliability, customer expectations, quality, price sensitivity
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