Are You Satisfied When You Feel Happy and Sad Concurrently? the Role of Dialectical Thinking

IntroductionConsumer satisfaction holds a dominant position at the heart of marketing theory and practice because "profits are generated through the satisfaction of consumer needs and wants" (Churchill Surprenant, 1982, p. 491) Satisfaction research represents an important topic in the study of consumer behavior because it may result in increased customer organization relational longevity, customer patronage behaviors, and firm profitability (Kim, Magnusen, Kim, 2014).Consumer behavior research has demonstrated that consumption emotions the subjective feelings that occur when buying or using a product (Ruth, Brunei, Otnes, 2002) can have a significant impact on consumer satisfaction. Westbrook (1987) for example, found that emotions directly impact satisfaction in a valence congruent direction (i.e. positive emotions increase satisfaction whereas negative emotions decrease satisfaction) While there is an extensive body of marketing research detailing the impact of emotion in predicting consumer satisfaction, a few studies have explored whether a consumer can feel happiness and sadness, two opposite valence emotions, concurrently (cf. Larsen, McGraw, Cacioppo, 2001; Williams Aaker, 2002).A more complete understanding of how mixed emotions, two opposite valence emotions of happiness and sadness occurring concurrently, influence consumer behaviors is essential. Business decisions can more accurately reflect the reality of sport consumer emotions when revealing the effect of mixed emotions on consumer behavior. The expansion, through critical review, of the depth and breadth of knowledge in the area of two opposite valence emotions occurring concurrently can help support better informed business decisions related to sport consumerism.Researchers in the fields of both psychology and consumer behavior have examined dialectical thinking, which Hui, Fok, and Bond (2009) defined as the tolerance of ambivalent beliefs. Hui et al. described the concept of dialectical thinking using Peng and Nisbett's (1999) three principles of dialectical thinking in Chinese thought: (1) change two sides of contradiction (i.e. old and new, good and bad, or strong and weak) may lie on different points of a temporal continuum; (2) contradiction two sides of contradiction could exist in harmony; and (3) holism everything is interrelated and connected in time and space as a whole, making goods and bads in relative, instead of absolute, terms. That is, "dialectical thinking is widely presumed to be responsible for providing a balanced view on self relevant information" (Hui et al. 2009, p. 494) Understanding tolerance of ambivalence is important because ambivalence is detrimental in that it contributes to the weakening of attitudes (Cavazza Butera, 2008) The findings from previous studies on the tolerance of ambivalence are that individuals with higher levels of dialectical thinking tend to experience mixed emotions in both positive and negative events, and they have favorable attitudes toward ambivalent information (Williams Aaker, 2002) Examining the role of dialectical thinking in the link between mixed emotions and satisfaction is essential because it provides a sense of whether the associations between mixed emotions and satisfaction are stronger or weaker for some people than for others. Though dialectical thinking is an important concept in understanding the mixed emotions (Bagozzi, Wong, Yi, 1999) previous studies on mixed emotions have not considered the interaction effects of dialectical thinking on the relationship between mixed emotions and satisfaction. Some research on emotional ambivalence has paid attention to the negative outcomes related to such experiences (e.g. Olsen, Wilcox, &01sson, 2005) However, evidence indicates that ambivalent information or experience does not always result in negative consequences (Hui et ah, 2009; Rafaeli, Rogers, Revello, 2007; Spencer Rodgers, Williams, Peng, 2010)