Abstract
Prior empirical research has decomposed customer satisfaction into two related but independent dimensions—magnitude and uncertainty—and demonstrated the important moderating role of satisfaction uncertainty on the fuzzy satisfaction-loyalty link. In turn, research has focused on the psychological basis of satisfaction uncertainty by examining a few cognitive and situational antecedents of in consumer contexts. This study focuses on the role of important individual difference variables in the formation of satisfaction uncertainty. The empirical work seeks to explore the interplay of individual difference variables, cognition and affect in shaping satisfaction uncertainty. The proposed model maintains that need for closure and regulatory focus shape satisfaction uncertainty through their influence on affective and cognitive processes. The model was tested among 196 participants in a manipulated restaurant encounter. The empirical work unveils a rich network of relationships that illuminates how satisfaction uncertainty is formed.