A study on user satisfaction with brand apps: Application of three-factor theory of customer satisfaction

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Volume Title

School of Business | Master's thesis

Date

2023

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Information and Service Management (ISM)

Language

en

Pages

67

Series

Abstract

With a wide adoption of smartphones and increased popularity of mobile apps also brand apps have been introduced. While being on the market for some time now, there is still a relatively small number of studies related specifically to brand apps and user satisfaction in that context. The main purpose of this thesis was to introduce the concept of brand apps and to discuss what makes them different from mobile apps in general as well as to study user satisfaction with such applications. The conducted literature review provided a theoretical background for the research, while the empirical part of the study aimed to answer two research questions: which factors lead to customer satisfaction with brand apps and which factors lead to dissatisfaction. The empirical study utilized a quantitative research method, and in particular Kano model analysis has been used for the survey where 50 respondents helped to apply the three-factor theory of customer satisfaction to the context of brand apps and to categorize nineteen various brand apps’ features accordingly to determine their effect on user satisfaction and dissatisfaction with brand apps. The results of the study demonstrated that out of nineteen researched features, 5 were classified as indifferent having minimal effect on both satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Among the rest of the features 6 were identified as basic, 5 as excitement and 3 as performance, where absence of basic features tends to lead to dissatisfaction, presence of excitement features in turn has positive impact on satisfaction, and performance features can impact both. The findings also indicated that most of the features would have a stronger negative impact on user satisfaction with brand apps when absent rather than have a positive impact when present. For this reason, this research highlights the importance of considering both satisfaction and dissatisfaction aspects when implementing similar studies as the latter is often overlooked. The results of the study, however, prove that it is not the same set of factors that impacts both user satisfaction and dissatisfaction, but rather there are certain features that can have effect on satisfaction, but dissatisfaction would be impacted by a different set. As per results of this study the top three factors that have the most positive effect on user satisfaction when present are complementarity, ease of in-app purchase, and pleasing interface in line with brand image. On the other hand, the top three factors that have the most negative effect on user dissatisfaction when absent are secure payments, protection of personal data, and sort and filtering options.

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Thesis advisor

Liu, Yong

Keywords

brand apps, mobile apps, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, Kano model

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