Certainty, risk and knowledge in the satisfaction‐purchase intention relationship in a new product experiment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the roles of perceived certainty, manipulated risk and knowledge in the satisfaction‐purchase intention relationship in the context of a new product evaluation. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses a 2×2 factorial design with 120 participants and a combination of methods to test hypotheses. Findings – The respondents of low‐risk as well as high‐knowledge groups report a higher purchase intention. Interestingly, the movement from satisfaction to purchase intention is higher among respondents with higher certainty, and among respondents in low‐risk as well as high‐knowledge groups. In particular, this study finds a positive interaction effect between manipulated knowledge and manipulated risk on the satisfaction‐purchase intention relationship. Research limitations/implications – As with most experiments, this study has low external validity. Thus, future studies should use different products/brands tested among a wider range of consumers and in more realistic user situations. Both product risk and consumer knowledge are multidimensional constructs, thus, it will be interesting for future studies to manipulate different facets of those constructs (e.g. financial risk, procedural knowledge). Practical implications – The authors' findings suggest that managers should be aware of satisfaction strength (e.g. confidence and knowledge) and risk in their estimations of purchase intention based on satisfaction measurement. Marketing strategies that reduce consumers' risks, consolidate their confidence and educate them with relevant knowledge may be effective strategies to increase their purchase intentions, especially towards new products. Originality/value – This study contributes to the literature by simultaneously examining the roles of perceived certainty, manipulated risk and knowledge within a satisfaction‐purchase intention relationship. It also contributes by providing empirical evidence supporting an interaction between knowledge and risk affecting the satisfaction‐purchase intention relationship. Finally, it uses a controlled experiment in the context of a new product evaluation to confirm the causal effects.