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The Surprise-Delight Relationship Revisited in the Management of Experience

Practitioners firmly believe that customer delight, through surprise, offers a source of competitive advantage. Yet, competing conceptualizations, methodologies, and stimuli in existing studies of delight leave the relationship between surprise and delight ambiguous. This research note assesses the different conceptualizations of delight and offers an overview of existing empirical evidence regarding the surprise-delight relationship. According to the assessment, the conceptualization of delight as extreme satisfaction is both valid and parsimonious, which suggests its superiority. Moreover, empirical data reveal that during highly hedonic experiences, surprise indirectly influences satisfaction (through joy) and can increase satisfaction overall. This research note concludes with several suggestions for further research.