| According to the association of brewers' annual report, the percentage of craft beer produced in the U.S. Rose 3% in 2002. Sales for the industry amounted to 8.5 million barrels in 2008 and 9 million barrels in 2009. Overall, beer sales decreased by 2.7% early 2010.Yet, while beer sales slightly declined in 2010, craft beer sustained its steady course of increase production (Kleban & Nickerson, 2011).The question arises as to why consumers' preference for craft beer has grown exponentially during the past decade. To our knowledge, no empirical investigations have tested the relationship between craft beer and consumer expectations, quality related factors and consumers' satisfaction using expectancy disconfirmation theory. The purpose of this study is to investigate consumer satisfaction with craft beer using the expectation disconfirmation theory. On the one hand, the study tests the relationship between consumers' expectations, quality, trust and disconfirmation. On the other hand, it tests the relationship between disconfirmation and consumers `satisfaction. |
Updated 03/19/2014