An Analysis of Policy Satisfaction Using the Expectancy Disconfirmation Model*

This study analyzed the impact of people’s expectations on policy satisfaction in South Korea, using an expectancy disconfirmation model wherein service satisfaction is decided by expectation and performance. Though recent studies have applied the model to evaluations of specific public services, this study applied it to macro policies in South Korea. To measure expectation levels, proxy variables were used: people’s trust in participants who have influence on policy and in the policy-making process. The results were not compatible with the model: the model’s implication that higher expectations induce lower satisfaction did not fit macro policy cases, where high expectations had a significant positive influence on satisfaction. Moreover, the type of expectation that is the focus of marketing studies, predictive expectation, is not appropriate to use with public policy cases; the quantity of prior experiences as a basis of predictive expectation is not significant to policy satisfaction. Expectation is obviously an important factor in the public’s evaluation of policy outputs, but further studies are necessary to fully understand its role.