The role of mood on tourism product evaluations

Investigations into the relationship between customer satisfaction and service quality have ubiquitously assumed that such evaluations are free of bias that may stem from consumers emotional states during the evaluation stage. These dispositions at the time of evaluation of a service may contribute to errors in measurement of customer satisfaction. This study examines the effect of consumers' mood on service evaluations of a tourism product using a sample of cruise vacationers. Findings indicated that mood moderates tourists' overall satisfaction levels. Theoretical and practical contributions of study findings are discussed within the realm of consumer behavior theory.