Competitive context is everything: Moving from absolute to relative metrics

This research informs management theory and practice concerning the efficacy of utilizing relative metrics to link consumer perceptions and attitudes and to share of wallet. The article starts with a brief discussion of the theoretical foundations for a shift from absolute to relative metrics. We then compare and contrast absolute satisfaction and relative “ranked” satisfaction data from 1714 consumers from nine countries in a banking context and report preliminary insights from a small-scale qualitative study. The results conclusively demonstrate the superiority of relative ranked satisfaction to absolute satisfaction measures in this context and, for the first time, point to statistically significant country-specific effects when linking relative satisfaction to share of wallet. We also discuss how researchers and managers might use perceptual and attitudinal metrics if the goal is linkage to customers’ buying behaviors.