Customer Satisfaction Impact
Kyle Patten, Cedar Falls, Iowa, defended his thesis, “Customer Satisfaction Impact,” on May 14, 2014. He is a summer graduate from Kansas State University with a Master of Agribusiness (MAB) degree.
It is common for companies to use surveys to gauge customer satisfaction with brands, products and customer service. A variety of satisfaction metrics are established by companies to interpret survey responses. Patten’s thesis reviewed models used to evaluate the data.
“For a company to be successful, it is important to understand what customer satisfaction surveys convey about the company and brand. To fully understand the modeling characteristics used, I evaluated the existing models and processes and compared the appropriateness with different types of models,” Patten said.
Patten used an advanced statistical modeling approach he had not previously worked with to build upon skills provided in the MAB program’s econometrics and optimization courses.
“One of the goals of the Master of Agribusiness program is to challenge students and that was definitely accomplished with Kyle’s thesis,” Dr. Kevin Dhuyvetter, Professor of Agricultural Economics and Patten’s thesis advisor, said. “Kyle took on the challenge to learn something new and apply it to a real-world situation, and based on what he learned he will make recommendations to his employer as to changes they might consider.”
