Abstract:
This research applied a theory of consumer satisfaction by Swan and Combs (1976) to examine older women's satisfaction with trousers developed from the ASTM D5586 MP16 and the Canada Standard Sizing M18. Twenty women, 56 to 89 years old, completed a wear test followed by face-to-face interviews. Content analysis was used to identify instrumental and expressive performance outcomes. The results revealed that participants' body measurements were closer to the ASTM MP16 measurements than the CSS M18. Participants indicated higher levels of satisfaction with the ASTM MP16 over the CSS M18 in the areas of waist, hip, seat, and crotch length. Participants tended to be more satisfied with the ASTM MP16 than the CSS M18 trouser. There was a significantly greater proportion of instrumental outcomes than expressive outcomes for both trousers and a greater proportion of instrumental outcomes for the ASTM MP16 over the CSS M18. All the hypotheses could not be rejected; however, descriptive analysis suggested that for the ASTM trouser, higher frequencies of instrumental outcomes could be associated with higher levels of satisfaction. For the CSS trouser, higher frequencies of expressive outcomes could be associated with higher levels of satisfaction. While the ASTM MP16 seems to have corrected some of the fit problems experienced by older women, further research using a larger sample could verify the findings of this research.
