Enhancing Residents’ Satisfaction in Old Community Renewal: Application and Validation of an Extended Expectation-Disconfirmation Theory Model

A resident-centered approach to the old community renewal (OCR), aimed at upgrading infrastructure and improving living conditions in aging residential areas, is now indispensable in modern urban development. Understanding the key factors that influence residents’ satisfaction is crucial to guarantee both the effectiveness and sustainable longevity of these renewal projects. This study proposes an extended conceptual model based on expectation-disconfirmation theory (EDT), to comprehensively analyze residents’ satisfaction with OCR projects. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze survey data from 317 residents across five old communities in Xuzhou City of China. The findings reveal that perceived performance, expectation disconfirmation, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use positively impact residents’ satisfaction, while the effects of residents’ expectations on expectation disconfirmation and on satisfaction are both not significant. Moreover, two mediation pathways were validated in the extended conceptual model, where perceived performance affects residents’ satisfaction through expectation disconfirmation, and perceived usefulness serves as a mediator between perceived ease of use and residents’ satisfaction. On this basis, the measures that could promote residents’ satisfaction were proposed, including assessing residents’ needs, implementing regular feedback mechanisms, and designing user-friendly interfaces. This study not only extends the application of EDT in the context of community renewal by uncovering the underlying influencing mechanisms of residents’ satisfaction, but it also provides important practical insights for improving residents’ satisfaction and advancing the implementation of OCR projects.