Satisfaction is a key indicator of system success, and so it has been the subject of much Information System (IS) research. The nostalgia effect, whereby individuals feel satisfied or dissatisfied when thinking about past goal attainment or failure, has been observed to influence analysts’ decisions with respect to ongoing systems development. The Yield Shift Theory (YST) of Satisfaction explains the nostalgia effect as a function of changes in yield for an individual’s active goal set. This paper reports on an exploratory field investigation of the nostalgia effect among 105 working IS/IT professionals in India reflecting on past collaboration experiences. The study demonstrates empirically a measurable nostalgia effect, and reveals a strong association between satisfaction responses and the antecedents proposed by Yield Shift Theory
