Explaining consumer complaining behaviour in double deviation scenarios: the banking services

Research has shown that more than half of attempted recovery efforts only reinforce dissatisfaction, producing a ‘double deviation’ effect. Surprisingly, these double deviation effects have received little attention in marketing literature. The crucial question is what happens after these critical encounters, which behaviour or set of behaviours the customers are prone to follow and how customers' perceptions of the firm's recovery efforts influence these behaviours. For the analysis of choice of the type of response (no action, complaining, exit, and complaining and exit), we estimate ordered probit models. The results of our study show that the magnitude of service failure, recovery strategies, distributive and procedural justice, recovery-related emotions and satisfaction with service recovery have a significant effect on customers' choice of the type of response, the latter showing the highest impact. Implications from the findings are offered.     

The nature of an apology: An experimental study on how to apologize after a service failure

Extant service recovery research treats apology as a dichotomy, in that it is either present or absent, but how it is conveyed is neglected. Based upon social psychological research, this study argues that an apology comprises three different components: empathy, intensity, and timing, which make each apology unique. It is shown that how well an apology is delivered across failure types (outcome vs. process) drives service recovery satisfaction, not its mere presence. Empathy, intensity, and timing separately impact satisfaction. The more empathic and intense the apology is given, the more satisfied respondents are. A late apology decreases satisfaction ratings. Effect sizes indicate that empathy has the strongest impact on service recovery satisfaction followed by intensity and timing. The effect of empathy is stronger for process failures than for outcome failures. Interestingly, the apology’s overall effect size is comparable to that of compensation in case of a process failure.     

Value and Satisfaction Evaluations During a Service Relationship

Abstract

The research used a sample of credit union customers to determine (a) the relative importance of core and peripheral service attributes on customer evaluations of service value and customer satisfaction, and (b) how the relative importance of these criteria change over the life of the service relationship. For the overall sample, peripheral service attributes accounted for over three-fourths of the variance for service value and customer satisfaction. Dividing the sample into three sub-samples based on age of the customer's relationship with the credit union, peripheral service attributes drove evaluations of service value and customer satisfaction for the first stage of the relationship (ten years or less) and the middle stage of the relationship (eleven to nineteen years). Once the relationship aged to twenty or more years, core attributes drove evaluations of service value and customer satisfaction. Findings indicate that relationship strategies for the credit union may need to be customized based on the amount of time customers have had a relationship with a service firm.     

The effect of service failure types and service recovery on customer satisfaction: a mental accounting perspective

Service failure recoveries play an important role in the service process. Previous research on service recovery has focused on the development of classification schemes, such as service failure types (e.g. outcome- or process-related failure), service recovery attributes (e.g. psychological or tangible recovery), and failure magnitude. Few studies in the literature have developed a theory-driven model of customer satisfaction that considers whether different types of service failure warrant different types of service recovery. This article, which reports the results of two studies, draws on mental accounting theory to examine the effect of the relationship between service failure and service recovery on customer satisfaction. The results of Study 1 show that customer satisfaction is greater when service recovery efforts truly make up for what customers have lost and that prior experience of service failure has a significant influence on the effectiveness of those efforts. The results of Study 2 indicate that the magnitude of a service failure also has an impact on the effectiveness of service recovery efforts.     

Hospice Informal Caregivers' Perception of a Good Death Experience: A SERVQUAL Analysis

ABSTRACT

This research study explores hospice informal caregivers' perceptions of service quality and a good death experience during end-of-life care. It demonstrates how service dimensions of the SERVQUAL analysis affect overall customer satisfaction. This study addresses contrast and dissonance theory as relative to marginal gaps in actual service performance and the effect on overall customer satisfaction. The research indicated that while reliability was the core of the service outcome, peripheral variables (e.g., assurance, empathy, responsiveness, and tangibility) integrated emotions and feelings into the hospice service process that equated to a positive disconfirmation of expectations and a good death experience.     

Measuring experienced emotions during service recovery encounters: construction and assessment of the ESRE scale

The role of emotions is increasingly gaining attention as a central element in understanding customer evaluations of service failure and recovery experiences. Despite the importance of emotions for service organizations, however, empirical investigations of customers’ emotional response to service recovery encounters remain scarce. A reason for this has been the absence of a valid and reliable measurement instrument for analyzing and comparing the emotions associated with different recovery experiences. Addressing this issue, the current paper presents the development and validation of a new scale specifically designed to measure experienced emotions during service recovery encounters (ESRE). The results show that the ESRE scale is a valid and reliable instrument, which should be helpful for empirically studying the role of emotional responses to service failure and recovery encounters.

Matching service failures and recovery options toward satisfaction

Service failures are inevitable in any service delivery process that establishes the need for a good service recovery. This study aims to investigate the relationships among service recovery variables to develop appropriate recovery options considering different levels of failure severity and satisfaction. Using a scenario-based survey approach and structural equation modeling, the results are failure severity negatively relates to satisfaction; recovery justices positively relates to satisfaction regardless of the level of failure severity; complaining behavior strengthens (weakens) the relationship between the failure severity (recovery justices) and satisfaction; and relationship quality is a stronger predictor of post-purchase behavioral intentions than satisfaction. A service recovery matrix is proposed to depict appropriate recovery options for different situations.     

Modeling customer perceptions of complaint handling over time: the effects of perceived justice on satisfaction and intent

This paper proposes a model of the effects of perceived justice on customer satisfaction and intent following a service or product failure and a recovery attempt. We tested the model using two field studies that captured customer perceptions over time, and the results largely support the model’s path estimates and explanatory power. Study One also supports the hypothesis that procedural and interactional justice are more influential in forming overall firm satisfaction than distributive justice. As hypothesized, satisfaction with recovery was a stronger predictor of the likelihood of spreading positive word-of-mouth (WOM intent) than overall firm satisfaction, and overall firm satisfaction was a stronger predictor of purchase intent than satisfaction with recovery. The results also suggest that satisfaction partially mediates the effects of justice on WOM intent and purchase intent. Finally, we draw on the findings of this study to offer implications for service recovery researchers and managers.     

The distinctive agenda of service failure recovery in e-tailing: Criticality of logistical / non-logistical service failure typologies and e-tailing ethics

What is so different about executing service failure recovery in an online environment as in e-tailing?Answering this, the present research points out to the need of considering e-tailing's natural propensity to foster multiple avenues of service failures which are either logistical or non-logistical in nature. Furthermore, given the distant location of the product, e-tailer, and the buyer, e-tailing is posed with risks of ethical transgressions. Therefore, by contextualizing on an Indian e-tailing scenario, we explore how service failure recovery in this challenging setting could be shaped. Justice building failure mitigation strategies such as response speed and compensation emerge to improve recovery efforts, however, apology seems to not work well in establishing justice to drive service failure recovery. Interestingly, an e-tailer's watchfulness toward the strengthening of its online ethics synergistically redeems recovery satisfaction, customer forgiveness, and positive word-of-mouth for the grieving consumer. This synergy can further mitigate the adverse impacts of service failure severity on recovery outcomes. Yet, a consumer having faced a severe service failure instance can have reservations in spreading positive word-of-mouth despite forgiving. Lastly, when considering logistical vs. non-logistical service failure typologies, the synergistic influence of e-tailing ethics and justice over recovery satisfaction becomes very strong in the case of non-logistical service failures.     

The happy versus unhappy service worker in the service encounter:Assessing the impact on customer satisfaction

This paper assesses the impact of the service worker's display of emotions (i.e., one aspect of functional service quality) on customer satisfaction under the conditions of different levels of technical service quality by means of an experimental approach (N=600), in which display of emotions (unhappiness vs. happiness) and technical service quality (poor vs. good) were manipulated. The results indicate that the impact of the service worker's emotional display behavior on customer satisfaction is contingent on the level of technical service quality, in the sense that customer satisfaction is affected only when technical service quality is good rather than poor. Encouraging a positive display (e.g., by a smile policy), which many service firms do, is thus not a panacea for improved customer satisfaction. The moderating effect is explained in terms of service encounter congruency, which influences the mediated process by which emotional displays by service workers come to affect customer satisfaction.     

When service fails: The role of the salesperson and the customer

Service failures and consequent recoveries have been identified as a critical determinant of customer retention. Hence, effective service recovery programs warrant further exploration. In particular, with the current emphasis on relationship selling, salespeople should learn how to improvise to serve their customers effectively, including solving problems when service failure occurs. Therefore, alternatives to current common practices in industry should be investigated. The results of the present study suggest that by providing customers a choice of service recovery options, salespeople can augment customers' sense of control and ultimately their satisfaction with the service recovery and the overall service transaction. The investigation also proposed that customer satisfaction would be contingent upon the importance of the service. However, study findings revealed that this was not the case. Implications of the findings are also discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

消费者情绪对总体满意度的影响

本文认为,消费者满意度不仅包含认知成分,而且包含情绪成分,没有情绪维度就不能完全解释消费者的行为反应。在现代服务营销理论研究中,消费者情绪特别是惊喜情绪对满意度的影响越来越受到学者的关注,而在企业服务营销实践中,使消费者惊喜已经成为越来越多成功公司的战略决策。本文通过真实服务环境中的实验研究探讨了消费者情绪对总体满意度的影响,结果显示:在本实验条件下,被试者的愉快、惊讶、兴趣三种基本情绪均被启动;当积极的惊讶情绪(惊喜)启动时,被试者的总体满意度显著提高;当仅仅只有单纯的惊讶情绪启动时,被试者的总体满意度并没有显著提高。     

A Model of Consumption Emotions,Attitude, and Satisfaction for Services

Abstract

Prior research on consumer satisfaction has focused on cognitive dimensions of satisfaction. The cognitive stream of research has focused on the influence of a product's attributes on satisfaction. Recent research shows the importance of another construct, the role of emotions, on satisfaction. This paper examines the influence of consumption emotions on satisfaction, attitude and intention to visit again.     

The effects of social justice and stigma-consciousness on gay customers' service recovery evaluation

This study examines how social justice and the stigma-consciousness level of gay customers influence their service recovery perceptions. The results, based on an experiment involving 379 gay respondents, indicate that distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactional justice significantly affect gay customers' service recovery evaluations (satisfaction) and post-complaint behavioral intentions (negative word-of-mouth and repatronage). Also, higher stigma-consciousness gay customers show more negative service recovery evaluations and behavioral intentions than those with lower stigma-consciousness. Service providers who are interested in attracting and maintaining gay customers should create awareness among their employees about stigma-consciousness.     

Perceived justice of service recovery strategies: Impact on customer satisfaction and quality relationship

This article aims to build on previous research analyzing the effects of perceived justice on customers' satisfaction with service recovery and the attitudinal consequences of the recovery strategies firms adopt after service failures occur. The results obtained from a conceptual model developed for the mobile‐phone sector support the idea that justice perceptions positively influence satisfaction with service recovery. Other findings are that satisfaction with service recovery positively affects trust and commitment, and that these two variables, in turn, positively affect overall customer satisfaction. Finally, the results also suggest that positive past experiences mitigate the effects of inadequate service recovery strategies on the quality of the relationship with the customers. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Effect of service recovery on customers’ perceived justice,satisfaction, and word-of-mouth intentions on online shopping websites

As consumers become better informed and more demanding about their purchase of services, service provider's failure to satisfy all consumers during delivery of service is unavoidable. Consequently, to alleviate consumer dissatisfaction that results from service failure has become important. However, empirical consensus has been lacking on the effects of various service recovery activities. Thus, this study examines the impact of different types of service recovery on customers’ perceptions of justice, post-recovery satisfaction, and word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions. The results indicated that consumers’ perceptions of distributive and interactional justice differ by the types of service recovery and supported significant relationships among perceptions of justice, satisfaction, and WOM intentions. The results implied that consumers respond differently to different types of service recovery and that consumers particularly favor apology among types of service recovery.     

An Exploration of Frequent Service Failures in the Brazilian Airline Industry

This study explores how customer evaluations of service failures and failure recurrence impact negative emotions and intent to complain. A survey of 589 Brazilian airline passengers demonstrates the meditational effect of negative emotions such that customers who perceive failures as severe and/or preventable by the airline develop more negative emotions, which subsequently increases intent to complain. We also demonstrate the moderating role of failure recurrence such that failure recurrence reduces the effect of failure severity on negative emotions. Our findings have important implications for managers and airlines in order to mitigate negative outcomes following a service failure.     

Self-diminishing effects of awe on consumer forgiveness in service encounters

Previous studies address consumers' emotions as an endogenous consequence of the service experience and assume that consumers base their decisions to forgive on the service situation's features; however, they rarely mention the role of the emotions that people might be experiencing, for reasons unrelated to the service failure itself. The current study thus considers a foundational but rarely examined human experience in business settings, awe, as well as its prosocial effect in service encounters. Incidental awe might alleviate the negative impacts of a service failure and enhance consumer forgiveness, through self-diminishment processes. Using four scenario-based experiments, referring to four types of service failures (outcome, process, controllable, and uncontrollable failures), this study tests for the positive effect of awe on consumers' inclination to forgive service failures and the mediating role of the small self in this effect. The present research thus enriches understanding of consumer forgiveness due to incidental emotions, which offers marketers some insights into how they might leverage methods that affect consumers' incidental emotions to encourage consumer forgiveness in service failures.     

The attribution of service failures: effects on consumer satisfaction

The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of the attribution of service failures on consumer satisfaction. We analysed direct effects as well as indirect effects through cognitive processes and variables such as quality perceptions and overall quality evaluation. Basing the analysis on the attribution theories and information processing theories, four hypotheses are suggested. These are tested on a sample of 293 service encounters in which some type of failure is present (attributed to the firm or to some environmental factor). The results show that the attribution of the failure to the service firm causes a systematic reduction in all of the quality perceptions (even in service aspects not linked to the failure). But attribution also shows direct effects on satisfaction beyond the effect through perceptions. Attitude-based processes as well as attribute-based processes are affected by attribution.