Human staff vs. service robot vs. fellow customer: Does it matter who helps your customer following a service failure incident?

The key to excellent service delivery is to ensure harmonious interactions between service actors. Therefore, in the event of service failure incidents, an understanding of the roles and interactions of these service actors is critical to achieving positive service outcomes. This research addresses the question: How do interactions between customers and these service actors (human staff/automated technological interface/fellow customer) influence their service experience following a service failure? We draw on role theory and answer this question via three experimental studies. Findings show that customers evaluate their service experience less favourably when receiving service recovery from fellow customers rather than firms (human staff and service robots). Furthermore, a firm’s instrumental recovery, rather than informational recovery, leads to a more favourable service evaluation, although this effect is absent when service recovery was given by fellow customers. Findings provide insights into the role of each actor in determining customer service evaluation.     

Welcoming host,cozy house? The impact of service attitude on sensory experience

Shared accommodations (e.g., Airbnb) are growing rapidly with ever-increasing attention given to the features of the home decoration style and a homely atmosphere. Similar to an old saying, “Love me, Love my dog”, it has been established that the perception of hosts’ service quality is integrated with customers’ evaluations of house amenities. However, little is known about the influence of service attitude (how it is perceived by guests) on customers’ sensory experience, which is key to their loyalty and satisfaction. Through a pilot study analyzing guest houses’ online reviews, two experiments as well as a survey, service attitude (i.e., enthusiasm and hospitality) was found to be positively associated with customers’ sensory experience. In this process, home-like feelings acted as the mediator, sincerity served as a moderator, and only sincere enthusiasm and hospitality helped promote the home-like feeling for customers. This study sheds light on the customer sensory experience management of shared accommodations from the embodied cognition perspective.     

Service recovery evaluations: GLBT versus hetero customers

Although Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) customers have been acknowledged as a growing market segment in the hospitality and tourism industry, our understanding with regard to their perceptions of service encounters barely exists. During service encounters, outcome quality and process quality are generally understood as being the two main components of service evaluations. Yet, two competing theories (fairness heuristic and two-factor theories) suggest opposite patterns of interaction effects of the two qualities. This study examines the effects of outcome and process qualities on GLBT and heterosexual customers’ evaluation of service recovery in a hotel setting. Our findings, based on 374 respondents, suggest that the effects of process quality are more pronounced when outcome quality is favorable, thus supporting the two-factor theory. Also, GLBT customers’ overall recovery evaluation is more positive than heterosexual customers’. Implications of these findings for service managers are discussed.     

Service Failure,Tipping Behavior,and the Effect of Service Industry Experience

The relationship between tipping and the service provided is not always linear. Factors such as demographic profile of the consumer, industry norms, and social norms affect the amount of tip. Results from the current study reveal that tipping varies when service failure occurs due to servers’ fault or organizational failure. Consumers with prior professional experience in the restaurant industry can distinguish between causes of failure, and tip accordingly. Consumers with prior professional restaurant experience were found to tip significantly more than those consumers that do not have prior hospitality experience. Tip rates for service failure due to organization failure tend to be higher compared with the service failure due to servers’ mistakes indicating that consumers do not penalize a server when the organization has caused the service failure.     

Tell us your concern,and we shall together address! Role of service booking channels and brand equity on post-failure outcomes

The extant literature on service failure and recovery has overlooked the post-service failure evaluations when customers interact through different online service booking channels, such as direct websites (Direct) and online travel agents (OTAs). In this study, following the attribution theory and the expectation disconfirmation framework, we analyse the impact of service failure across service booking channels (direct vs. OTA) and its influence on post-service failure outcomes. Besides this, the study also examines the moderating roles of co-created service recovery and brand equity between channel type and post-recovery outcomes. A between-subjects experimental design revealed that when a service failure occurs in a direct (vs. OTA) website, it creates adverse outcomes of higher magnitude. The results also suggest that, in the case of a direct channel, co-created service recovery generates favourable service outcomes when the channel carries low brand equity. However, in the case of an OTA, the use of co-created service recovery works better when that OTA carries high level of brand equity. Further, the results also supported that these post-recovery outcomes are driven by recovery satisfaction and channel engagement. Thus, this study findings offer novel insights into online service recovery literature and managerial practice, primarily for efficient design and execution of recovery efforts across channels.     

When more pain is better: Role of need for uniqueness in service evaluations of observable service recovery

Service encounters may occur at public settings, providing an opportunity for other customers to observe a target customer’s experience, which, per se, may exert some social pressure on the target customer. However, this research argues that for some customers the observability of their encounters is an opportunity to satisfy their social needs. In particular, this research investigates the impact of consumer need for uniqueness on service evaluations of observable versus unobservable recovery encounters. Across three experimental studies, this research finds that following observable recovery encounters, consumer need for uniqueness enhances service evaluations. Findings also indicate that customers who appreciate uniqueness have similar reactions to an elaborate apology and high compensation. The results indicate that the observability of recovery efforts leads to lower perceived severity among customers high in need for uniqueness and thereby enhances their service evaluations. This research concludes with contributions, implications, limitations, and future research.     

The effect of regulatory focus and delay type on consumers’ reactions to delay

Previous research investigating the effect of delay type has generated mixed results. To reconcile such findings, this study maps two competing theories, the field theory and the expectancy model, on to regulatory focus, and it examines the joint effects of regulatory focus and delay type on consumers’ reactions to a service delay. We argue that the field theory is more suitable for predicting promotion-focused consumers’ responses, whereas the expectancy model is more appropriate for explaining prevention-focused customers’ responses. The results lend support to our arguments and suggest that promotion-focused consumers generate more intense negative emotions and lower service quality evaluations after a pre-process delay than after an in-process delay. On the contrary, prevention-focused consumers exhibit more intense negative emotions and lower service quality evaluations after an in-process delay than after a pre-process delay.     

Service Quality and Customers' Willingness to Pay More for Travel Services

Abstract

Increasingly sophisticated and price conscious consumers have combined with forces of globalisation and electronic commerce to create new challenges for travel agents. To maintain efficiency and profitability, travel agents need to know the links between service quality and customers' willingness to pay more (WTPM). These links are explored through measuring customer perceptions (N = 122) of service quality, loyalty and WTPM. The results revealed firstly that while many consumers were able to pay more for travel services, fewer were willing to do so. Secondly, overall service quality and its underlying dimensions were positively associated with selected WTPM items. These findings support and extend previous studies on the service quality-behavioural intentions link and provide practical implications for the travel industry in relation to a differentiated price and service strategy.     

The Effect of Service Climate on Perceived Service Value and Behavioral Intentions: The Mediating Role of Service Quality

The purpose of the current study is to assess the influence of employees’ perceived service climate on customers’ perceived service value and behavioral intention. Furthermore, the paper investigates the extent to which service quality mediates the relationship among employees’ perceived service climate, customers’ perceived service value, and behavioral intention. Data were collected from convenience samples of 400 customers and 375 hotel employees. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that: (1) employees’ perceived service climate has a positive and significant influence on service quality, customers’ perceived service value, and behavioral intention and (2) service quality has a positive and significant influence on customers’ perceived service value and behavioral intention. Additionally, this study revealed that the indirect effect of employees’ perceived service climate on customers’ perceived service value and behavioral intention through service quality is more than the direct effect of employees’ perceived service climate, customers’ perceived service value, and behavioral intention.     

服务补救中自我调节导向对顾客感知公平的调节作用——基于旅行社的实证研究

文章以旅行社为研究对象,通过实证研究方法探寻服务补救中顾客自我调节导向心理特征对感知公平的影响.研究结果表明,服务失败背景下旅行社实物补救的确主要影响游客感知结果公平；自我调节导向在实物补救对游客感知结果公平的影响中有显著调节作用,趋利导向游客在遭遇服务失误后更偏好“多获利”的补救措施,而避害导向游客则更偏好“少损失”的补救措施；自我调节导向在实物补救对游客感知程序公平和互动公平的影响中并无显著调节作用.文章同时讨论了研究结论对服务营销管理的启示.     

服务失败后自我建构与质量预期对满意和口碑的影响

当顾客遭遇由个别雇员引发的服务失败时,顾客会产生怎样的心理反应?文章基于服务失败情境探讨了顾客的自我建构倾向与服务质量预期对满意度与负面口碑传播的影响。研究运用实验法模拟(餐厅)服务情境,结果发现,当服务失败源于个别雇员的不当行为时,如果顾客对企业的服务持有相对负面的质量预期,那么自我建构类型为互依型的顾客(vs.独立型自我建构)更倾向于认为企业对雇员的服务质量具有可控性,会对企业更不满意;但在负面口碑传播上,独立型自我建构的顾客却反而更有可能通过口碑传播服务失败经历(vs.互依型自我建构)。文章在此基础上主要讨论了自我建构对服务失败研究以及企业实践的启示,并指出未来可进一步研究的内容。     

Customer complaints in restaurants: Do they differ by service stages and loyalty levels?

Complaints by dissatisfied customers provide managers with an opportunity to learn about problems and take appropriate corrective action to ensure that mistakes do not recur. The authors investigate whether restaurant consumers respond differently to service failures at different service stages and loyalty levels. A survey of 289 customers in the United States found that customers are likely to complain at any service stage following a service failure. Highly loyal customers showed a significantly higher willingness to complain than less loyal customers when a service failure occurs during the greeting/seating and order taking/delivery stages (service stages 1 and 2). Four consumer groups with distinct willingness to complain and levels of loyalty emerged from this study: “silent potential,” “pure complainer,” “silent supporter,” and “loyal voicers.” Among those groups, the silent supporter group (high affective loyalty and low propensity to complain) showed the highest behavioral intentions, whereas the pure complainer group (low affective loyalty and high propensity to complain) showed the lowest behavioral intentions.     

Traveler preferences from online reviews: Role of travel goals,class and culture

Along with being critical performance indicators as well as a rich source of information for potential customers, the overall rating and recommendation behavior also work as a crucial information source for managers of airlines for customer segmentation, service design, and post-purchase evaluation management. In this study, we explore how customer preferences, behavior and post-purchase evaluations differ for travelers depending on their respective travel goals, travel class, and the culture of their native country. Based on the frameworks of the construal level theory and expectation disconfirmation theory, we provide a psychological explanation of why specific service attributes, categorized in process-outcome and tangible—intangible dimensions, get higher importance than others for a particular set of customers. We analyzed consumer review data of 28,341 reviews for 345 airlines by customers from 132 countries. The results yielded critical theoretical contributions to extant literature on airline evaluations and recommendations, construal levels, airline customer segmentation, etc. Moreover, the results also helped managers of an airline to package design, segment customers, enhance targeted communication, and customer relationship management overall. The limitations and future scope of the study have also been discussed.     

群体服务失误下顾客间“关系”互动对抱怨的影响机制--群体极化和去个体化的中介作用

顾客抱怨研究由来已久，但以往研究更多停留在个体层面，缺乏群体层面的关注。文章基于中国人际“关系”视角，将群体服务失误下顾客间互动分为工具性关系互动和情绪性关系互动，通过设计旅游团遭遇群体服务失误的情景模拟实验，探讨群体服务失误下顾客间“关系”互动对抱怨的影响机制。研究结果表明，群体服务失误下，工具性关系互动通过影响群体极化和去个体化进而影响顾客直接抱怨，且群体极化的中介作用更明显；顾客间情绪性关系互动越强，去个体化和群体极化程度越大，进而诱发更强的直接抱怨倾向，且去个体化在其影响过程中作用更强。研究有助于丰富顾客间互动对抱怨影响的研究视角，完善顾客群体性抱怨理论框架，也对顾客群体抱怨处理提供决策依据。     

Effects of customer-to-customer social interactions in virtual travel communities on brand attachment: The mediating role of social well-being

This study investigates a multiple mediation model, in which the effects of social interaction among members of virtual travel communities operated by online travel agency brands on brand attachment are mediated by five dimensions of social well-being. Data were collected from 375 customers of virtual travel communities who had interacted with other customers in those communities online. Findings suggest that (1) the positive effects of online customer-to-customer social interaction (CCSI) on brand attachment are mediated by five social well-being dimensions, (2) CCSI is positively related to five social well-being dimensions and brand attachment, and (3) five social well-being dimensions have significant influences on brand attachment. This study provides empirical evidence of how online CCSI in virtual travel communities can improve customers’ social well-being and brand attachment.     

To gift or not to gift: How providing a memento affects a restaurant magician’s tips

Tipping is an important source of income for many service workers, who would benefit from a better understanding of things they can do increase their customers’ tips. Among the many studies providing such knowledge are two studies reported by Strohmetz et al. (2002), who found that restaurant servers can increase their tips by leaving their customers with free candy at the completion of the dining experience. The current study tests how the “candy gift” effect generalizes for table magicians who leave their customers with a souvenir playing card. Data suggest that a table magician receives more frequent and larger tips when he gives the customer one of the cards from his deck as a memento. This finding suggests that gift effects on tipping are reliable and generalize beyond gifts of candy from waiters and waitresses. Apparently, workers in different areas of the service industry can use a variety of different gifts to create a need for their customers to reciprocate with larger tips.     

Discrimination of hotel employees: The role of heteronormativity and political exclusion

This study explores customers’ service evaluations based on the service provided by a hotel frontline employee with different sexualities, manipulated as effeminate or masculine. Study participants were randomly assigned to respond to a video with either an effeminate or masculine hotel employee that mimics a hotel check-in experience and after are asked to evaluate check-in service. The results suggest that participants who hold stronger heteronormative beliefs are more likely to discriminate against effeminate hotel employees when evaluating the service they provided. This effect persists for the social conservatism of the participants. The study also identified a joint effect of social conservatism and political exclusion. Without tapping into sexual orientation, this study contributes to the hospitality literature by introducing sexuality and heteronormativity and adds more content to queer studies. It also suggests the need for more protection policies, management awareness, and training regarding hotel frontline employees from a diversity management perspective.     

Should I book another hotel? The effects of sickness and ethnicity on customer brand loyalty and positive word of mouth

Sickness presenteeism is working despite feeling sick. Although presenteeism prevails across different job sectors, few studies have focused on how it affects the hospitality sector. This study applied a quasi-experimental method to investigate how sick employees’ presence affects customers’ fear of contagion and, consequently, customer brand loyalty (i.e., return intentions) and positive word of mouth (i.e., recommendation intentions) due to perceived service failure. The effects of ethnicity on customers’ intentions were also explored. Data were collected from 581 participants. The results reveal that, when hospitality employees appear to be sick, customers have weaker recommendation and return intentions compared to when employees do not show any sickness. In addition, our results show that due to perceived ethnic dissimilarity, customers do not tend to withdraw from non-similar sick employees, not showing weaker recommendation and rebooking intentions toward tourist accommodations. This research enriches the very well stablished literature on consumer-brand relationships, sickness presenteeism and social cognition, as well as furthering practice by showing that sickness presenteeism, when correctly managed, can generate organizational advantages.     

The perceived usefulness of blog postings: An extension of the expectancy-disconfirmation paradigm

Today millions of consumers connect with one another on travel blogs as both contributors and users. Contributors share detailed narratives of their recent experience with specific hotels/resorts leading to recommendations, while users acquire information from them to base their purchase decisions on. Hotel managers carefully monitor what previous guests say in the evaluations assuming that negative evaluations will deter future customers. Framed in the expectancy-disconfirmation paradigm, this study focused on clarifying the impact consumers who post on travel blogs have on blog users by analyzing user reactions to 134 travel matched blog recommendations. Findings demonstrate that as expected a higher percentage of blog users find multiple evaluations that are congruent with one another (both negative and positive) helpful, and that negative postings were not necessarily bad if followed by a positive counter reaction. Furthermore, the paper addresses the issue of deception attempting to determine if it exists and what effect it has on the web 2.0 medium. Implications for managers and researchers are discussed.