Service failure and recovery in using technology-based self-service: effects on user attributions and satisfaction

This study examines service failure and recovery in using technology-based self-service (TBSS) systems to determine the effects of a variety of relevant factors on negative customer/user attributions to the service provider, to employees who try to help in recovery, and to the technology itself, as well as the effects on customer/user satisfaction with the failure/recovery experience. The findings show that immediate recovery of TBSS failures reduces negative attributions and increases customer/user satisfaction with the experience, as does a low-anxiety environment around the kiosk. Technology error (as opposed to user error) decreases user satisfaction. Employee assistance decreases negative attributions to the employee but increases negative attribution to the technology. Some interactions were found among the experimental factors that are also meaningful.     

服务补救措施对顾客情绪之影响的实证研究

本文认为,服务失败会给顾客造成实际问题和情感问题两方面的影响,同样,服务补救措施不仅会影响顾客的认知,而且直接影响着顾客的情绪.道歉措施能增强顾客的积极情绪,减弱顾客的外在归因消极情绪;而辩解措施加剧了顾客的外在归因消极情绪,降低了顾客的积极情绪;心理补救 有形补救的措施,无论在顾客满意上还是顾客情绪改善上,都是最佳的补救措施.     

The Service Industries Journal: Its Ethos and Emphases

This study investigates the dynamics of customer affection and customer trust on customer loyalty intention after cases of service failure and recovery. The results demonstrate that after customers experience service failure and recovery, customer affection has a greater influence on customer trust but less in loyalty intention, whereas customer trust becomes more influential in loyalty intention in comparison to the time prior to a service failure. The findings suggest that the rebuilding of loyalty after a service failure and recovery relies primarily on the recovery of trust and that the key determinant of trust recovery is customer affection. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.     

From disconfirmation to switching: an empirical investigation of switching intentions after service failure and recovery

This research proposes and empirically tests a customer switching intentions model from a disconfirmation perspective in a service failure and recovery context. Specifically, the research examines how initial (discrepancy between service failure expectation and service performance) and recovery (discrepancy between recovery expectation and recovery performance) disconfirmations influence satisfaction when a service failure occurs and a recovery offer is given, and subsequently impact switching intentions. The results support the hypotheses that both initial and recovery disconfirmations influence switching intentions via satisfaction. In addition, switching costs directly influence switching intentions and also moderate the effect of satisfaction on switching intentions.     

Zone of tolerance for banks: a diagnostic model of service quality

Service quality has become an increasingly important factor for success and survival in the banking sector. Provision of high-quality service aids in meeting several requirements such as customer satisfaction and its consequent loyalty and market share, soliciting new customers, financial performance, and profitability (Cui, C.C., Lewis, B.R., & Park, W. (2003). Service quality measurement in the banking sector in South Korea. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 21(4), 191–201.). This paper presents the bank service quality measurement in its extended form. It deals with the concept of ‘zone of tolerance’ in judgments of service quality proposed by Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman (1993, The nature and determinants of customer expectations of service. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 21(1), 1–12.). The ‘zone of tolerance’ is recognized in the service quality literature as representing a range of expectations and an area of acceptable outcomes in service interactions. The present study describes the zone of tolerance for young customers’ service expectations and determines the customer satisfaction level for banks. The study focusses only on the youth market to formulate long-term strategies because young customers tend to keep themselves up to date with latest technological developments. A conceptual model BANKZOT is presented in this study, and the results demonstrate that evaluation of services can be scaled according to different types of expectations – ‘desired' and ‘adequate’ – and that customers use these two types of expectations as a comparison standard in evaluating bank services. The findings reveal that young customers have a narrow zone of tolerance with regard to the services provided by the banks. The results with respect to gap analysis reveal that there was a shortfall in the service quality provided by the banks in the sample, with the largest gap being found in tangibles and empathy of service quality dimensions. The results of exploratory factor analysis reveal that the SERVQUAL model is found to be uni-dimensional in this study. The results, managerial implications, and future research implications are discussed in detail.     

The influence of emotions on customer's cognitive evaluations and satisfaction in a service failure and recovery context

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between customers' negative emotions after a failure, their cognitive evaluations of the recovery process, and the overall or cumulative satisfaction in a service context. Two different constructs measure a customer's cognitive evaluations of the recovery process: disconfirmation of expectations and perceived justice. The proposed model is tested on a sample of financial service customers who suffered some type of failure. The results indicate that emotions have an indirect effect on overall or cumulative satisfaction through cognitive evaluations.     

Service failures and recovery strategies of chain restaurants in Taiwan

This study utilised the critical incident technique to study service failure and recovery strategies in chain restaurants. A total of 431 incidents were collected and classified. The analytical results identified the most common categories as being service failure and recovery strategy. It also demonstrates that consumers were unable to recognise high-quality service and high-consistency products in chain restaurants. Additionally, appropriate recovery strategies were proposed to assist restaurateurs in reducing service failure. A number of conclusions and recommendations regarding practice and future research are made.     

Customer satisfaction and qualities in public service: an intermediary customer perspective

From an intermediary customer perspective, this study empirically investigates the causal relationships between service quality, relationship quality, design quality, and customer satisfaction in the public service value chain. Cross-sectional survey data were collected from social work, childcare, and healthcare services and were analyzed using structural equation modeling. It is found that all the quality dimensions are antecedents to customer satisfaction and relations between quality dimensions show distinctive patterns. The results show that relationship quality does not directly affect customer satisfaction, but can indirectly influence satisfaction through the mediation of both service and design qualities. The effect of the relationship and design qualities on customer satisfaction is stronger than that of service quality.     

Customer Retention Strategies of Fast-Food Outlets in South Africa: A Focus on Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Nando's,and Steers

The primary aim of the research was to critically analyze and evaluate the different customer retention strategies being implemented by fast-food outlets such as Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Nando's, and Steers in South Africa. The fast-food industry in South Africa is experiencing numerous market-related changes, which range from intense globalization forces to heightening competition levels. The pressure on businesses today is further increased by a market where the customer acquisition rate is slowing, customer loyalty is decreasing, and sales cycles are lengthening. In such an environment, losing a valuable customer to a competitor can have a significant impact on profitability and growth. As a result, many companies have shifted their focus from customer acquisition to customer retention. The research was primarily concerned with assessing customer relationship management, relationship marketing, and communication through technology as strategies to maintain intimate relationships with customers. Personal interviews and in-depth interviews with the help of questionnaires were used to collect primary data in the research. The results indicated that KFC, Nando's, and Steers adopt similar marketing strategies or use the same concepts to manage their relationships with both internal and external customers and other stakeholders. These strategies and concepts include customer relationship management, relationship marketing, and technological means of communication.     

Hotel Service Recovery and Service Quality: Influences of Corporate Image and Generational Differences in the Relationship between Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

ABSTRACT

As the number of tourists continues to grow globally, the hospitality industry players inevitably face more challenges. High competition among the competitors and the emergence of new technologies such as online booking platforms make the competition more intense among players in the hospitality sector. The quality of services provided is undoubtedly crucial to the success of the hotel. Hence, any service failure has to be addressed appropriately in order to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction and to keep the image of the hotel intact. It is therefore vital that service recovery programs are carefully planned to meet various types of service failures which may inevitably occur. In this study, questionnaires were distributed to customers who had experienced service failures. The aim was to investigate the influence of service quality and service recovery on satisfaction and, ultimately, the effect on customer loyalty. The research also tested the mediating effect of corporate image between the relationship of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The findings showed that both service recovery and service quality had a significant impact on customer satisfaction. Similarly, it was found that customer satisfaction induced customer loyalty towards the hotel operator. The result also showed that corporate image mediated partially between the relationship of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.     

Receiving,Recording, and Responding to Customer Complaints: The Effects of Formalizing Customer Complaint Handling Policies in Retail Firms

ABSTRACT

Given the critical need for retail firms to provide high quality customer service and satisfaction, this article investigates the importance of formalizing customer complaint handling policies and procedures with regard to its relationship to the ways in which retail companies receive, record, and respond to customer complaints. A survey of 184 firms from the retail environment of a midsized community reveals that the existence of such formalized procedures is significantly associated with firm size, better channels of communication with customers, mechanisms of recording customer feedback, and better-trained employees, which have been shown to relate to higher firm performance.     

An integrative approach to relationship marketing,customer value,and customer outcomes in the retail banking industry: a customer-based perspective from Turkey

Given how important it is to provide superior value to customers and to maintain customer loyalty for a sustainable competitive advantage, the aim of this paper is to examine the relationships among relationship marketing components of – trust, competency, commitment, communication, and conflict handling, – relationship investment, relationship quality, perceived customer value, satisfaction and loyalty in an integrated framework in the Turkish retail banking industry. Unlike previous studies, this research extends the literature by analysing affective as well as cognitive dimensions in the same model with a holistic view by simultaneously examining the direct and indirect effects of the related concepts. The distinctive nature of this study is its evaluation of customer satisfaction and loyalty from the perspective of actual consumers. The research model was tested using data collected from 685 retail banking customers by applying structural equation modelling. The findings show that relationship marketing induces loyalty through relationship quality, customer value, and satisfaction, which are mainly provided by trust, communication, and relationship investment. Furthermore, relationship investment and relationship quality are the most important factors in the development of customer value, satisfaction, and loyalty. The emotional value dimension, which captures the affective aspects of perceived value, has the strongest effect on both satisfaction and loyalty.     

零售业的服务失误归因及服务补救策略

零售企业是一个与顾客紧密联系的服务型企业,失误的频次相对较高,容易流失顾客,形成"不良口碑"。寻找服务失误的原因以及实施补救措施,降低顾客流失,减弱"不良口碑"成为零售企业所追求的目标。本文根据零售企业的运营模式将服务失误的原因进行了分类,从企业、顾客和供应商三个方面挖掘服务失误的原因并给出了相应的服务对策。     

The interrelationships among service quality,customer satisfaction,and customer loyalty: Examination of the fast-food industry

The purpose of this study was to use customers’ perspectives to develop a conceptual model for improving service quality and enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. The 197 samples were selected from customers of leading fast food franchise enterprises in Taiwan. The research results indicate that service quality positively influences customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Service quality positively influences customer loyalty through customer satisfaction. The research findings indicate that managers need to ensure they have efficient service quality to enhance customer satisfaction and customer loyalty levels.     

Managing Customer Switching Behavior in the Banking Industry

This study aimed to explore the factors that lead to the intention to stay and the intention to switch in the banking industry. The research adopted a qualitative, inductive approach to data collection using a sample of 19 Australians customers who use banking services, and two Australian bank managers. The factors that are important to the customers' decision to change banks or to diversify their accounts include: (a) customer service and customer intimacy; (b) response to service failure; (c) effect of advertising; (d) reputation; (e) ease of banking; and (f) customer value.     

Enabling inclusion through alternative discursive formations: the regional development of community development loan funds in the United Kingdom

This article explores the growth and geography of Community Development Loan Funds (CDLFs) in the UK. CDLFs usually operate locally to overcome financial exclusion by providing a mechanism that enables wider social inclusion in disadvantaged areas. The article uses two cases studies of CDLFs to show how these alternative financial institutions balance the tension between profitability versus social objectives. CDLFs are ‘alternative’ financial institutions as their business model is based on alternative discursive formations of profitability related to value. Combining these variables produces a complex uneven regional geography of access; complex as local CDLF availability may still imply that organizations experience financial exclusion.     

Three Criteria That Separate the Top Sellers from the Cellar Dwellers

Abstract

In the past, studies of the causes and consequences of service failures were generally conducted from the perspective of the consumers. Only a few of the studies were conducted through the perspective of management involvement. Furthermore, qualitative analysis tends to be extensively used in such studies, as well as CIT, case study or multivariate analysis. Therefore, this study is an attempt to use a non-linear fuzzy neural model as the method for empirical study. A survey has been conducted in the chain stores of Starbucks, La New and one vegetarian food store chain. They are industries with a high level of interaction with customers. A total of 104 respondents were samples. The results of this survey indicate that if we are to trace the unanimous reasoning of service defects, the factor of management involvement tends to be higher for employees exhibiting personality characteristics of external control rather than internal control. If the level of service defects becomes seriously high, a higher level of management involvement is necessary for employees exhibiting personality characteristics of external control rather than internal control. For employees exhibiting internal control in personality characteristics, a higher level of management involvement is required to make voluntary moves in pursuing remedial recovery strategy. For employees exhibiting external control in personality characteristics, a lower level of management involvement is required to make voluntary moves in pursuing remedial measures for compensational strategy. The pursuit of remedial recovery strategy may vary according to the situation of service defects. The level of management involvement positively correlates with customer relation strengths. The customer relation strengths positively correlate with the pursuit of remedial recovery strategy.     

Customer Satisfaction with E-Retailers: The Role of Product Type in the Relative Importance of Attributes

It is of strategic importance for e-retailers to allocate their resources to various service attributes according to their relative importance. How does one determine the relative importance of different service attributes? Does the relative importance of different service attributes remain the same across different product categories? These questions must be addressed by researchers and e-retailers. Since customer ratings for service attributes are highly correlated, modeling methods other than traditional regression models should be used to analyze the relative importance of service attributes to overall customer satisfaction. As such, this article utilizes neural networks in order to study the relative importance of e-retailer service attributes. Importantly, this article shows that the relative importance of e-retailer service attributes varies across different product categories (i.e., convenience, shopping, and specialty goods).     

Customer retention in sports organization marketing: examining the impact of team identification and satisfaction with team performance

Over the past two decades, relationship marketing efforts have assumed a prominent role in sports organization marketing. A sports organization that successfully implements relationship marketing programmes is able to develop long‐term relationships with its fans, thus increasing the likelihood of customer retention. This study examines customer retention in sports organization marketing by considering the impact of team identification and satisfaction with team performance on four fan consumption behaviours: in‐person attendance, media‐based attendance, purchase of team merchandise and word‐of‐mouth communication related to the team. Survey data were collected from 300 fans of more than 40 professional and collegiate teams involved in seven sports. Results suggest that both team identification and satisfaction with team performance impact multiple consumption behaviours, as represented by fans' intentions to engage in future consumption. Team identification was found to have the greater impact on consumption behaviours, suggesting that a sports organization's continuing efforts to bond with its fans may provide greater benefits than efforts to improve the team's competitive performance.     

Logistics Performance,Customer Satisfaction,and Share of Business: A Comparison of Primary and Secondary Suppliers

The linkage between logistics performance and overall firm performance has received attention in the literature for more than 30 years. However, researchers have not investigated if differences in performance between primary and secondary suppliers affect customer satisfaction and the percentage of business allocated to suppliers. In this research, primary suppliers received more than four times as much business as the secondary suppliers. We investigated the impact of the Marketing Mix on customer satisfaction and share of business for primary suppliers and secondary suppliers, and identified differences between the two groups, using multigroup structural equation modeling. The results indicate that perceived performance on logistics attributes significantly affects customer satisfaction and the percentage of business that is allocated to primary and secondary suppliers, which is key information for developing competitive strategies. Our research findings challenge the practice of providing service levels to customers based on current revenue or profitability which does little to convince customers, who are using a company as secondary source, to make it the primary supplier.