AN EXAMINATION OF EXPLANATION TYPOLOGY ON PERCEIVED INFORMATIONAL FAIRNESS IN THE CONTEXT OF AIR TRAVEL

Given humans' need to understand why things go wrong, “offering an explanation” is a type of service recovery effort that can be essential in the recovery process. Despite the importance of service failure explanations to academics and practitioners, research on this topic is scant. To bridge that gap, this study investigates the impact of various types of failure explanations on customer perceptions of informational fairness in the context of air travel. The results show that the type of explanation and the severity of the failure both result in different levels of perceived informational fairness. Moreover, different levels of perceived informational fairness can influence customer satisfaction through reduced attribution of responsibility for the failure to the service provider.     

Effects of Stability and Controllability Attribution on Service Recovery Evaluation in the Context of the Airline Industry

This study examines the relationships between service recovery, stability and controllability attribution, recovery satisfaction, and customer loyalty. We collected data on service recovery, failure attribution, recovery satisfaction, and customer loyalty through a survey of airline passengers in Malaysia. The results indicate significant positive relationships between service recovery dimensions and recovery satisfaction, and between recovery satisfaction and customer loyalty. Both stability and controllability were negatively related to recovery satisfaction. The results provide support for the moderating effects of service failure attribution (stability and controllability) in the recovery process dimension. By recognizing the important role of stability and controllability attribution and its negative effects, service management should become highly involved in facilitating appropriate service recovery to satisfy customers after a failure. The results have important implications and suggest some interesting avenues for future research.     

“货币补偿”总是最优策略吗?——高星级酒店不同服务失误归因下的情境研究

酒店服务的异质性和顾客需求的多样性使得服务失误在所难免。服务补救成为酒店修复服务失误,赢得顾客口碑和再次光顾的重要举措。在酒店管理实践中,货币补偿颇受管理者青睐,通常被作为应对服务失误的首要选择。然而,货币补偿是否为服务失误发生时的最优选择?文章以高星级酒店为研究背景,对服务失误进行情境设计,检验不同失误归因下货币补偿和非货币补偿的补偿满意度差异。数据分析结果显示:酒店因素导致的服务失误情境下,相比货币补偿而言,非货币补偿具有更好的补偿效果;其他顾客因素和顾客自身因素导致的服务失误情境下,货币补偿与非货币补偿间没有显著效果差异。此外,补偿满意度对顾客信任、重购意向与口碑有显著正向影响。     

Applying Service Profit Chain model to the Korean restaurant industry

The purpose of this study is to empirically determine the relationship between employees’ constructs such as internal service quality, service ability, employee satisfaction, and organizational commitment, and customers’ constructs such as perceived value, customer satisfaction, customer trust, and loyalty. This relationship was studied by applying the Service Profit Chain model to the Korean restaurant industry. Results show that internal service quality has a significant effect on service ability, and teamwork/communication has a significant effect on employee satisfaction. Employees’ organizational commitment has a significant direct effect on the value perceived by customers. Ultimately, there is an indirect influential relationship between employees’ and customers’ constructs. Implications of these results are discussed, and possible limitations of the study are addressed.     

How Service Quality Affects Customer Loyalty in the Travel Agency: The Effects of Customer Satisfaction,Service Recovery,and Perceived Value

This study develops a conceptual model of the effects of service quality on customer loyalty that reflects the mediating role of customer satisfaction and the moderating role of service recovery and perceived value, and applies this model to the travel industry. A survey and analysis confirm that customer satisfaction is positively influenced by service quality, and customer loyalty is positively influenced by customer satisfaction. Furthermore, customer loyalty is indirectly influenced by service quality through the mediator of customer satisfaction. The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction is found to be stronger for customers who have a positive experience of service recovery; and the correlation between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is stronger for customers who perceive high service value.     

The Role of Service Quality,Perceived Value,and Relationship Quality in Enhancing Customer Loyalty in the Travel Agency Sector

Relationship quality is crucial to enhancing a tourist’s loyalty. Little empirical research has been conducted to link service quality, perceived value, and relationship quality to customer loyalty in the travel agency sector. This study attempts to investigate the role of service quality, perceived value, and relationship quality on customer loyalty among tourists. Relationship quality consists of three components: customer satisfaction, customer trust, and customer commitment. Structural equation modeling is used to test the linkages between the six variables that have been identified. Findings reveal that service quality and perceived value of a travel package are antecedent factors to the relationship quality with a travel agency; three components of relationship quality significantly influence a customer’s loyalty to a travel agency.     

如何提高饭店业一线员工的服务补救绩效:模型与实证

文章应用巴顾兹(Bagozzi)的态度模型,采用结构方程建模方法,构建并验证了基于饭店业一线员工感知视角的服务补救绩效预测模型。实证结果表明:(1)一线员工对授权、培训、奖励以及对饭店进行顾客抱怨管理的感知正向影响其工作满意度;(2)顾客抱怨管理和授权不仅通过一线员工情感变量(工作满意和情感承诺)的中介作用间接正向影响服务补救绩效,还能够直接预测服务补救绩效;(3)一线员工的情感变量是解释员工培训和奖励正向影响其服务补救绩效的完全中介变量;(4)工作满意直接正向影响一线员工的情感承诺,而在工作满意和服务补救绩效之间的间接正向影响关系中,情感承诺变量起到了全部中介效应。文章最后总结了对服务补救理论和饭店业管理实践的贡献。     

Service Quality,Relationship Outcomes,and Membership Types in the Hotel Industry: A Survey in Korea

With the ongoing attention to long-term relationships between service providers and customers, this study delved into such influential factors that include service quality and its relationship outcomes (trust, satisfaction, and continuance commitment), and those relationships among variables along with membership effects in the hotel industry. Survey data from 300 hotel customers in Korea were used to test hypotheses using structural equation modeling. Findings are as follows: interaction and environment service quality had a positive impact on trust, whereas outcome service quality had a positive impact on satisfaction. Additionally, trust was positively associated with satisfaction, and satisfaction was positively associated with continuance commitment. Memberships could strengthen the positive relationships between outcome quality and trust, interaction quality and customer satisfaction, and trust and continuance commitment. From these findings, hotels should improve service quality, generate customers' trust, satisfaction, and continuance commitment, and induce them to the membership programs for long-lasting relationships with them.     

Job involvement,commitment, satisfaction and turnover: Evidence from hotel employees in Cyprus

The study of attitudes at work seeks to enhance organizational knowledge and capabilities in developing an ‘ideal’ working environment that delivers exceptional customer service. The current study investigates the causal relationships of job involvement, organizational commitment (normative and affective), and job satisfaction (intrinsic and extrinsic), with the intention of hospitality employees in Cyprus to either remain at or leave their job. Utilizing structural equation modeling, positive associations were found between job involvement, affective and normative commitment, and intrinsic job satisfaction. Positive associations between affective and normative organizational commitment, and intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction were also found. In addition, negative associations between affective organizational commitment, extrinsic job satisfaction and turnover intention were revealed. However, a negative association between intrinsic job satisfaction and turnover intention was not supported. The implications of these results for future research are also discussed.     

Extra-Role Customer Service: The Roles of Leader–Member Exchange (LMX), Affective Commitment,and Psychological Empowerment

ABSTRACT

Based on the social exchange and job characteristic theories, this study advances a moderated-mediation model that tries to explain the social-psychological processes connecting the leader–member exchange (LMX) and extra-role customer service, and examined it by collecting data from employees and managers employed in tourist hotels operating in Uttarakhand, India. A hierarchical regression analysis determined that LMX was positively related to extra-role customer service where affective commitment mediated this relationship. Further, an analysis of a moderated-mediation path revealed that psychological empowerment strengthened the direct influences of LMX on affective commitment and its indirect influence on extra-role customer service. Based on these findings, important theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

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。     

Listen to their heart: Why does active listening enhance customer satisfaction after a service failure?

A service employee’s active listening plays a crucial role in restoring a damaged customer relationship. However, previous studies reveal little about how listening to customer complaints operates in recovering a service failure. The purpose of this research is to explore when and why the employee’s active listening has a positive influence on customer response. We define active listening as (1) listening to customers’ concerns before apologizing and (2) verbally acknowledging them. Using scenario-based experiments, we demonstrate that active listening improves customer satisfaction, which in turn increases tip size (Study 1). Moreover, we find that active listening fosters customers’ perceptions of preferential treatment, which lead to greater customer satisfaction (Study 2). Yet, such positive effects of active listening diminish when customers are unexpectedly offered a complimentary service such as a room upgrade. The implications for academic researchers and marketing managers are discussed.     

Examining the spillover effect of frontline employees’ work–family conflict on their affective work attitudes and customer satisfaction

This study examines the negative spillover effects of hospitality frontline employees’ work–family conflict on their affective reactions, commitment, and customer satisfaction. A field survey was conducted to obtain a dyadic data set (148 paired employee–customer responses). Our results indicate that frontline employees’ role conflict between work and family results in less positive affective reactions to the job, decreased emotional attachment to the organization, and lower levels of customer satisfaction. These findings suggest that hospitality firms need to understand that factors outside the workplace influence service excellence, thus calling for a family-friendly organizational culture.     

Effectiveness of recovery actions on deviant customer behavior—The moderating role of gender

This paper aims to examine how gender interacts with various recovery actions on perceived employee effort, complaint handling satisfaction, and behavioral intention in the case of deviant customer behavior in an East-Asian context. Study 1, a qualitative study, reveals that consumers expect companies to take appropriate remedial actions when a service consumption experience is affected by deviant customer behaviors (e.g., smoking in non designated area). Study 2 employed a 2 (gender) × 6(recovery actions) between subject design in a restaurant setting. Results show that confronting the deviant customer received the highest customer ratings in terms of perceived employee effort, complaint handling satisfaction, and behavioral intention. However, gender moderated the relative effectiveness of recovery actions. Relocating the focal customer was equally good as compensation for women while men were less appreciative of relocation than compensation. In sum, service providers are advised to initiate some form of recovery action in response to deviant customer behaviors.     

The Moderating Role of Severity of Service Failure in the Relationship among Regret/Disappointment,Dissatisfaction, and Behavioral Intention

This study examines the moderating role of severity of service failure between emotions and dissatisfaction, as well as between dissatisfaction and behavioral intention. Results showed that when customers’ regret and disappointment are low, service failure severity has an amplifying impact on their dissatisfaction. It also demonstrates that when customers’ dissatisfaction levels are low, service failure severity plays an important role in their negative word of mouth and switching intention. Therefore, if a restaurant can reduce its number and frequency of critical service failures, then restaurant operators can dramatically enhance customers’ word of mouth testimonials and customer retention.     

Does employee satisfaction influence customer satisfaction? Assessing coffee shops through the service profit chain model

This study examines the interrelations between service climate, organizational identification, employee job satisfaction, and customer perceived value and satisfaction. To achieve this, we apply the service profit chain model to South Korea’s coffee shop industry. Data were collected from 263 employees and 973 customers in Daegu. The hypotheses were tested by conducting a path analysis to investigate the relationship between the variables. Organizational identification and job satisfaction were found to be positively correlated with each other. Additionally, job satisfaction was correlated with customer perceived value, which, in turn, was correlated with customer satisfaction. The findings suggest that a good work environment and service-related training can create a positive service climate for employees, which can subsequently improve customer satisfaction. This study is unique in its application of the service profit chain model on the coffee shop industry in Korea.     

Customer satisfaction using low cost carriers

Low cost carriers (LCCs) have a competitive advantage over full service carriers (FSCs) in several nations due to their lower fares and similar levels of service quality. Not all customers' needs are alike, and the market characteristics found in the LCCs industry may influence customers' attitudes. Thus, this study examines the relative importance of perceived service quality and the relationship between perceived service quality, customer satisfaction and behavioral intention using multidimensional methods. The results from this study indicate that the significant dimensions of customer satisfaction are tangibles and responsiveness. In addition, the study confirms the significant consequences of customer satisfaction including word-of-mouth communication, purchase intentions, and complaining behavior. Based on these results, carriers should develop tangibles and responsiveness for the enhancement of customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions.     

Effect of corporate social responsibility,customer attribution and prior expectation on post-recovery satisfaction

A conceptual model is proposed to account for how customers’ attributions of the cause of a service failure, their perceptions of a firm's social responsibility and their prior expectations can influence post-recovery satisfaction through the mediating effect of customer–company (C–C) identification. It was tested in the context of hospitality services. Findings from a survey of 281 restaurant patrons show that after a service failure, favorable corporate social responsibility (CSR) perception can help mitigate the negative effects of internal cause attribution on customer identification and ultimately contribute to post-recovery satisfaction. Besides, the interaction effect of CSR perception and attribution on C–C identification is particularly salient for customers with higher prior expectation. Findings also highlight that the dynamic interaction effect among attribution, CSR perception and prior expectation on customer post-recovery satisfaction is mediated by C–C identification.     

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and customer loyalty in the hotel industry: A cross-country study

The study examines the role of customer perceptions of CSR in improving customer loyalty by exploring its direct and mediated effects through service quality, customer satisfaction, corporate image and corporate reputation in a cross-country setting. Data from Pakistan, China, and Italy was collected through surveys to explore customers’ hotel experiences. The hypotheses were tested with SmartPLS-3. Findings for the overall sample revealed that CSR affected customer loyalty positively and significantly. Nonetheless, this relationship was insignificant in the samples from Pakistan and Italy, while it was found to be only partially significant in China. The findings also revealed a direct, positive and significant impact of CSR on service quality, customer satisfaction, corporate image and corporate reputation. The direct relationships among all these variables were also significant across samples. Customer satisfaction and corporate image were identified as significant mediators of the CSR-loyalty link, but service quality and corporate reputation were found insignificant.     

Predictors of Service Effort

ABSTRACT

Improving service quality will continue to be a vital goal for hospitality and tourism organizations in the new millennium. As service worker performance directly impacts customer's evaluation of quality, further investigation of methods of improving performance are necessary. Service effort is a construct that has received little attention in the literature, but may be a significant factor in linking employee attitudes and customer perceptions of service quality. This exploratory study tested three popular managerial constructs to determine the extent to which they predict service effort. Using data from 331 service workers from two cruise line operations organizations, motivation, organizational commitment and job satisfaction were regressed against service effort. Results indicate that organizational commitment was the greatest predictor of service effort, followed by motivation. One dimension of job satisfaction (satisfaction with company), failed to yield a significant relationship with service effort, while satisfaction with supervisor yielded a slightly negative coefficient. Implications for hospitality and tourism managers and organizations are discussed.