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。

Impacts of Self-construal and Quality Expectation on Customer Satisfaction and Word of Mouth after Service Failure

Service failure may induce negative moods in customers. After experiencing service failure, they may be dissatisfied with the company and complain about their experiences to other customers. Therefore, researchers in the field of service strive to study factors that might attenuate these negative effects. For example, they may explore the features of service failure events （e.g., whether it was a core service failure）, the type of service recovery （e.g., apology or compensation）, individual differences （e.g., gender）, and more. Based on existing research, the current paper explores the effects of customers＇ self- construal （independent vs. interdependent construal） and service quality expectations on their satisfaction and engagement in negative word-of-mouth, following service failure caused by an individual employee of a company. We conducted an experiment with a 2 （self-construal： independent vs. interdependent） × 2 （service quality expectation： positive vs. negative） between-subjects design that simulated a dining experience at a Western restaurant. A sample of 155 college students （72 male and 83 female） participated in the experiment. Results showed that, compared with independent individuals, interdependent individuals reported lower satisfaction with the company when they had existing negative service quality expectations （i.e., the participants were told that the service quality of the restaurant was a little disappointing before they experienced it）. However, this difference disappeared when service quality expectations were positive. In contrast, regarding negative word-of-mouth, independent individuals preferred to complain about the experience of service failure to others, but only when their service quality expectations of the company were negative. The theoretical contributions to service marketing research are as follows： First, we examined self- construal as an individual-differences variable, a factor that has seldom been included in previous studies of service failure. We found that different types of self-construal guided how consumers responded after they experienced service failures. We believe there is merit in conducting future research on self-construal and its potential roles in the service marketing field. Next, the existing research indicates that customers＇ positive service quality expectations may lessen the negative influence of service failures. This idea, combined with self-construal theory, allowed us to expand the existing theories by exploring the interactive effects between self-construal and service quality expectations on customer satisfaction and negative word-of-mouth. Finally, we discussed how customers might infer the degree of control that a company possesses over its employees, when service failure is caused by an individual employee. Different inferences about who is at fault could lead to different outcomes in customer satisfaction; thus, further exploration of this phenomenon is necessary, especially in a collectivist society such as China＇ s. Furthermore, the current study also has several practical implications. First, from the perspective of self-construal, companies should consider the types of self-construal that may exist in their customers and provide service recovery tailored to these different groups. For example, offering compensation may be a more effective form of reparation when dealing with interdependent individuals. Additionally, companies should try to induce positive service quality expectations in their customers, which would not only encourage customers to buy their products and services under normal conditions, but also, these positive expectations could buffer against negative reactions in the case of unpredictable service failures. We also suggest that when companies interact with their customers during the recovery process, they should stress that a service failure caused by an individual employee was merely a single instance of failure. This may help to prevent customers from attributing fault to the entire company and reduce the likelihood of customers developing a negative impression of the company＇s overall service quality.