The impacts of complaint efforts on customer satisfaction and loyalty |
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| Authors: | Ruiying Cai Christina Geng-Qing Chi |
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| Affiliation: | 1. School of Hospitality Business Management, Carson College of Business, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USAruiying.cai@wsu.edu;3. School of Hospitality Business Management, Carson College of Business, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA;4. Faculty of Management, School of Tourism and Hospitality, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa |
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| Abstract: | ABSTRACTThis study identifies the depth structure of customer complaint efforts and investigates the roles of each dimension in the structural relations with customer satisfaction and loyalty. Three dimensions of customer complaint efforts were identified, procedural effort, cognitive effort, and affective effort in the restaurant context. This study uses two subsamples to develop and validate the proposed three-dimension customer complaint efforts scale. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the first subsample of 211 participants. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were applied on the second subsample of 328 participants. It is found that customers’ physical/procedural and cognitive efforts exerted during the complaint resolution process compound their affective efforts, which further reduce customer satisfaction with the complaint process and erode customer behavioral and attitudinal loyalty. This study bridges the research gap gaps and provides managerial implications to help reduce customer complaint efforts and ensure positive customer behaviors. |
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| Keywords: | Customer complaint efforts physical/procedural efforts cognitive efforts affective efforts customer satisfaction customer loyalty |
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