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

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to specifically consider two interactional aspects that are likely to contribute to the success of an explanation of why a service failed: the adequacy of information provided and role of the person providing the information. Design/methodology/approach – Two empirical studies were conducted using a between-subjects 2 (information: low vs high) × 2 (employee: frontline vs manager) experimental design. The first study was designed to better understand when the information provided might have a more positive impact on the customer. The second study was conducted to understand why the effects exist. Findings – In Study 1, an interaction effect was seen that suggests that the most positive outcome is when the manager (vs the frontline employee) provides a full explanation (vs limited explanation) of the mishap. Results from Study 2 indicate that source credibility is in play. Research limitations/implications – Participants were asked to respond to service failure and recovery scenarios using the same service context. The means of the outcome variables suggest that the recovery effort could be improved upon with other methods. Practical implications – Contrary to suggestions that frontline employees be responsible to resolve service failures, our studies reveal that service recovery initiatives involving an explanation only are best received when the manager provides the customer a full account of what went wrong. Originality/value – This research provides empirical evidence of when and why more information regarding the cause of a service failure is most positively received by the customer.

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The impact of culture values on customer perceptions of service encounter and reactions to service failure and recovery

2011 2nd International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Management Science and Electronic Commerce (AIMSEC) ◽

10.1109/aimsec.2011.6010242 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Gongmin Bao ◽

Shiqi Zhang

Keyword(s):

Service Failure ◽

Service Encounter ◽

Customer Perceptions ◽

Service Failure And Recovery ◽

The Impact

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Why didn’t it work out? The effects of attributions on the efficacy of recovery strategies

Journal of Service Theory and Practice ◽

10.1108/jstp-04-2014-0073 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 25 (6) ◽

pp. 700-724 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Víctor Iglesias ◽

Concepción Varela-Neira ◽

Rodolfo Vázquez-Casielles

Keyword(s):

Design Methodology ◽

Empirical Investigation ◽

Service Failure ◽

Service Recovery ◽

Retail Banking ◽

Content Type ◽

Final Sample ◽

Customer Defection ◽

Recovery Strategies ◽

Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of attributions on the efficacy of service recovery strategies in preventing customer defection following a service failure. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical investigation is carried out on the retail banking industry with a final sample of 448 real cases of customer retention or defection after a service failure. Findings – The results of the study not only highlight the relevance of intentionality as an additional factor in explaining customer defection, but also show the effects of some attributional dimensions (intentionality and controllability) on the efficacy of some recovery strategies (redress, apology and explanation) applied by companies to prevent post-complaint customer defection. Practical implications – The efficacy of the recovery strategies depends on the causal attributions that the customer makes about the service failure. Originality/value – This study analyzes not only the effects of traditional dimensions of attribution (stability and controllability), but also the additional effect that intentionality attributions may have on actual customer defection (not intentions). Moreover, it analyzes their effects on the effectiveness of recovery strategies in preventing customer defection. Most of these effects have never been empirically analyzed in the literature.

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Competing Through Online Service Failures and Recovery Strategies

Leveraging Computer-Mediated Marketing Environments - Advances in Marketing, Customer Relationship Management, and E-Services ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-7344-9.ch013 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 266-285

Author(s):

Dipen Rai ◽

Dominic Appiah

Keyword(s):

Service Failure ◽

Market Competition ◽

Limited Range ◽

Online Service ◽

Service Failures ◽

Service Failure And Recovery ◽

Recovery Strategies ◽

Website Interactivity ◽

Conventional Behavior ◽

Intense Activity

The ideas of service failure and recovery strategies have been transformed, due to the internet environment, from a consumer-provider perspective to a multifaceted web quality activity. The research on service failure and recovery strategies has been well-developed in terms of the consumer's viewpoint of service as well as the responsibility for recovery conventionally expected to be allotted to the marketer. On the contrary, existing research indicates that there is a limited range of understanding of consumer-website interactivity relating to online service failure and recovery strategies as well as less understanding of the highly diverse characteristics of computer-mediated marketing environments (CMMEs). The perspectives of CMMEs relate to online customer behavior as distinct from conventional behavior. In fact, providers are involved in intense activity in the online environment in terms of market competition, as customers are positioned just a click away from switching providers in the case of service failure.

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Online Service Failure and Recovery Strategy

Advances in Marketing, Customer Relationship Management, and E-Services - Competitive Social Media Marketing Strategies ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-9776-8.ch006 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 112-135 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Yllka Azemi ◽

Wilson Ozuem

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Customer Service ◽

Service Failure ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Online Marketing ◽

Limited Attention ◽

Service Failures ◽

Service Failure And Recovery ◽

Recovery Strategies ◽

Social Media Platforms

The Internet environment has transformed the concepts of service failure and recovery strategies from a dyadic customer-provider focus into a multidimensional web quality scope. In traditional encounters, the research spectrum of service failure and recovery strategies is very much developed from a customer service approach, and the responsibility of recovery has been traditionally assumed to be something that is assigned to the marketer. Studies pay little or no attention to the multidimensional nature of service failures contingent to recovery strategies in the evolving social media. To date, empirical studies have focused on service failures and recovery strategies in online marketing environments, but pay limited attention to social media platforms. This paper aims to provide some insights on the need for a broader conceptualisation of service failure and recovery strategies, incorporating social media platforms for the development of effective marketing communications programme.

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