Complaint management in hospitality organizations: The role of empowerment and other service recovery attributes impacting loyalty and satisfaction
The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship among employee empowerment and other complaint management procedures concerning guest satisfaction, intention to return, and intention to recommend the firm to others. The results indicated the importance of empowering frontline employees to properly accept, process, and react to complaints for an efficient complaint management strategy. In addition, the results showed that the three critical attributes for overall firm satisfaction, customer loyalty, and intention to recommend the firm to others included welcoming and understanding guest complaints, providing fair compensation, and promptness of complaint handling process. This study will enable hospitality and other service-oriented organizations to identify aspects of their operations that require more investment in order to ensure service improvements that would ultimately lead to better performance.