Customer Evaluations of Service Failure and Recovery Encounters
©2002
Doktorarbeit / Dissertation
283 Seiten
Zusammenfassung
Inhaltsangabe:Abstract:
Although many firms may aspire to offer zero defects service, the possibility of service failures cannot be wholly eliminated simply because of the variety of factors that may impact on the delivery process. Consequently, the manner in which firms respond to service failures is increasingly seen as a factor that may separate the more successful firms form the others. This response, termed service recovery, is defined as the process by which the firm attempts to rectify a service failure. Some researchers suggest that a firms response to failures can either reinforce customer relationships or exacerbate the negative effects of the failure. In fact, some assert that it is often a firms response to a failure, rather than the failure itself, that triggers discontent. Recoveries are critical because customers perceiving poor recovery efforts may dissolve the buyer-seller relationship and purchase elsewhere. Such customer turnover can be costly, especially given that it costs more to win new customers than it does to retain current ones. As a consequence, service failure and recovery encounters have been recognised as critical moments of truth for organisations in their efforts to satisfy and keep customers.
Although there is a substantial literature on customer (dis)satisfaction and complaining behaviour, relatively little progress has been made in developing a theoretical understanding of how consumer evaluate a companys response to service failure and recovery encounters. Using perceived justice theory as a conceptual foundation, the current research develops and tests a model that (1) explains how customers evaluate service failure and recovery encounters and (2) how these evaluations affect customer satisfaction and subsequent post-purchase behaviour and attitudes.
The study employed a two-stage research strategy. The first phase of the research included an extensive literature review and exploratory research involving semi-structured interviews and experiments. This first stage resulted in the development of a research model establishing the links between the antecedents and outcomes of customer satisfaction judgments involving service failure and recovery encounters. In the second phase, the proposed conceptual model was evaluated through a self-administered, cross-sectional survey. Respondents were requested to recall a time when they complained to a travel and tourism services provider about a failed […]
Although many firms may aspire to offer zero defects service, the possibility of service failures cannot be wholly eliminated simply because of the variety of factors that may impact on the delivery process. Consequently, the manner in which firms respond to service failures is increasingly seen as a factor that may separate the more successful firms form the others. This response, termed service recovery, is defined as the process by which the firm attempts to rectify a service failure. Some researchers suggest that a firms response to failures can either reinforce customer relationships or exacerbate the negative effects of the failure. In fact, some assert that it is often a firms response to a failure, rather than the failure itself, that triggers discontent. Recoveries are critical because customers perceiving poor recovery efforts may dissolve the buyer-seller relationship and purchase elsewhere. Such customer turnover can be costly, especially given that it costs more to win new customers than it does to retain current ones. As a consequence, service failure and recovery encounters have been recognised as critical moments of truth for organisations in their efforts to satisfy and keep customers.
Although there is a substantial literature on customer (dis)satisfaction and complaining behaviour, relatively little progress has been made in developing a theoretical understanding of how consumer evaluate a companys response to service failure and recovery encounters. Using perceived justice theory as a conceptual foundation, the current research develops and tests a model that (1) explains how customers evaluate service failure and recovery encounters and (2) how these evaluations affect customer satisfaction and subsequent post-purchase behaviour and attitudes.
The study employed a two-stage research strategy. The first phase of the research included an extensive literature review and exploratory research involving semi-structured interviews and experiments. This first stage resulted in the development of a research model establishing the links between the antecedents and outcomes of customer satisfaction judgments involving service failure and recovery encounters. In the second phase, the proposed conceptual model was evaluated through a self-administered, cross-sectional survey. Respondents were requested to recall a time when they complained to a travel and tourism services provider about a failed […]
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Inhaltsverzeichnis
ID 6291
Schöfer, Klaus: Customer Evaluations of Service Failure and Recovery Encounters
Hamburg: Diplomica GmbH, 2003
Zugl.: Nottingham NG7 2RD, Universität, Dissertation / Doktorarbeit, 2002
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Abstract
Although many firms may aspire to offer `zero defects' service, the possibility
of service failures cannot be wholly eliminated simply because of the variety of
factors that may impact on the delivery process. Consequently, the manner in
which firms respond to service failures is increasingly seen as a factor that may
separate the more successful firms form the others. This response, termed
service recovery, is defined as the process by which the firm attempts to rectify
a service failure. Some researchers suggest that a firm's response to failures
can either reinforce customer relationships or exacerbate the negative effects of
the failure. In fact, some assert that it is often a firm's response to a failure,
rather than the failure itself, that triggers discontent. Recoveries are critical
because customers perceiving poor recovery efforts may dissolve the buyer-
seller relationship and purchase elsewhere. Such customer turnover can be
costly, especially given that it costs more to win new customers than it does to
retain current ones. As a consequence, service failure and recovery encounters
have been recognised as critical moments of truth for organisations in their
efforts to satisfy and keep customers.
Although there is a substantial literature on customer (dis)satisfaction and
complaining behaviour, relatively little progress has been made in developing a
theoretical understanding of how consumer evaluate a company's response to
service failure and recovery encounters. Using perceived justice theory as a
conceptual foundation, the current research develops and tests a model that (1)
explains how customers evaluate service failure and recovery encounters and
(2) how these evaluations affect customer satisfaction and subsequent post-
purchase behaviour and attitudes.
The study employed a two-stage research strategy. The first phase of the
research included an extensive literature review and exploratory research
involving semi-structured interviews and experiments. This first stage resulted
in the development of a research model establishing the links between the
antecedents and outcomes of customer satisfaction judgments involving service
failure and recovery encounters. In the second phase, the proposed conceptual
model was evaluated through a self-administered, cross-sectional survey.
Respondents were requested to recall a time when they complained to a travel
and tourism services provider about a failed product/service experience. Open-
ended questions were asked to capture, in their own words, respondents'
descriptions of the complaint incident and process. Structured questions were
included to measure the independent and dependent variables and to test the
hypotheses proposed by the conceptual model of customer evaluations of
service failure and recovery encounters.
The results of this research provide empirical support for proposed conceptual
framework suggesting that perceived justice evaluations play an important role
in customer evaluations of service failure and recovery encounters. The
findings contribute to our understanding of post-purchase decision-making,
notably in travel and tourism services marketing settings. Managers should also
find the results informative in developing complaint resolution procedures.
List of Figures
Figure 2.1 The Role of Justice in the Complaint Handling Process
37
Figure 2.2 The three Levels of Service Recovery Management
47
Figure 4.1 A Conceptual Framework for examining Customer
Evaluations of Service Failure and Recovery Encounters
89
Figure 5.1 WTO Classification Scheme
96
Figure 5.2 The Network of Sectors in the Travel and Tourism Industry
98
Figure 9.1 Path Diagram
209
List of Tables
Table 6.1
Satisfying and Delighting Customer Experiencing Single and
Double Deviation Scenarios
31
Table 6.1
Quantitative and Qualitative Paradigm Assumptions
117
Table 6.2
Interactional Justice
130
Table 6.3
Procedural Justice
133
Table 6.4
Distributive Justice
134
Table 6.5
Negative Word-of-Mouth
136
Table 6.6
Positive Word-of-Mouth
137
Table 6.7
Repurchase Intention
138
Table 6.8
Third-Party Action
138
Table 6.9
Commitment
139
Table 6.10 Trust
139
Table 6.11 Advantages and Disadvantages of Self-Administered
Questionnaires
148
Table 7.1
Factor Structure of the Emotion Items
155
Table 7.2
Cell Means
157
Table 8.1
Response Rates
160
Table 8.2
Socio-Demographic Information
162
Table 8.3
Characteristics of the Complaint Handling Encounters
165
Table 8.4
Means and Standard Deviations for the Satisfaction
Constructs
168
Table 8.5
Means and Standard Deviations of Emotion Constructs
169
Table 8.6
Means and Standard Deviations for the Perceived Justice
Constructs
170
Table 8.7
Means and Standard Deviations of Post-Purchase Constructs 171
Table 8.8
Means and Standard Deviations of Relationship Quality
Dimensions
172
Table 8.9
Confirmatory Factor Analysis - Customer Satisfaction
181
Table 8.10 Confirmatory Factor Analysis Emotions
183
Table 8.11 Comparison of Fit Statistics
185
Table 8.12 Confirmatory Factor Analysis - Perceived Justice
186
Table 8.13 Comparison of Fit Statistics
189
Table 8.14 Confirmatory Factor Analysis - Post-Purchase Behaviour
190
Table 8.15 Confirmatory Factor Analysis - Relationship Quality
192
Table 8.16 Reliability of the Measurement Scales
197
Table 9.1
Chow-Test Results
201
Table 9.2
Tolerance and VIF of the independent Variables of the
eight Regression Equations
207
Table 9.3
Secondary Satisfaction
210
Table 9.4
Positive Emotions
211
Table 9.5
Negative Emotions
212
Table 9.6
Positive Word-of-Mouth
212
Table 9.7
Negative Word-of-Mouth
213
Table 9.8
Repurchase Intention
213
Table 9.9
Third-Party Action
214
Table 9.10 Trust
214
Table 9.11 Commitment
215
Table of Contents
Abstract ii
List of Figures
iv
List of Tables
v
CHAPTER 1:
1
INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background to the Research
1
1.2
Research
Objectives
2
1.3
Research
Context
3
1.4
Research
Methodology
5
1.5
Research
Contributions
5
1.5.1 Conceptual and Empirical Contributions
5
1.5.2 Managerial Contributions
8
1.6
Conclusions
9
CHAPTER 2:
11
LITERATURE REVIEW
11
2.1
Introduction
11
2.2
Service
Failures
12
2.3 Responses to Services Failures
17
2.3.1 Market Factors
20
2.3.2 Seller and Services Factors
21
2.3.3 Consumer Factors
22
2.4
Service
Recovery
25
2.4.1
Definition
25
2.4.2 Service Recovery Strategies
26
2.4.3 Customer Evaluations of Service Recovery
33
2.4.3.1 Distributive Justice
34
2.4.3.2 Procedural Justice
35
2.4.3.3 Interactional Justice
36
2.4.3.4
Summary
37
2.4.4 Outcomes of Service Recovery
38
2.4.4.1 Behavioural Outcomes
38
2.4.4.2 Emotional Outcomes
41
2.5 Service Recovery Management
46
2.5.1 First Level of Service Recovery Management
48
2.5.2 Second Level of Service Recovery Management
51
2.5.3 Third Level of Service Recovery Management
59
2.6
Conclusions
60
CHAPTER 3: 62
EXPLORATORY RESEARCH I: SEMI-STRUCTURED
INTERVIEWS 62
3.1
Introduction
62
3.2 Background to the Study
62
3.3
Methodology
63
3.4
Results
65
3.5
Conclusions
71
CHAPTER 4:
73
MODEL DEVELPOMENT AND RESEARCH
HYPOTHESES 73
4.1
Introduction
73
4.2 Satisfaction Judgements involving Service Failure and
Recovery Encounters
74
4.3 Antecedents of Customer Satisfaction involving Service
Failure and Recovery Encounters
75
4.3.1 Cognitive Antecedents
75
4.3.1.1 Interactional Justice
77
4.3.1.2 Procedural Justice
77
4.3.1.3 Distributive Justice
79
4.3.2
Emotional
Antecedents
80
4.4 Consequences of Customer Satisfaction involving Service
Failure and Recovery Encounters
84
4.4.1 Behavioural Responses
84
4.4.2 Relationship Quality
86
4.5
Conclusions
89
CHAPTER 5:
91
RESEARCH CONTEXT: TRAVEL AND TOURISM SERVICES
91
5.1
Introduction
91
5.2 Clarification of the Terminology
91
5.3 Travel and Tourism as an Economic Factor
92
5.4 Defining Travel and Tourism
93
5.5 Structure and Organisation of the Travel and Tourism Industry
97
5.6 Characteristics of Travel and Tourism Services
102
5.6.1 Generic Service Characteristics
102
5.6.2
Particular
Characteristics
106
5.7
Conclusions
110
CHAPTER 6:
112
METHODOLOGY 112
6.1
Introduction
112
6.2
Research
Objectives
112
6.3
Research
Philosophy
114
6.4
Research
Design
121
6.4.1 Semi-Structured Interviews
122
6.4.2 Experimental Study
122
6.4.3 Main Survey
123
6.4.3.1 Survey Instrument
124
6.4.3.2 Questionnaire Structure
125
6.4.3.3
Measures
128
6.4.3.3.1 Measurement of Independent Variables
129
6.4.3.3.2 Measurement of Dependent Variables
135
6.4.3.3.3 Ancillary (Exploratory) Measures
141
6.4.3.3.4 Measurement Issues
141
6.4.3.4
Sampling
142
6.4.3.5
Distribution
144
6.5
Conclusions
149
CHAPTER 7:
150
EXPLORATORY RESEACH II: EXPERIMENTAL
STUDY 150
7.1
Introduction
150
7.2 Background to the Study
150
7.3
Research
Method
151
7.4
Results
156
7.5
Conclusions
158
CHAPTER 8:
159
DATA ANALYSIS I: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
159
8.1
Introduction
159
8.2
Response
Rates
159
8.3
Non-Response
Bias
160
8.4 Descriptive Statistics
161
8.4.1 Socio-Demographic Characteristics of the Sample
161
8.4.2 Characteristics of the Service Recovery Encounter
165
8.4.3 Descriptive Statistics for the Key Variables
167
8.5 Reliability and Validity of the Data
173
8.5.1
Validity
Analysis
174
8.5.2 Reliability Analysis
193
8.6
Conclusions
198
CHAPTER 9:
199
DATA ANALYSIS II: HYPOTHESES TESTING
199
9.1
Introduction
199
9.2 Test for Structural Change (Chow-Test)
200
9.3 Multiple Regression Analysis
201
9.3.1 Regression Diagnostics
203
9.3.2 Equations for the Proposed Model
208
9.4 Hypotheses Testing
210
9.4.1 Testing of Hypotheses related to Secondary
Secondary Satisfaction (H1-H6)
215
9.4.1.1 The Effect of Primary Satisfaction on the Formation
of Secondary Satisfaction (H1)
216
9.4.1.2 The Effect of Perceived Justice Evaluations on the
Formation of Secondary Satisfaction (H2-H4)
217
9.4.1.3 The Effect of Emotions on the Formation of
Secondary Satisfaction (H5-H6)
220
9.4.2 The Effects of Perceived Justice Evaluations on
Emotions (H7-H12)
222
9.4.3 The Effect of Secondary Satisfaction on Post-Purchase
Behaviour (H13-H16)
227
9.4.4 The Effect of Secondary Satisfaction on Relationship
Quality (H17-H18)
229
9.5
Conclusions
231
CHAPTER 10:
235
SUMMARY AND CONLUSIONS
235
10.1
Introduction
235
10.2 Research and Conceptual Contributions
235
10.3 Implications for Management
240
10.4 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research
243
10.5
Conclusions
246
BILIOGRAPHY 247
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Research
Service failure and recovery is a critical issue for both service managers and
researchers. However, until recently, research on the nature and determinants
of customer satisfaction following service recovery (i.e. the actions a service
provider takes in response to service failure [Grönross, 1988]) has been
limited. Therefore, recovery has been identified as a neglected area requiring
additional research (e.g., Andreassen, 1999; McCollough et al., 2000; Tax et
al., 1998; Swanson and Kelley, 2001). As a result of the limited attendance
given to recovery, little is know about how customers evaluate recovery
efforts, what constitutes successful recovery, and the potential (and limits) of
recovery to convert customer dissatisfaction into satisfaction.
Understanding recovery is important for managers. Service failure is one
"pushing determinate" that drives customer switching behaviour (Roos, 1999),
and successful recovery can mean the difference between customer retention
and defection. In turn, customer retention is critical to profitability (Stauss and
Friege, 1999). Reichheld and Sasser (1990) maintain that, in certain
circumstances, a service company can boost profits almost 100% by increasing
customer retention just by 5%. For service providers, recovery has special
significance. Fisk et al. (1993) argue that due to the unique nature of services
(specifically, co-production and the inseparability of production and
consumption) it is impossible to ensure 100% error-free service
1.2 Research Objectives
The rationale of this study is both academic and practical. Specifically, the
research was conceived with the dual objective of both meeting the rigor of
academic requirements and making a contribution towards knowledge and
understanding that would be recognised and valued by services marketing
scholars and practitioners.
The research problem, an investigation of customer evaluations of service
failure and recovery encounters with specific reference to travel and tourism
series, can be delineated by reference to a number of key questions two
primary questions and two secondary, more specific questions.
Primary Research Questions:
(1)
What role do justice perceptions play in customer evaluations of a
company's response to their complaint?
(2)
How do these evaluations effect customer satisfaction and post-
purchase behaviour and attitudes?
Secondary Research Questions:
(3)
What is the role of perceived justice evaluations is the elicitation of
emotions during and/or after service complaint handling experiences?
(4)
Is there evidence to suggest that satisfaction is a cognitive-affective
construct?
Whilst other elements of the research plan were progressively altered and
modified with time these questions remained largely unchanged throughout the
research period even if they became more focused as the were transformed
into testable hypotheses. In broad terms the researcher knew what the research
was about from an early stage. Perhaps this was a result of the initial effort put
into the production of a simple, clear and complete research problem.
1.3 Research Context
First and foremost, travel and tourism is an extremely important research
context in itself. Travel and tourism is best understood as a total market
reflecting the demand of consumers for a wide range of travel-related products.
It is now widely clamed that this total market in serviced by the world's largest
industry (e.g., Middleton and Clarke, 2001). In 2000, the number of jobs world
wide in the international tourism industry was approximately 250 million.
According to a forecast by the World Travel and Tourism Council, this figure
will have risen by 32% to 330 million jobs by the year 2010. Worldwide
international arrivals reached a new record level of 698 million in 2000 and are
expected to increase by 130% to 1.6 billion in the year 2010. Sales also
increased in 2000 to a total figure of 476 billion US dollars. As this figures
show, travel and tourism not only remains an important economic factor, it is
also the number one growth industry.
Furthermore, travel and tourism services represent a particularly good context
for the study of service failure and recovery encounters. This is due two
reasons. First, the distinguishing features of services account for a large failure
potential, in that the variability in terms of outcome and in terms of processes
of production causes a much greater problem compared to other goods and
services. Because the customer usually participates in the production process
for a service at the same time he or she consumes it, it can be difficult to carry
out monitoring and control to ensure a consistent quality. Second, the fact that
the product is a composite of several services offers more opportunities for
service failure to occur. This higher likelihood of service failures, is also
evident in statistical reports by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) which show
that dissatisfying service encounters are particularly relevant to tourism
settings. Popular media programmes such as "Holidays from Hell", and "BBC
Watchdog" further emphasise this fact. Not surprisingly, therefore, researchers
interested in service failure and recovery, frequently study service encounters
in associated industries (e.g., hotels, airlines, and restaurants).
1.4 Research Methodology
Rather than identifying a single paradigm for the overall design of the study,
this research combined qualitative and quantitative designs to overcome the
weakness of each of them and at the same time realise the benefits of their
strengths (Strauss and Corbin, 1998; Creswell, 1994; Greene et al., 1989;
Desphande, 1983). Of combined design approaches, this research used the two-
phase design approach "The dominant-less dominant design" where the study
is based on a single dominant paradigm (in this research the quantitative) with
one small component of the overall study drawn from the alternative paradigm
(the qualitative) (Creswell, 1994). This method has been used for development
purposes, as it included the sequential use of qualitative and quantitative
methods, where the first method is used to help inform the development of the
second (Greene et al., 1989).
1.5 Research Contributions
1.5.1 Conceptual and Empirical Contributions
The section highlights the research and conceptual contributions of the present
research. The areas that are addressed include: Customer Satisfaction following
Service Failure and Recovery Encounters, The Role of Perceived Justice in
Emotion Elicitation during Service Recovery Encounters, Cognitive-Affective
Character of Customer Satisfaction Judgements, Travel and Tourism
Marketing and Relationship Marketing.
(i) Customer Satisfaction following Service Failure and Recovery Encounters
In an attempt to fill the void in marketing literature concerning how customer
evaluate service failure and recovery encounters, the current research develops
and tests a model which suggests that outcomes, procedures and the enactment
of procedures are major factors influencing consumer decision making. This
provides a theoretical basis for understanding how managerial actions (i.e.
recovery strategies such as reimbursing loss) in response to complaints impact
subsequent consumer satisfaction and behaviour.
(ii) The Role of Perceived Justice in Emotion Elicitation during Service
Recovery Encounters
Much of the service failure and recovery research has been conducted with
rather little cross-reference to emotion research. This neglect is particularly
salient with respect to appraisal theories of emotions. Addressing this gap
within the consumer behaviour and marketing literature, cognitive appraisal
theory is used to investigate issues of emotions elicitation following service
complaint experiences. Specific focus is placed on the role of perceived justice
as an emotion-antecedent appraisal dimension during recovery encounters. By
establishing how consumption emotions are formed, the current research
deepens our understanding of service failure and recovery encounters and
allows a better incorporation of emotions into existing (dis)satisfaction models
in general.
(iii) Cognitive-Affective Character of Customer Satisfaction Judgements
Moving beyond a strictly cognitive view of customer satisfaction, the present
research examines the complementary role played by affective responses in
satisfaction judgements. More specifically, the emerging literature on the
influence of affective responses on consumers' evaluative judgements is
integrated into a coherent framework that facilitates a systematic investigation
of the influence of affective versus cognitive factors in determining customer
satisfaction judgements.
(iv) Travel and Tourism Marketing
The current research reinforces the need for travel and tourism marketing
scholars to look beyond mere outcome dimensions in modelling customer
satisfaction during and/or after service failure and recovery encounters. More
specifically, the current research aims at providing much needed evidence of
how customer evaluate service failure and recovery encounters in a travel and
tourism services context.
(v) Relationship Marketing
The last decade has seen a rising interest in the study of long-term, buyer-seller
relationships. An important aspect of understanding the process of relationship
development concerns how individuals or firms come to decide whether to
increase investment in, or pull back from a relationship. Issues of justice appear
to be useful variables in explaining trust in and commitment to a relationship.
Building upon existing research, this study provides further into insight the
complex linkage between service recovery and relationship development and
dissolution.
1.5.2 Managerial Contributions
Understanding the impact of justice perceptions on post-purchase behaviour
and attitudes has great relevance for managers who must deal with customer
complaints. If the justice constructs have the proposed impact, then how
complaints are handled should assume greater priority. This could include:
training customer service personnel on appropriate interpersonal behaviour,
allowing customers input into the decision making process, and providing
outcomes which customers input into the decision making process, and
providing outcomes which customers perceive as just under the circumstances.
Managers who are interested in maintaining customer loyalty and building
relationships should pay particular attention to developing fair procedures for
handling conflicts. In this sense, a fair process for resolving disputes may be a
possible competitive advantage as customers seek relationship partners.
Managers should also with the costs of addressing complaints against the
potential costs of negative word-of-mouth, brand switching and third-party
actions. It is important to consider the complete ramifications of consumer
post-purchase actions. Many recovery strategies (e.g., explaining mitigating
circumstances for service failures) which employ consideration of the justice
concepts are inexpensive relative to the cost of negative WOM or lost
patronage. Overall, the study of justice and its effects on consumer decision
making should be useful in helping firms improve their customer satisfaction
and retention strategies.
1.6 Conclusions
This chapter outlined the central questions addressed in the thesis. In doing so,
it first provided the background to the present research arguing for the need
and importance of further research into customer evaluations of service failure
and recovery encounters. This was followed by the explicit statement of the
research objectives. The next section than justified the usage of travel and
tourism services as an appropriate research context for the empirical part of this
study. This, in turn, lead to the description of the methodological rationale of
the study. A declaration of the contributions of this research to academia and
managerial practice concluded the chapter.
Chapter 2 now goes on to present a review of several literatures relevant to the
conduct of research within the field of service failure and recovery. The
presentation of related exploratory interview findings in chapter 3 then leads to
the development of the conceptual framework guiding the study (Chapter 4).
This is followed by a detailed description of travel and tourism services as the
research context for this thesis (Chapter 5). Next is the presentation of the
methodology used to test the model and the associated hypotheses in Chapter
6. Chapter 7 then presents the results from an experimental study, where the
role of perceived justice in the elicitation of emotions was further explored.
Following this, the thesis moves on to chapters 8 and 9 where the finding of the
main empirical part of this research will be presented and discussed. Finally,
chapter 10 concludes the thesis with a discussion of conceptual and managerial
contributions, limitations and future research opportunities.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
A basic premise of marketing is that organisational performance is improved
by satisfying customers. Therefore, delivering satisfaction should be at the
heart of any marketing strategy. Customer satisfaction, however, is not always
achieved. As a consequence, customer dissatisfaction needs to be recognised as
an outcome. This is especially important in a service context, since the
distinguishing feature of services account for a large dissatisfaction potential
(i.e. service failure). With services, the variability in terms of outcomes and in
terms of processes of production causes a much greater problem compared to
goods. Because the customer usually participates in the production process for
a service at the same time as he/she consumes it, it can be difficult to carry out
monitoring and control to ensure a consistent quality (Zeithaml and Bitner,
1996; Palmer, 1998).
As a reaction to a service failure, customers often engage in behaviours which
may not be beneficial for a firm. Service recovery is the now well-accepted
term for what service firms attempt to do to offset a customer's negative
reaction to a service failure. That is, when service firms fail to get it right the
first time with the customer, what do they do the second time to "make the
customer whole" (Bowen and Johnston, 1999). Effective service recovery can
even produce a customer who is more satisfied, even delighted, than if he/she
had been served right the first time (see for example, Etzel and Silverman,
1981; Hart et al., 1990). Even small gains in customer retention facilitated by
service recovery can lead to significant gains in profitability (Reichheld, 1996).
Given the importance of service recovery, there has been a considerable
amount of research published in recent years. The aim of this chapter is to
review this literature. As such, the chapter is organised around four sections.
First, the nature of service failures is discussed and existing classification
schemes are presented. This is followed by the presentation of responses to
service failures. Section three, then discusses the process by which a firm
attempts to rectify a service failure (i.e. service recovery). Finally, section 4
outlines the different levels of service recovery management.
2.2 Service Failures
Despite the firm's best efforts, service failures are inevitable, Planes are late,
employees are rude or inattentive, and the maintenance of the tangibles
surrounding the service is not always perfect. The very nature of services
means that failures are bound to occur. Customers perceive a "service failure"
when a service is not delivered as originally planned or expected.
Consequently, Alexander (2002) suggests that service failure requires
dissatisfaction on the part of the service customer.
An important component of learning from service failure is identifying the root
cause(s) and the underlying process(es) contributing to the problem.
Classifying failures is a key link to understanding both how specific customer
problems can be resolved and what process improvements need to be made.
Bitner et al. (1990) used the critical incident technique to identify a service
encounter classification model that has implications for organising service
failures. Based on this research, failures fall into groups including service
delivery system failures, failures in response to customer needs and requests,
and failures related to unprompted and unsolicited employee actions. Each
group comprises multiple categories that further segment types of failures.
i) Employee Responses to Service Delivery Failures
In general, service delivery system failures consist of employee responses to
three types of failures: (1) unavailable service, (2) unreasonably slow service,
and (3) other core service failures. Unavailable service refers to services
normally available that are lacking or absent. Unreasonably slow service refers
to services normally available that are lacking or absent. Unfortunately slow
service concerns services or employees that customers perceive as being
extraordinary slow in fulfilling their function. Other core service failures
encompass all other aspects of core service failure; this category is deliberately
broad to reflect the various core services offered by different industries (e.g.,
food service, cleanliness of the aircraft, and baggage handling). Operations
management and design and quality system approaches can try to reduce these
failures but perhaps at the expense of the empowerment of the contact
personnel, which may be necessary to successfully undertake service recovery.
ii) Employee Responses to Customer Needs and Requests
The second type of service failure, responses to customer needs and requests,
pertains to employee responses to individual customer needs and special
requests. Customer needs can be explicit or implicit. Implicit needs are not
requested; if an airline customer becomes ill and faints, his or her needs will be
apparent. The airline can fail to meet an implicit need when a flight schedule is
changed and the airline fails to notify its customers so that alternative
connection flights can be arranged. By contrast, explicit requests are overtly
requested. In general, explicit requests are of four types: (1) special needs, (2)
customer preferences, (3) customer errors, and (4) disruptive others. Employee
responses to special needs involve complying with requests based on a
customer's special medical, dietary, psychological, language, or sociologic
difficulties. Preparing a meal for a vegetarian would count as a special request.
Employee responses to customer preferences require the employee to modify
the service delivery system in some way that meets the preferred needs of the
customer. A customer request for the substitution of a menu at a restaurant is a
typical example of a customer preference. An employee response to a customer
error involves a scenario in which the failure is initiated by a customer mistake
(e.g., lost tickets or a lost hotel key). Finally, employee responses to disruptive
others require employees to settle disputes between customers, such as
requesting patrons to be quiet in cinemas or requesting that smoking customers
not smoke in the non-smoking section of restaurants.
iii) Unprompted and Unsolicited Employee Actions
The third type of service failure, unprompted and unsolicited employee actions,
pertains to events and employee behaviours that are totally unexpected by the
customer. These actions are not initiated by the customer, nor are they part of
the service delivery system. Subcategories of this group include (1) level of
attention, (2) unusual actions, (3) cultural norms, (4) gestalt, and (5) adverse
conditions. Negative levels of attention to customers pertain to employees who
have poor attitudes, employees who ignore a customer, and employees who
exhibit behaviour consistent with an indifferent attitude. The unusual behaviour
subcategory includes employee actions such as rudeness, abusiveness, and
inappropriate touching. The cultural norms subcategory refers to actions that
violate cultural norms such as equality, fairness, and honesty. Violations would
include discriminatory behaviour, acts of dishonesty such as lying, stealing,
and cheating, and other activities considered unfair by customers. The gestalt
subcategory refers to customer evaluations that are made holistically; that is,
the customer does not describe the service encounter as discrete events but uses
overall terms such as pleasant or terrible. Finally, the adverse conditions
subcategory covers employee actions under stressful conditions. If an
employee takes effective control of a situation when all others around him or
her are "loosing their heads", customers are impressed by the employee's
performance under those adverse conditions. By contrast, if the captain and
crew of a sinking ship board the lifeboats before the passengers, this would be
obviously be remembered as a negative action under adverse conditions.
Since the work of Bitner et al. (1990), a number of other studies have been
reported (for example Kelley et al., 1993; Hoffman et al., 1995; Armistead et
al., 1995; Lewis and Spyrakopoulos, 2001; Lewis and Clacher, 2001). Two
systematic efforts to identify, classify and assess service failures from the
customers' point of view are the studies of Kelley et al. (1993) and Hoffman et
al. (1995), both of which group service failures into the classification provided
by Bitner et al. (1990). Kelley et al. (1993) used the critical incident technique
to reveal 15 types of retail failure and 12 types of recoveries. It was evident
that problems related to service delivery systems and product failures were the
most difficult to recover from. Hoffman et al. (1995) used the critical incident
technique in the restaurant industry, where some failures (e.g., out-of-stock,
product defects) were easier to recover from than others (e.g., employee
behaviour, facility problems).
More recently, Lewis and Spyrakopoulos (2001) identified types of service
failure and recovery strategies from critical incident interviews with bank
customers. These were investigated further through a survey questionnaire, to
discover customer perceptions of the importance of particular failures and the
effectiveness of the service recovery strategies. The research data provided
evidence of several types of service failure, representing both the outcome
measure of service provision, such as lack of reliability and mistakes, and
process dimensions of the banking sector, such as poor interaction with a bank
employee. These failures were of varying importance, although less important
failures became more important when a customer actually experienced it. They
suggest that bank customers are more reluctant to perceive a failure when they
think it is related to their own choices, such as a bank with insufficient
branches, or ability, for example being unable to understand a statement.
In addition to focusing on the cause of the service problem, classifying
complaining customers can help manage long-term satisfaction and loyalty.
This is based largely on the damage that cumulative service failures can have
on customer retention (Smith and Bolton, 1998). Customers who complain
frequently and/or are rarely satisfied with the resolutions may be the "wrong
customer" (Lovelock, 1994). Wrong customers may have needs that the
organisation cannot meet, may require more resources to serve than the
revenue that would be generated by their patronage, or may simply be
criminals. To manage the potential for customers to take advantage of its
service guarantee, Hampton Inn maintains a database of customers who have
invoked the guarantee. If the company determines that a customer is violating
it trust, rather than booking that customer a room, employees recommend
another hotel (Tax and Brown, 2000).
2.3 Responses to Service Failures
A necessary condition for service recovery is identifying when failures occur.
One underappreciated opportunity is encouraging customers to complain
following a failure. Research, however, indicates that customers rarely choose
to inform the firm following a service failure; rather, they frequently engage in
activities such as negative word-of-mouth and brand switching (e.g., TARP
[Technical Assistance Research Program], 1986). Investigations into consumer
responses to failure are informative regarding some of the challenges
associated with recovery. Considerable research has considered the following
questions: What action(s) do consumers take following a dissatisfactory
experience? What factors influence the selection of these responses?
An initial classification scheme to address the first question was a hierarchical
framework proposed by Day and Landon (1977). They suggest that consumers
first decide whether to convey an expression of dissatisfaction (action) or take
no action. The second-level decision concerns whether the response taken is
public or private. Public actions include seeking redress directly from the
business, taken legal action, or complaining to public or private agencies.
Private actions include boycotting the seller or manufacturer (brand switching)
and/or engaging in negative word-of-mouth.
A second conceptual approach was offered by Day (1984). He examined
consumer complaint behaviour from the perspective of the goals beings sought.
Day suggested that the goals of complaining can be classified into three broad
themes: redress seeking (complain to firm or take legal action), complaining (in
this context referring to negative word-of-mouth), and personal boycotting
(relates to brand switching).
Singh (1988) proposed and tested a third classification system. This scheme
identifies three sets of responses once dissatisfaction occurs: voice responses
(e.g., seek redress from the seller: no action), private responses (word-of-mouth
communication), and third-party responses (e.g., take legal action).
Classification is based on identifying the object towards which the consumer
complaint behaviour (CCB) responses are directed. Three different "types" of
objects are proposed. Voice CCB is aimed at objects that are directly involved
in the dissatisfying exchange (e.g., retailer, manufacturer). Singh suggests that
the no-action responses are included in this category because they appear to
reflect feelings towards the seller. In contrast, private responses are directed at
objects that are external to the consumer but not directly involved in the
dissatisfying experience (e.g., friends, relatives). The final category, third-party
CCB, includes actions that are directed at formal external parties, such as the
Office of Fair Trading or the legal system.
Another approach to understanding CCB was taken by Singh (1990), who
developed a typology of consumer dissatisfaction response styles. Singh
empirically derived four clusters of complaint response groups, which he
labelled Passives, Voicers, Irates, and Activists. He examined their propensity
to engage in voice (action directed at the seller/producer), private actions
(complaints to friends/relatives or switching brands), and third-party actions
(talk to lawyers or an agency such as the Better Business Bureau). Passives fall
below average on intentions to complain to any source. Voicers actively
complain to service providers but show minimal interest in providing negative
word-of-mouth or seeking support from third parties. Irates are consumers who
are above in their tendency to complain directly to seller/providers, and are
below average with respect to third-party actions. Finally, Activists are
dissatisfied patrons who score above average on all complain dimensions.
An important point to keep in mind when considering any of these
classification schemes is that the options are not mutually exclusive. That is,
people may respond to dissatisfaction by engaging in multiple actions (e.g.,
complaint to the firm and engage in word-of-mouth). Some of the decisions
may be ordered (e.g., seeking redress from the firm prior to taking legal
action), while others may not (providing word-of-mouth may come prior to,
simultaneous to, or after complaining to the firm).
With respect to the second question, considerable research has sought to
identify variables that explain the choice of responses to failure. The predictors
include market structure, product characteristics, and consumer traits such as
demographics, beliefs and attitudes, personality, and emotion.
2.3.1 Market Factors
Economist Albert Hirschman (1970), in his classic book `Exit, Voice, and
Loyalty', was one of the first to point out the risk a business takes when it does
not hear feedback from customers. He contrasted monopoly and competitive
markets, pointing out that in a competitive market with many sellers,
dissatisfied buyers do not necessarily voice their complaints because they can
easily exit and go elsewhere. The time and effort it takes someone to speak up
is unlikely to pay off, and brand switching is simpler. Businesses in
competitive markets that do not make an effort to listen to customers therefore
risk losing business without knowing why. A monopoly market, in contrast to a
competitive one, may actually increase complaining because customers are
captive and exiting to another supplier is not a possibility; complaining is the
only chance for improvement. Hirschman's early observations have been borne
out in later investigations (Andreason, 1984, 1985).
2.3.2 Seller and Services Factors
At least one factor that influences the likelihood of hearing customer feedback
is under the organisation's control. That is the company's reputation for quality
and for being responsive to complaining consumers (Bolfing, 1989; Day and
Landon, 1977; Granbois et al., 1977). Disgruntled customers are more likely to
speak up to companies that are about the quality of their work and try to
resolve customer problems. Therefore, it is to the firm's benefit to let
customers know that it wants their feedback and cares about their satisfaction.
In contrast, an uncontrollable factor that affects complaining about a good or
service is its unique characteristics. If a service is complex, expensive, or
considered important, or if the problem with it is serious, consumers will be
more likely to voice their complaints (Blodgett and Granbois, 1992; Bolfing,
1989; Day and Landon, 1977; Landon, 1977; Lawther et al., 1978; Richins,
1983). Buyers tend not to complain about low-cost, low-involvement purchases
such as nondurables (Day and Landon, 1977). Thus, firms that sell simple,
inexpensive, everyday services probably need to make a special effort to
contact customers for feedback. Examples might be fast foods stores, self-
service petrol stations, or grocery stores.
2.3.3 Consumer Factors
Many studies have investigated consumer factors that may enhance or inhibit
complaining (Bearden and Teel, 1983; Day and Ash, 1979; Day and Landon,
1977; Fornell and Westbrook, 1979; Krishnan and Valle, 1979; Mason and
Himes, 1973; Moyer, 1984; Richins, 1983; Warland et al., 1975; Zaltman et al.,
1978). Several studies have been done in services contexts (Andreason, 1985;
Day and Bodur, 1978; Folkes et al., 1987; Singh, 1988, 1990).
- Demographics and Lifestyle
A fairly consistent finding in the literature is that complainers occupy higher
socio-economic levels in society. Their higher income, education, and social
involvement give them the knowledge, confidence, and motivation to speak up
when the feel wronged (Day and Landon, 1977; Landon, 1977; Mason and
Himes; Moyer, 1984; Singh, 1990; Warland et al., 1984; Warland et al., 1975;
Zaltman et al., 1978). In contrast, customers who do not speak up when they
are dissatisfied may be located at lower socio-economic levels (Kraft, 1977;
Spalding and Marcus, 1981) and may, in fact, be members of particularly
vulnerable groups in the marketplace, such as the poor or immigrants
(Andreason and Manning, 1990).
- Beliefs and Attitudes
Consumers' beliefs and attitudes have been associated with their complaining
behaviour. For example, people who believe that complaining will make a
difference are more likely to try it (Blodgett and Granbois, 1992; Day and Ash,
1979; Day and Bodur, 1978). Persons who perceive that many marketing
practices are unfair are more likely to complain (Zaltman et al., 1978).
Attributions about who is to blame for a problem also affect people's
complaining. Those who believe the problem was caused by someone else and
not themselves are more likely to complain (Krishnan and Valle, 1979;
Richins, 1983), particularly if they think the company has control over the
situation (Folkes et al., 1987). If buyers attribute the problem to themselves,
they are less likely to speak up (Godwin et al., 1995; Spalding and Marcus,
1981; Stephens and Gwinner, 1998; Westbrook, 1987).
- Personality
Personality factors might be involved in consumer complaining, although the
literature is sparse on this topic. In general, assertive people are more likely to
complain, whereas submissive persons are more likely to keep quiet (Bolfing,
1989; Fornell and Westbrook, 1979).
- Emotions
More recently people's emotions have been hypothesised to influence their
complaining behaviour (Bolfing, 1989; Godwin et al., 1995; Westbrook, 1987),
especially with regard to non-complaining (Bolfing, 1989; Spalding and
Marcus, 1981; Stepehns and Gwinner, 1998). In fact, Westbrook (1987) argued
that the emotion that accompanies purchase experience is as important as
satisfaction or dissatisfaction, if not more so, in determining people's
complaining behaviour.
Consumers may feel three different types of negative emotions when they are
dissatisfied. The specific feelings are based on their attributions about who is to
blame for the problem (Godwin et al., 1995; Smith and Ellsworth, 1985).
Those who blame another party, typically the company or employee, generally
feel anger, disgust, or contempt. These negative emotions are the ones most
likely to lead to complaining (Folkes et al., 1987). They probably lead, as well,
to negative word-of-mouth communication to family and friends (Westbrook,
1987).
Consumers who see the cause of the problem as situational (i.e., no one is to
blame) tend to feel distress or fear. These emotions probably do not result in as
much complaining because consumers feel powerless compared to the
company, perhaps because of its size or its market position (Stephens and
Gwinner, 1998). Social fear may also come into play; some dissatisfied buyers
keep quite because they fear being rude, bothering someone, or hurting
someone's feelings (Bolfing, 1989; Stephens and Gwinner, 1998). Stephens
and Gwinner (1998) suggested that some consumers may not complain because
they empathise with, or feel with compassion for, the employee who causes the
problem, a finding that may be unique to services because of the face-to-face
contact between buyer and seller.
Persons who make internal attributions about the cause of the problem (i.e.
they blame themselves) usually experience shame or guilt. These are negative
emotions that seem to keep disappointed consumers from speaking up (Godwin
et al., 1995; Stephens and Gwinner, 1998; Westbrook, 1987).
2.4 Service Recovery
2.4.1 Definition
In the case where a service provider is notified that a problem has occurred (i.e.
a customer complains), it is necessary for service recovery to be conducted.
Accordingly, Callan and Moore (1998) suggest that a successful service
recovery is dedicated to the productive handling of complaints. More generally,
service recovery is defined as the process of putting the situation right (Zemke
and Schaaf, 1990, Berry and Prasurman, 1991) and according to Grönross
(1990) includes all actions taken by a service provider in order to try to resolve
the problem a customer has with their organisation (Grönroos, 1990).
More recently, however, service recovery has been defined more widely and
more proactively as the action of seeking out and dealing with failures in the
delivery of service (Johnston, 1995, Michel, 2001). According to Lewis and
Spyrakopoulos (2001), service recovery differs from complaint management in
its focus on service failures and the companies immediate reaction to it.
Complaint management is based on customer complaints which may be
triggered by service failures. On the other hand, service recovery attempts to
solve problems at this service encounter before customers complaint or before
the leave the service encounter dissatisfaction.
Bitner et al. (2000), however, argue that complaints are necessary to institute a
recovery effort. Without complaints, a firm may be unaware that problems
exist and nothing to appease unhappy customers. The greatest barrier to
effective service recovery and organisational learning is that fact that only 5
percent to 10 percent of dissatisfied customer choose to complain following a
service failure (Tax and Brown, 1998, p.77). In a similar vein, Callan and
Moore (1998) state that if a service recovery programme is to exist and
succeed, the organisation has to ensure that it is aware of the displeasure felt by
a customer. Based on this line of argument, and consistent with Taylor (2001),
the author of this thesis therefore believes that service recovery therefore most
generally relates to organisational efforts to manage customer complaints. This
view is also shared by Johnston (2001), who uses the term "complaint
management" to include service recovery which involves the receipt,
investigation, settlement and prevention of customer complaints and recovery
of the customer. As a consequence the terms service recovery and complaint
management/handling will be used interchangeably throughout this thesis.
2.4.2 Service Recovery Strategies
What constitutes an effective service recovery has been the subject of some
debate. Bell and Zemke (1987) proposed five ingredients for recovery:
- Apology: A first person apology rather then corporate apology, which also
acknowledges that a failure has occurred.
- Urgent reinstatement: Speed of action coupled with a 'gallant attempt' to
put things right even if it is not possible to correct the situation.
- Empathy: A sincere expression of feeling for the customer's plight.
- Symbolic atonement: Bell and Zemke used atonement to suggest token
compensation rather than broader forms of expiation: Atonement is the "It's
on us", "Free drink", "No charge", "Here is a coupon worth ...".
- Follow-up: An after-recovery call to ascertain that "things are OK now".
Bell and Zemke were unsure as to whether follow-ups are necessary but
suggested they may provide a form of closure and feedback.
Bell and Zemke (1987) further suggested that the appropriate elements of a
recovery strategy depend upon the level of dissatisfaction felt by the customer.
They suggested that "annoyed" customers will be recovered by the provision of
an apology and the correction of the problem. "Victimised" customers, they
suggested, will also require empathy, atonement and a follow-up (though the
last of these may not be critical). They concluded that "All breakdowns require
the deliverer to jump through a few hoops to get the customer back to neutral.
More hoops are required for victims to recover."
Bell and Zemke (1987) provided no evidence to support their contentions,.
however, more recent work has been based on empirically derived data. Bitner
et al. (1990) in a study of 700 critical incidents found that it is not necessarily
the failure itself that leads to customer dissatisfaction, as most customers do
accept that things can go wrong. It is more likely to be the organisation's
response (or lack of response) to a failure that causes dissatisfaction (see also
Feinberg et al., 1990). They suggested that for a successful recovery an
organisation's response should include the following four key elements:
- Acknowledgement: An acknowledgement of the problem
- Explanation: An explanation of the reason for the failure
- Apology:
Where
appropriate
- Compensation: Such as a free ticket, meal or drink
Dissatisfaction, they suggested, results from the organisation's inadequate or
inappropriate response to the failure (i.e. inability to effect the above) and this
they suggested leads to a magnification of the negative evaluation. They
defined this situation as a 'double deviation' scenario, where the original
problem was not adequately recovered. They did not, however, investigate how
such double deviation scenarios could be recovered.
Kelley et al. (1993) in a study of 661 critical incidents in a retail environment
identified seven recovery strategies:
- Discount: A means of compensating the customer for the problems and
inconvenience caused by the failure.
- Correction: Courteously correcting the situation without doing anything
more.
- Management/Employee Intervention: The involvement of management or
another employee to help resolve the situation.
- Correction plus: Providing additional compensation to the customer, such
as free merchandise or upgrades.
- Replacement: The replacement of a defective item.
- Apology: Kelley et al. Found that the success of this strategy was
dependent upon the manner of the apology and the magnitude of the
failure.
- Refund: The provision of a full refund for the item.
Kelley et al. (1993) found some activities to be more effective than others.
Discounts, correction, management intervention and replacement were
particularly effective, apology and refund less so.
Johnston's empirical study (1995) was based on an examination of 224 critical
incidents covering several types of service organisations. It found that the
majority of delighting incidents were the result of recovery having taken place.
Although the focus of the study was to determine the quality factors associated
with recovery, three key elements of a service recovery strategy were
identified:
- Empathy: Staff need to show concern for the customer.
- Information: Staff need to provide information about the problem.
- Action: Staff should appear to put themselves out to solve the problem and
if possible involve the customer in the decision making.
One surprising result was that any form of financial compensation did not
appear to be necessary for service recovery.
Boshoff (1997) surveyed 540 randomly selected international travellers and
presented them with a constant negative service situation (a missed connection
due to a flight delay). Each person was assigned one of 27 randomly selected
recovery strategies. He fond that the most successful strategies were (in order):
- A fast response by the highest possible person in terms of seniority
- A fast response accompanied by a full refund plus some amount of
compensation
- A large amount of compensation provided by a high-ranking manager.
He also found that an apology was of limited effect unless accompanied by
some form of compensation.
Whilst there is agreement that service recovery is an important activity in
offsetting the impact of a service failure it appears there is some uncertainty
over precisely what constitutes an effective strategy. Four of the studies agree
that the situation needs to be corrected. Bitner et al. (1990) did no find this to
be necessary implying that compensation was more important than correction.
Johnston (1995) and Bell and Zemke (1987) agreed that compensation was not
necessary (except for victimised customers), whereas this was a central plank
of Bitner et al.'s (1990), Kelley et al.'s (1993) and Boshoff's (1997) recovery
strategies. Four of the studies agree that an apology is needed, but Johnston
found no evidence for this. Empathy is suggested by Bell and Zemke (1987)
and Johnston (1995) but not by the others. Follow-up is only suggested by Bell
and Zemke (1987). Indeed there is no one element of recovery strategy on
which all the authors agree.
Johnston and Fern (1999), argue that there may be two reasons for these
discrepancies: (1) the studies do not attempt to classify the seriousness of the
failure and (2) the studies include both `delighted' and `satisfied' outcomes.
Addressing these issues in a study, they distinguished between the actions
required in dealing with service failures (single deviation) and the situations
where there was an inappropriate or inadequate response to the failure (double
deviations). It was found that one set of actions can restore the customer to a
satisfied state whereas an enhanced set of action will delight the customer.
Table 2.1 provides a summary of the key actions to satisfy or delight customers
experiencing single and double deviation scenarios.
SATISFY
DELIGHT
Single deviation scenario
Put it right
Quickly
Modest apology
Written confirmation
Deal with third party
Refund costs incurred
Assure not happen again
Put it right
Quickly
Modest apology
Written confirmation
Deal with third party
Refund costs incurred
Assure not happen again
Follow up call or letter
Apologise by letter
Double deviation scenario
Staff to `put themselves out'
Put it right better/faster
Involve higher authority
Provide compensation
Managerial apology
Written assurance
Written explanation
Not possible
Table 2.1: Satisfying and Delighting Customers Experiencing Single and
Double Deviation Scenarios (Johnston and Fern, 1999).
Johnston and Fern's (1999) findings provide support for the work cited earlier
by Bell and Zemke (1987), Bitner at al. (1990), Kelley et al. (1993), Johnston
(1995) and Boshoff (1997) but goes further by throwing some light on the
possible reasons for some of the differences between them. What this study has
added, is a structure that helped to explain some of the discrepancies between
the authors. Which element is included in the strategy appears to depend upon
the nature of the failure and required outcome, i.e. satisfy or delight. Fast
response and correction are fundamental to all strategies, though customers
experiencing the double deviation strategy want to see staff going out of their
way to deal with the situation. This goes beyond following some pre-prepared
procedure. An apology needs to be appropriate to the situation. A modest
apology would satisfy in double deviation situations, a written apology would
delight in single deviation situations. Information is required, but again in
different forms: verbal confirmation and assurance that it will not happen again
in single deviation situations and written assurance and explanation for double
deviation situations. Managerial involvement is an ingredient of recovery, but
is only required in double deviation situations. Compensation too is important.
A `back-to-normal' refund of costs/charges incurred is appropriate for the
single deviation situation whereas `above and beyond' compensation is
expected by customers experiencing the double deviation scenario.
2.4.3 Customer Evaluations of Service Recovery
While it is acknowledged that recovering effectively from service failures is
important, much less is understood about the manner in which the organisation
Details
- Seiten
- Erscheinungsform
- Originalausgabe
- Jahr
- 2002
- ISBN (eBook)
- 9783832462918
- ISBN (Paperback)
- 9783838662916
- DOI
- 10.3239/9783832462918
- Dateigröße
- 1.6 MB
- Sprache
- Englisch
- Institution / Hochschule
- University of Nottingham – Business School
- Erscheinungsdatum
- 2003 (Januar)
- Note
- 1,0
- Schlagworte
- kundenzufriedenheiit beschwerdemanagement nachkaufverhalten service recovery customer relationship management
