Rethinking Service Recovery Strategies The Effect of Rapport on Consumer Responses to Service Failure

Researchers and practitioners have invested heavily in identifying effective complaint management strategies. However, most of the strategies identified to date occur only after a service failure occurs. This article proposes that antecedent states such as an ongoing rapport with service employees c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of service research : JSR Vol. 6; no. 2; pp. 193 - 207
Main Authors DeWitt, Tom, Brady, Michael K.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published SAGE Publications 01.11.2003
Subjects
rapport
services
service recovery
customer relations
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Summary:Researchers and practitioners have invested heavily in identifying effective complaint management strategies. However, most of the strategies identified to date occur only after a service failure occurs. This article proposes that antecedent states such as an ongoing rapport with service employees can also provide service recovery benefits. Four independent studies test this approach and indicate that an existing rapport between the customer and service provider results in increased postfailure customer satisfaction, increased repatronage intentions, and decreased negative word of mouth. Yet results for complaint intentions suggest that rapport does not increase the propensity for customers to complain about poor service. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for research and practice.
ISSN:1094-6705
1552-7379
DOI:10.1177/1094670503257048