The impact of consumer confusion on the service recovery effect of Online Travel Agency (OTA)

• Published in: Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) Vol. 42; no. 28; pp. 24339 - 24348
• Main Authors: Wei, Jiahua, Liu, Minkun, Li, Wei, Hou, Zhiping, Li, Lei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.10.2023; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Behavioral Science and Psychology; Business models; Consumer behavior; Consumers; Corporate image; Customer relations; Customer satisfaction; Customer services; Emotions; Failure; Hotels & motels; Hypotheses; Internet; Marketing research; Online services; Psychology; Social Sciences; Technology application; Tourism; Travel agencies; Travel agents; Word of mouth advertising; China; Consumer repurchase intention; Negative word-of-mouth; Consumer forgiveness; OTA; Consumer confusion
• ISSN: 1046-1310; 1936-4733
• DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-03540-x

This study carried out a scenario experiment in Guangxi, China, and used a questionnaire to obtain the research data of the subjects to explore the service recovery effect of local online travel agencies (OTAs) from the perspective of consumer psychology. The empirical results show that consumer confusion will significantly worsen negative word-of-mouth, and negative word-of-mouth will reduce their repurchase intention. In the above empirical impact relationship research, it shows that negative word-of-mouth and consumer forgiveness play a mediating effect and a moderating effect respectively. Because this study is conducive to responding to and solving the new scenario and problems in the practice of OTA services. It will help to improve the risk resistance of OTA enterprises by providing effective service recovery strategies for these enterprises.