Rethinking service recovery strategies

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...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of service research : JSR Vol. 6; no. 2; p. 193
Main Authors DeWitt, Tom, Brady, Michael K
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Thousand Oaks SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC 01.11.2003
Subjects
Complaints
Consumers
Customer relations
Customer relationship management
Customer retention
Customer satisfaction
Customer services
Employees
Failure
Hypotheses
Independent study
Marketing
Perceptions
Quality of service
Service industries
Studies
Variables
Word of mouth advertising
United States > US
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
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. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:1094-6705
1552-7379