Difficulty is a possibility: turning service recovery into e-WOM

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to identify the factors of service recovery strategy that affect customer satisfaction. In addition, this study aims to explore the relationship between consumer satisfaction with service recovery and electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) in the online context. Design/methodology/approach A self-administered questionnaire is designed and administered through an online survey. This study evaluates the proposed framework through structural equation modeling with online survey data from 425 samples in the context of online buying. Findings The results show that explanation, effort, response speed, problem-solving and apology are the components predicting service recovery strategy. These factors have impacts on customer satisfaction with service recovery and also generate e-WOM about service recovery experiences. This study significantly contributes to not only practical insights but also the expansion of expectation confirmation theory and social exchange theory regarding online service failures. Research limitations/implications Samples from non-internet shoppers are not collected because this study focuses on consumers referring to purchase online. Testing this conceptual model for other populations, such as non-online consumers, including the moderating effect of gender, age and education on the relationships proposed in the model may be an interesting extension. Moreover, this study does not distinguish different types of online retailers. Practical implications This study highlights the significant effect of customer satisfaction with service recovery on e-WOM. That is, managers should focus on not only making customers satisfied with their initial purchase but also enhancing customer satisfaction with service recovery in case the service failure occurs to encourage positive interaction among customers. This case will also improve the organizational image of a firm. Originality/value This study contributes to the identification of service recovery actions that focus on the roles of employees in dealing with service failures and their impacts on customer satisfaction in the online shopping context. In addition, the findings provide a greater understanding of the importance of customer satisfaction on e-WOM.

Customer Education in Omnichannel Marketing – A Systematic Literature Review

“…The role of the online environment grows. It is visible in the part of electronic word of mouth or user-generated content [Luong et al, 2020] but also -in team building. Virtual classrooms create an experience close to an actual meeting with other students and teachers [Killedar, 2008].…”

An empirical study on the imbalance phenomenon of data from recommendation questionnaires in the tourism sector

“…Hotels attributes are key to customer positive experience as they directly affect customer satisfaction and consequently influence loyalty (Gallarza et al, 2016;Baniya and Thapa, 2017;Bergel et al, 2019;Kunja et al, 2021;Luong et al, 2020;Nguyen et al, 2022) and future intentions to purchase (Akinci and Aksoy, 2019;Bergel et al, 2019). After the current situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, technology innovation is likely to play a key role in the hotel industry recovery, primarily focussing on guest interaction with employee's reduction and enhanced cleaning (Heinonen and Strandvik, 2020;Shin and Kang, 2020).…”

“…The relationship between satisfaction and recommendation has been extensively studied in the specialized tourism sector literature (Bowen and Chen, 2001;Kandampully and Suhartanto, 2000;Oh, 1999;Raza et al, 2012;Oklevik et al, 2018;Sukhu et al, 2019;Luong et al, 2020;Serra-Cantallops et al, 2018). Most research focuses on how satisfaction affects recommendation (Serra-Cantallops et al, 2018;Luong et al, 2020;Nguyen et al, 2022) rather than focussing on the importance of imbalanced data assessment in the hotel recommendation models and its impact on the decision-making process.…”

“…According to some authors, the satisfaction of tourists is directly related to their attempt to revisit or recommend the establishment (Zeithaml et al, 1996;Yoon and Uysal, 2005;Gonz alez et al, 2007;Moliner et al, 2015;Luong et al, 2020). It should be borne in mind that a satisfied customer does not have to be loyal and customer loyalty does imply satisfaction (Oliver, 1999;Gallarza et al, 2016;Baniya and Thapa, 2017;Serra-Cantallops et al, 2018).…”

“…Many studies refer to this behaviour of recommending to others as Word Of Mouth (WOM) intention (Dabholkar et al, 1995;Luong et al, 2020) and electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) recommendation (Ladhari and Michaud, 2015). Marketing studies point to the strength of WOM and eWOM as possessing greater effectiveness than traditional advertising (Cantallops and Salvi, 2014;Kotler et al, 2010).…”