On the importance of complaint handling design: a multi-level analysis of the impact in specific complaint situations

Homburg, Christian; Fürst, Andreas; Koschate, Nicole

doi:10.1007/s11747-009-0172-y

Cited by 61 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 83 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Implementing these complaint-handling activities, however, produces highly heterogeneous responses from customers (Beverland et al 2010;Homburg, Fürst, and Koschate 2010;Smith et al 1999;Smith and Bolton 1998). We argue that this variation in the responses to complaint handling is not random.…”

Section: Conceptual Framework and Hypotheses Developmentmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…To do so, we build a link between complaint handling and profitability that can help practitioners to make more adequate resource allocation decisions on the basis of a financial assessment of alternative complaint-handling initiatives. Second, prior studies have offered preliminary evidence about the heterogeneous nature of customer responses to alternative complaint-resolution mechanisms (Roschk and Gelbrich 2014;Homburg, Fürst, and Koschate 2010;Hess, Ganesan, and Klein 2003). In this study, we not only consider customer heterogeneity explicitly by developing a latent class modeling approach but also offer a theoretical understanding of why different complainthandling initiatives are differently effective at improving profitability.…”

Section: "Unless Decision Makers Fully Understand Customer Complaint mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this study, and consistent with prior research (Grégoire, Tripp, and Legoux 2009;Smith, Bolton, and Wagner 1999), we believe that the customer relationship and the failure context are critical elements that can potentially explain the differences in customer responses to complaint-handling efforts. We consider relationship strength as a central relationship-related characteristic (Homburg, Fürst, and Koschate 2010) and failure type as a critical failure context aspect (Smith, Bolton, and Wagner 1999). In addition to having received considerable support in prior research as moderators of complaint handling (Kaltcheva et al 2013;Ringberg et al 2007), these two variables help us to understand the types of resources that customers lose in a failure episode: economic vs. social resources (Smith, Bolton, and Wagner 1999).…”

Section: Conceptual Framework and Hypotheses Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this study, we provide an understanding of the differences in effectiveness of alternative complaint-handling initiatives. Prior research has provided some preliminary evidence about the heterogeneous nature of customer responses to complaint handling, showing that different complaint-resolution mechanisms produce highly heterogeneous responses from customers (Roschk and Gelbrich 2014;Homburg, Fürst, and Koschate 2010;Hess, Ganesan, and Klein 2003). In our research, we empirically corroborate this result and show that the effectiveness of timeliness, compensation and communications in increasing customer profitability differs significantly.…”

Section: Theoretical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Managing Complaints to Improve Customer Profitability

Cambra‐Fierro

Melero

Sesé

2015

Journal of Retailing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:In this study, the authors aim to understand whether, to what extent, and under what circumstances, organizational responses to customer complaints improve customer profitability. To do so, they build upon the congruence approach and propose a contingency framework in which the effectiveness of three organizational responses to customer complaints (timeliness, compensation and communications) in improving customer profitability is contingent upon the strength of the relationship and the type of failure. The framework is tested empirically in the financial services industry applying latent class techniques to longitudinal data for a sample of complaining customers. The results reveal that:(1) different complaint-handling initiatives affect customer profitability differently for each of the four segments of complaining customers that are obtained; (2) these heterogeneous responses to complaint handling are explained by differences in the orientation of the relationship and in the failure context; and (3) complaint-handling initiatives are more (less) effective at improving customer profitability when the benefits they offer strongly (poorly) match the benefits sought by customers in each segment to recover from the failure. These results contribute to a better theoretical understanding of customers' heterogeneous responses to complaint handling and offer managerial recommendations to allocate marketing resources across alternative complaint-handling strategies to improve profitability.

show abstract

Section: Conceptual Framework and Hypotheses Developmentmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: "Unless Decision Makers Fully Understand Customer Complaint mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conceptual Framework and Hypotheses Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Managing Complaints to Improve Customer Profitability

Cambra‐Fierro

Melero

Sesé

2015

Journal of Retailing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Having a sustainable trust helps organizations plan for long term planning and there are different studies to learn the effects of various factors on building trust (Chang et al, 2006;Homburg et al, 2010). According to Bunker and Ball (2005), trust with a focal service organization before a service failure and recovery, and commitment afterwards, could be influenced by previous serious service failures with other firms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An investigation on the effects of justice on customer’s trust in insurance firms

Aziziha¹,

Ghorbanifard²,

Mousavi³

et al. 2014

10.5267/j.msl

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

They forgot me! The exclusionary effects among complaining consumers when others receive a response

Ben,

Shukla

2024

Psychology and Marketing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Complaint management is often considered a significant cost center, and it may be difficult for companies to treat all complainers equally in physical settings where complainers can observe each other's treatment. How do complainers feel when other complainers receive a response from the company, but they do not? We introduce and conceptualize a complainer exclusion construct that incorporates the complainer's observation of theirs and other complainers' treatment. Drawing on the theory of ostracism, three studies employing varying industry and complaint settings, reveal that perceptions of exclusion underpin complainers' re‐complaining intentions (Study 1). Moreover, this effect is intensified when earlier complainers witness the later complainers receive a response, suggesting temporal order of complaints as an important boundary condition (Study 2). Contrarily, shifting complainers' primary focus away from the unpleasant experience through a distraction weakens the re‐complaining intentions among complainers feeling exclusion (Study 3). This research has significant implications for managing complaint management systems, avoiding perceived exclusion among complainers, and effectively reducing the likelihood of worse outcomes for all stakeholders.

show abstract

On the importance of complaint handling design: a multi-level analysis of the impact in specific complaint situations

Cited by 61 publications

References 83 publications

Managing Complaints to Improve Customer Profitability

Managing Complaints to Improve Customer Profitability

An investigation on the effects of justice on customer’s trust in insurance firms

They forgot me! The exclusionary effects among complaining consumers when others receive a response

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About