The role of cause and affect in service failure

Abstract

PurposeThe primary purpose of this paper is to explore the role of emotions that consumers experience as a result of assigning causal attributions to service failures. The secondary purpose is to consider the effects of each of these emotions on behavioral outcomes.Design/methodology/approachThis paper extends the work of Wetzer, Zeelenberg, and Pieters regarding emotions and draws upon the existing literature to present a series of research propositions tying attributions to emotions and emotions to behavioral outcomes.FindingsWhen a service failure occurs, customers experience any of a variety of negative emotions. The particular emotional reaction depends on the customer's perception of why the service failure occurred in the first place. Behavioral outcomes associated with service recovery therefore depend directly on the negative emotion and indirectly on the customer's perception of the cause.Practical implicationsTo the extent that marketing managers can frame the cause of the service failure in their post‐failure communications, recovery satisfaction may be increased leading, in turn, to more positive customer response outcomes. The specific managerial implications depend upon the emotional response experienced by the customer.Originality/valueResearch to date looking at causal attributions in service failure is limited to attributions based on stability and controllability and ties them to very few emotions; this paper identifies six attributions and ties each to a specific emotion. The behavioral outcomes of reconciliation and share‐of‐wallet are added to the traditional outcomes of repatronage intentions and negative word‐of‐mouth.

Negative Reviews, Positive Impact: Consumer Empathetic Responding to Unfair Word of Mouth

“…Moreover, work has shown that attributing an outcome (i.e., falling) on the dimension of controllability (i.e., being ill vs. being drunk) can lead to feelings such as pity or anger, which subsequently motivate either supportive or nonsupportive responses (Morales 2005;Weiner 1995). The majority of work on attributions in service failure contexts supports the notion of a pathway through anger (Bonifield and Cole 2007;Folkes, Koletsky, and Graham 1987) leading to retaliatory behavior (Andreassen 1999;Harrison-Walker 2012). To our knowledge, existing work has not examined how attributions may influence positive reactions to firms, such as increased empathy or compassion.…”

Multicultural Personality Traits and Employee-Perceived Service Quality in the Hospitality Industry: The Mediating Role of Cross-Cultural Psychological Capital

“…In addition to clarifying personality traits through the use of cultural indicators, research revealed that experiencing diff erent cultures plays an important role in understanding the communication process in multicultural contexts (Harrison-Walker, 2012). In multicultural structures, including those in the hospitality sector, a reinforced (cross-cultural) communication process enhances customer satisfaction and improves relational exchange among employees (Harrison-Walker, 2012;Ihtiyar & Ahmad, 2014). This contributes to the better understanding and prediction of customer behaviors in a multicultural service environment (Wu & Chen, 2015).…”

“…This contributes to the better understanding and prediction of customer behaviors in a multicultural service environment (Wu & Chen, 2015). In other words, in multicultural service environments, service providers should consider the personalities and communication processes of their employees and customers to increase positive customer experiences (Harrison-Walker, 2012;Ihtiyar & Ahmad, 2014;Wu & Chen, 2015).…”

The power of sophistication: How service design cues help in service failures

“…Nevertheless, while the body of research suggests the important role played by service environment designs on consumer emotions and behavioral intentions (Pullman & Gross, ; Petzer, De Meyer, Svari, & Svensson, ; Sengupta, Balaji, & Krishnan, ), insights into whether service designs can influence consumers' responses after service failures remain unknown. Service failures occur when providers fail to meet consumers' expectations (Zeithaml, Berry, & Parasuraman, ), generating adverse effects on consumer behavior (e.g., Bonifield & Cole, ; Harrison‐Walker, ; Reynolds & Harris, ). From a practical standpoint, service failures cost businesses around $62 billion per year due to the loss of disappointed clientele (Forbes, ).…”