Is high recovery more effective than expected recovery in addressing service failure? — A moral judgment perspective

Chen, Tong; Ma, Ke; Bian, Xuemei; Zheng, Chundong; Devlin, James

Abstract

© 2017 Elsevier Inc. In the context of two distinctive consumer categories and two different product settings, this research examines the effects of recovery on recovery performance as a function of consumer moral judgment of service failure. The findings of two studies reveal that consumers’ response to recovery anchors on the magnitude of recovery but these responses are adjusted according to consumers’ moral judgment of service failure. Specifically, consumers react more positively toward expected recovery than high recovery and these effects are pronounced when consumers are low in moral judgment of service failure. In contrast, when consumers are high in moral judgment of service failure, although high recovery (compared with expected recovery) lessens the likelihood of negative word of mouth this effect does not transfer to repurchase tendency. Product involvement does not provide alternative explanations for the findings. The findings of this research have important and meaningful implications for business providers.

Citation

Chen, T., Ma, K., Bian, X., Zheng, C., & Devlin, J. (2018). Is high recovery more effective than expected recovery in addressing service failure? — A moral judgment perspective. Journal of Business Research, 82, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.08.025

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 21, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Oct 28, 2017
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Sep 27, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 29, 2019
• Journal: Journal of Business Research
• Print ISSN: 0148-2963
• Electronic ISSN: 0148-2963
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 82
• Pages: 1-9
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.08.025
• Keywords: Service failure, Moral judgment, Recovery magnitude, Expected recovery, High recovery, Recovery performance
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/963222
• Publisher URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296317302886
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Is high recovery more effective than expected recovery in addressing service failure? — A moral judgment perspective; Journal Title: Journal of Business Research; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.08.025; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.