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Recovering from other-customer-caused failure: the effect on focal customer complaining

journal contribution
posted on 2017-01-01, 00:00 authored by Lisa McQuilken, Nichola RobertsonNichola Robertson, Michael PolonskyMichael Polonsky
In the high-contact restaurant context, customers frequently “overstay,” which negatively influences focal customers waiting for tables. We examine service recovery of this failure, otherwise termed an other-customer-caused failure (OCCF) by restaurants, and its influence on focal customer complaint intentions to the organization, namely vent and voice. OCCFs are commonplace and can have a damaging effect on service organizations, and thus need to be managed; yet empirical examination of their recovery is scarce. We address this by testing the effect of the recovery actions of wait comfort, service-worker effort, and apology on focal customers’ vent and voice complaint intentions. We found that these recovery actions interact complexly. Wait comfort is obligatory in reducing customer complaints, while effort and apology are substitutable when a comfortable wait is provided. This is an important contribution, as wait comfort has not previously been examined as a recovery action.

History

Journal

Journal of hospitality marketing and management

Volume

26

Issue

1

Pagination

83 - 104

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Location

London, Eng.

ISSN

1936-8623

eISSN

1936-8631

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal; C Journal article

Copyright notice

2016, Taylor & Francis