Although double deviation (i.e., unsatisfactory service recovery) is an acknowledged phenomenon in the field of marketing, little attention has been devoted to determining what actions firms can take to restore consumer trust in the wake of such an event. Across four experimental studies of different populations and service sectors, we show that double deviation intensifies the trust violation generated by the initial service failure and that recovery from double deviations requires fundamentally different strategies than recovery from single deviations. Our results suggest that financial compensation is not an especially effective strategy for double deviations compared to the effectiveness of apologies and promises that the problem will not occur in the future. However, it is important for firms to match the type of double deviation to the recovery strategy, with apologies being more effective for integrity violations and promises being more effective for competence violations.
BaumgartnerThomasFischbacherUrsFeierabendAnjaLutzKaiFehrErnst (2009), “The Neural Circuitry of a Broken Promise,” Neuron, 64 (5), 756–770.
2.
BitnerMary JoBoomsBernard H.TetreaultMary Stanfield (1990), “The Service Encounter: Diagnosing Favorable and Unfavorable Incidents,” Journal of Marketing, 54 (1), 71–84.
3.
BoshoffChristo (1997), “An Experimental Study of Service Recovery Options,” International Journal of Service Industry Management, 8 (2), 110–130.
4.
BougieRogerPietersRikZeelenbergMarcel (2003), “Angry Customers Don’t Come Back, They Get Back: The Experience and Behavioral Implications of Anger and Dissatisfaction in Services,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 31 (4), 377–393.
5.
CalderBobby J.BurnkrantRobert E. (1977), “Interpersonal Influence on Consumer Behavior: An Attribution Theory Approach,” Journal of Consumer Research, 4 (1), 29–38.
6.
ChoiBeomjoonLaSuna (2013), “The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Customer Trust on the Restoration of Loyalty After Service Failure and Recovery,” Journal of Services Marketing, 27 (3), 223–233.
7.
CremerDavid (2010), “To Pay or to Apologize? On the Psychology of Dealing with Unfair Offers in a Dictator Game,” Journal of Economic Psychology, 31 (6), 843–848.
8.
CrosbyLawrence A.EvansKenneth R.CowlesDeborah (1990), “Relationship Quality in Services Selling: An Interpersonal Influence Perspective,” Journal of Marketing, 54 (3), 68–81.
9.
DavidowMoshe (2000), “The Bottom Line Impact of Organizational Responses to Customer Complaints,” Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 24 (4), 473–490.
10.
de RuyterKoWetzelsMartin (2000), “Customer Equity Considerations in Service Recovery: A Cross-Industry Perspective,” International Journal of Service Industry Management, 11 (1), 91–108.
11.
DewittTomNguyenDoan T.MarshallRoger (2008), “Exploring Customer Loyalty Following Service Recovery: The Mediating Effects of Trust and Emotions,” Journal of Service Research, 10 (3), 269–281.
12.
DirksKurt T.KimPeter H.FerrinDonald L.CooperCecily D. (2011), “Understanding the Effects of Substantive Responses on Trust Following a Transgression,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 114 (2), 87–103.
13.
DoneyPatricia M.CannonJoseph P. (1997), “An Examination of the Nature of Trust in Buyer-Seller Relationships,” Journal of Marketing, 61 (2), 35–51.
14.
EastlickMary AnnLotzSherry L.WarringtonPatricia (2006), “Understanding Online B-to-C Relationships: An Integrated Model of Privacy Concerns, Trust, and Commitment,” Journal of Business Research, 59 (8), 877–886.
15.
FrantzCynthia McPhersonBennigsonCourtney (2005), “Better Late than Early: The Influence of Timing on Apology Effectiveness,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 41 (2), 201–207.
16.
GelbrichKatja (2010), “Anger, Frustration, and Helplessness After Service Failure: Coping Strategies and Effective Informational Support,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 38 (5), 567–585.
17.
GoodwinCathyRossIvan (1990), “Consumer Evaluations of Responses to Complaints: What’s Fair and Why,” Journal of Consumer Marketing, 7 (2), 39–47.
18.
GrégoireYanyTrippThomas M.LegouxRenaud (2009), “When Customer Love Turns into Lasting Hate: The Effects of Relationship Strength and Time on Customer Revenge and Avoidance,” Journal of Marketing, 73 (6), 18–32.
19.
GrégoireYanyFisherRobert J. (2006), “The Effects of Relationship Quality on Customer Retaliation,” Marketing Letters, 17 (1), 31–46.
20.
HareliShlomoEisikovitsZvi (2006), “The Role of Communicating Social Emotions Accompanying Apologies in Forgiveness,” Motivation and Emotion, 30 (3), 189–197.
21.
HollowayBetsy BuggWangSijunBeattySharon E. (2009), “Betrayal? Relationship Quality Implications in Service Recovery,” Journal of Services Marketing, 23 (6), 385–396.
22.
JohnstonRobertFernAdrian (1999), “Service Recovery Strategies for Single and Double Deviation Scenarios,” Service Industries Journal, 19 (2), 69–82.
23.
JoiremanJeffGrégoireYanyDevezerBernaTrippThomas M. (2013), “When Do Customers Offer Firms a “Second Chance” Following a Double Deviation? The Impact of Inferred Firm Motives on Customer Revenge and Reconciliation,” Journal of Retailing, 89 (3), 315–337.
24.
KauAh-KengLohElizabeth Wan-Yiun (2006), “The Effects of Service Recovery on Consumer Satisfaction: A Comparison between Complainants and Non-complainants,” Journal of Services Marketing, 20 (2), 101–111.
25.
KelleyHarold H.MichelaJohn L. (1980), “Attribution Theory and Research,” Annual Review of Psychology, 31 (1), 457–501.
26.
KimPeter H.FerrinDonald L.CooperCecily D.DirksKurt T. (2004), “Removing the Shadow of Suspicion: The Effects of Apology versus Denial for Repairing Competence- versus Integrity-based Trust Violations,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 89 (1), 104–118.
27.
LaerTomde RuyterKo (2010), “In Stories We Trust: How Narrative Apologies Provide Cover for Competitive Vulnerability After Integrity-Violating Blog Posts,” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 27 (2), 164–174.
28.
LewickiRoy J.BunkerBarbara Benedict (1996), “Developing and Maintaining Trust in Work Relationships,” in Trust in Organizations: Frontiers of Theory and Research, KramerRoderick M.TylerTom R., eds. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 114–139.
29.
LiaoHui (2007), “Do It Right This Time: The Role of Employee Service Recovery Performance in Customer-Perceived Justice and Customer Loyalty After Service Failures,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 92 (2), 475–489.
30.
MattilaAnna S. (2001), “The Impact of Relationship Type on Customer Loyalty in a Context of Service Failures,” Journal of Service Research, 4 (2), 91–101.
31.
MaxhamJames G.IIINetemeyerRichard G. (2002), “A Longitudinal Study of Complaining Customers’ Evaluations of Multiple Service Failures and Recovery Efforts,” Journal of Marketing, 66 (4), 57–71.
32.
MccolloughMichael A.BerryLeonard L.YadavManjit S. (2000), “An Empirical Investigation of Customer Satisfaction After Service Failure and Recovery,” Journal of Service Research, 3 (2), 121–137.
33.
MorganRobert M.HuntShelby D. (1994), “The Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing,” Journal of Marketing, 58 (3), 20–38.
34.
OhbuchiKen-IchiKamedaMasuyoAgarieNariyuki (1989), “Apology as Aggression Control: Its Role in Mediating Appraisal of and Response to Harm,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56 (2), 219–227.
35.
OrsingherChiaraValentiniSarade AngelisMatteo (2010), “A Meta-Analysis of Satisfaction with Complaint Handling in Services,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 38 (2), 169–186.
36.
RoschkHolgerGelbrichKatja (2014), “Identifying Appropriate Compensation Types for Service Failures: A Meta-Analytic and Experimental Analysis,” Journal of Service Research, 17 (2), 195–211.
37.
SchumannJan H.FlorianWangenheimAnneStringfellowZhilinYangSandraPraxmarerVeraBlazevicRandallShannonShaineshG.KomorM.FernandoJimenez-Arevalo. (2010), “Drivers of Trust in Relational Service Exchange: Understanding the Importance of Cross-Cultural Differences.” Journal of Service Research, 13 (4), 453–468.
38.
SchweitzerMaurice E.HersheyJohn C.BradlowEric T. (2006), “Promises and Lies: Restoring Violated Trust,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 101 (1), 1–19.
39.
SirdeshmukhDeepakSinghJagdipSabolBarry (2002), “Consumer Trust, Value, and Loyalty in Relational Exchanges,” Journal of Marketing, 66 (1), 15–37.
40.
SkowronskiJohn J.CarlstonDonal E. (1987), “Social Judgment and Social Memory: The Role of Cue Diagnosticity in Negativity, Positivity, and Extremity Biases,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52 (4), 689–699.
41.
SmithAmy K.BoltonRuth N. (2002), “The Effect of Customers’ Emotional Responses to Service Failures on Their Recovery Effort Evaluations and Satisfaction Judgments,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 30 (1), 5–23.
42.
SmithAmy K.BoltonRuth N.WagnerJanet (1999), “A Model of Customer Satisfaction with Service Encounters Involving Failure and Recovery,” Journal of Marketing Research, 36 (3), 356–372.
43.
TaxStephen S.BrownStephen W.ChandrashekaranMurali (1998), “Customer Evaluations of Service Complaint Experiences: Implications for Relationship Marketing,” Journal of Marketing, 62 (2), 60–76.
44.
TomlinsonEdward C. (2012), “The Impact of Apologies and Promises on Post-violation Trust: The Mediating Role of Interactional Justice,” International Journal of Conflict Management, 23 (3), 224–247.
45.
TomlinsonEdward C.DineenBrian R.LewickiRoy J. (2004), “The Road to Reconciliation: Antecedents of Victim Willingness to Reconcile Following a Broken Promise,” Journal of Management, 30 (2), 165–187.
46.
TrippThomas M.GrégoireYany (2011), “When Unhappy Customers Strike Back on the Internet,” MIT Sloan Management Review, 52 (3), 37–44.
47.
WangSijunHuffLenard C. (2007), “Explaining Buyers ‘Responses to Sellers’Violation of Trust,” European Journal of Marketing, 41 (9/10), 1033–1052.
48.
WeunSeungoogBeattySharon E.JonesMichael A. (2004), “The Impact of Service Failure Severity on Service Recovery Evaluations and Post-Recovery Relationships,” Journal of Services Marketing, 18 (2), 133–146.
49.
WirtzJochenMattilaAnna S. (2004), “Consumer Responses to Compensation, Speed of Recovery and Apology After a Service Failure,” International Journal of Service Industry Management, 15 (2), 150–166.
50.
XieYiPengSiqing (2009), “How to Repair Customer Trust after Negative Publicity: The Roles of Competence, Integrity, Benevolence, and Forgiveness,” Psychology & Marketing, 26 (7), 572–589.
51.
ZhaoXinshuLynchJohn G.JrChenQimei (2010), “Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and Truths about Mediation Analysis,” Journal of Consumer Research, 37 (2), 197–206.
