The Effect of Recovery Locus Attributions and Service Failure Severity on Word-of-Mouth and Repurchase Behaviors in the Hospitality Industry

Abstract

Based on a survey of 377 American hospitality customers, this study examines the effect of recovery locus attributions and service failure severity on customer word-of-mouth and repurchase behaviors. Findings indicate that for satisfactory recoveries attributed to a hospitality firm, relative to employee or customer attributions, the customer is more likely to discuss the encounter, share information with a wider social network, and both convince others to use the service provider and to have repatronized the firm. The results also suggest that the more severe the initial failure, the greater the likelihood that a critical incident had been discussed with a wider social network and the greater the likelihood of warning and convincing others to not patronize the hospitality organization. For unsuccessful (i.e., dissatisfactory) hospitality-based recovery attempts, the recovery locus attribution was not significantly associated with the word-of-mouth and repurchase behaviors investigated in this study.