This paper explores the effectiveness of different types of recovery measures in restoring customer satisfaction and loyalty once service failure has occurred in a customer's restaurant-dining experience. Specifically, the research reported here investigates the impact of four types of service failure recovery efforts in restaurant service consumption situations that differ in degree of criticality–-an apology, a 25 percent discount, a 50 percent discount, and an offer to re-perform the service immediately. The results indicate that criticality of service consumption interacts significantly with the type of service recovery effort in shaping customers’ felt satisfaction and loyalty. In other words, the effect of the restaurant service recovery effort on customer satisfaction and loyalty depends on the criticality of service consumption. Managerial implications are given.
AlbrechtC. and ZemkeR. (1985). Service America.Homewood, IL: Dow Jones-Irwin.
2.
AndersonE. W., FornellC. and LehmannD. R. (1994, July). Customer satisfaction, market share, and profitability: Findings from Sweden.Journal of Marketing,58, 53–66.
3.
BeckerW. S. and WellinsR. S. (1990, March). Customer-service perceptions and reality.Training and Development Journal,49–51.
4.
BitnerM. J., BoomsB. H. and MohrL. A. (1994, October). Critical service encounters: The employee's viewpoint.Journal of Marketing,58, 95–106.
5.
BitnerM. J., BoomsB. H. and TetreaultM. S. (1990, January). The service encounter: Diagnosing favorable and unfavorable incidents.Journal of Marketing,54, 71–84.
6.
BoltonR. N. and DrewJ. H. (1991, March). A multi-stage model of customers’ assessment of service quality and value.Journal of Consumer Research,17, 375–384.
7.
ClarkeK. and BelkR. W. (1979). The effects of product involvement and task definition on anticipated consumer effort. In WilkieW.L. (Ed.), Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 6, (pp. 313–318). Miami, FL: Association of Consumer Research.
8.
DickA. S. and BasuK. (1994, Spring). Customer loyalty: Toward an integrated conceptual framework.Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,22, 99–113.
9.
DubeL., RenaghanL. M. and MillerJ. M. (1994, February). Measuring customer satisfaction for strategic management.The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly,25(1), 39–47.
10.
DwyerF. R. (1980, Summer). Channel-member satisfaction: Laboratory insights.Journal of Retailing,56, 45–65.
11.
EtzelM. J. and SilvermanB. I. (1981, Fall). A managerial perspective on directions for retail customer dissatisfaction research.Journal of Retailing,57, 124–136.
12.
FirnstahlT.W. (1989, July-August). My employees are my service guarantees.Harvard Business Review,67, 4–8.
13.
GillyM. C. (1987, Winter). Postcomplaint processes: From organizational response to repurchase behavior.Journal of Consumer Affairs,21, 293–311.
14.
GoodwinC. and RossI. (1992). Consumer responses to service failures: Influence of procedural and interactional fairness perceptions.Journal of Business Research,25, 149–163.
15.
HartC. L., HeskettJ. L. and SasserW. L.Jr. (1990, July/August). The profitable art of service recovery.Harvard Business Review,68, 148–156.
16.
HoffmanK. D., KelleyS. W. and RotalskyH. M. (1995). Tracking service failures and employee recovery efforts.Journal of Services Marketing,9(2), 49–61.
17.
KelleyS. W., HoffmanK. D. and DavisM. A. (1993, Winter). A typology of retail failures and recoveries.Journal of Retailing,69, 429–452.
OstromA. and lacobucciD. (1995, January). Consumer trade-offs and the evaluation of services.Journal of Marketing,59, 17–28.
20.
ParasuramanA., ZeithamlV. A. and BerryL. L. (1985, Fall). A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research.Journal of Marketing,49, 41–50.
21.
ParasuramanA., ZeithamlV. A. and BerryL. L (1986, Spring). SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality.Journal of Retailing,64, 12–40.
22.
ReichheldF. F. and SasserW. E. (1990, September/October). Zero defections: Quality comes to service.Harvard Business Review,68, 105–111.
23.
StevensP., KnutsonB. and PattonM. (1995, April). DINESERV: A tool for measuring service quality in restaurants.The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly,56–59.
24.
TaylorS. (1994, April). Waiting for service: The relationship between delays and evaluations of service.Journal of Marketing,58, 56–69.
25.
WestJ. J. and OlsenM. D. (1990). Grand strategy: Making your restaurant a winner.The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly,31, 72–77.
26.
WestbrookR.A. (1987, August). Product/consumption-based affective responses and postpurchase processes.Journal of Marketing Research,24.
