An Exploration of the Role of Service Recovery in Negative Electronic Word-of-Mouth Management

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the factors that influence consumers’ electronic word-of-mouth (EWOM) revision behaviors and repurchase in the e-commerce context. As an overarching theory, service recovery theory is consulted and important variables, including perceived justice, service failure severity, service recovery expectation and service recovery satisfaction, are discussed to develop focal hypotheses. For the empirical testing of the proposed hypotheses, the structural equation model and measurements were designed based on relevant literature. A survey was conducted in South Korea to validate the research model. The findings illustrate that perceived justice, service failure severity and service recovery expectation significantly influence service recovery satisfaction. And it leads to intention to revise EWOM and repurchase intention. The moderating role of perceived revision request was also found in the analysis. Based on the findings, several theoretical contributions and managerial implications are discussed.