E-tailing service recovery and customer satisfaction and loyalty: Does perceived distributive justice matter?

Abstract

We built an e-tailing service recovery research framework to explore the effect of online service recovery on postrecovery customer satisfaction and loyalty after service failure. We also investigated the mediating role of customer perceived distributive justice in the relationship between service recovery and recovery effects. We conducted a survey with 330 undergraduate students in Beijing. The results showed that both psychological and tangible recovery were significantly related to customer perceived distributive justice. Psychological recovery and distributive justice also positively influenced postrecovery customer satisfaction. The positive impact of tangible recovery on postrecovery satisfaction was not significant. Psychological and tangible recovery and distributive justice all positively affected customer loyalty. The mediating role of distributive justice in the relationship between online service recovery and recovery effects was also confirmed. These findings show that e-tailers should pay more attention to both psychological and tangible recovery after service failure to retain customer satisfaction and loyalty.