Integrating Justice Theory and Service Quality Concept to Evaluate Customer Recovery Satisfaction

Abstract

Service failure happens despite management’s effort to prevent it; therefore,appropriate handling of such situation is crucial to a company’s business strategy.The study extended the service quality concept in the recovery context toprovide a complete picture of what influence customer satisfaction in servicerecovery programs. A self-administered survey questionnaire was used to collectdata from selected graduate schools and the general public in Metro Manila,Philippines. To test the hypotheses, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used.The justice theory provides an explanation on the way customers evaluate andrespond to service recovery while the concept of service quality rationalizes whatcustomers look for in a service. It is argued that even if the context changesfrom service to service recovery, customer satisfaction is still a consequenceof a quality service. Results showed that all the recovery attributes (reliability,responsiveness and assurance) directly affect customer’s recovery satisfaction. Theinfluence of these attributes on behavioral intentions (repurchase and word-ofmouthcommunication) is mediated bythe customer’slevelof satisfaction withtherecoveryperformance.Keywords: Customer Relations Management, service failure, service recovery, recoverysatisfaction, justice theory,servicequality,descriptivedesign, Philippines