Risk Perception and Reduction in the Purchase of Consumer Services

Abstract

It is suggested that the four main characteristics of services, intangibility, heterogeneity, perishability and inseparability, greatly increase the degree of perceived risk in the purchase of services by decreasing the certainty with which purchases can be made. A review of the literature shows that the only two studies have considered the difference in risk between goods and services. The present study reports in more detail on the differences in perceived risk, its component losses and of the usefulness of fourteen risk relievers in the purchase of six services. The results confirm the hypothesis that services are riskier than products and that this riskiness is primarily due to extra uncertainty in the purchase of services. The importance of losses and the usefulness of risk relievers for six service offerings are reported and indicate financial loss as being the most important loss and brand loyalty as most important risk reliever.