Abstract
Persistent poor service delivery will have a harmful impact on the survival and growth prospects of service firms. The literature contends that, if service failures occur, there are strategies that service firms can employ to return customers to a state of satisfaction. Very little scholarly research has been done, however, to assess the satisfaction of customers after service firms have tried to recover from service failure. Although anecdotal evidence suggest it, no empirical research has been done to confirm that effective service recovery will ensure ‘overall’ satisfaction, or the long-term loyalty of complaining customers.The purpose of this study is to assess the validity and reliability of an instrument purported to measure satisfaction with service recovery (RECOVSAT), and to determine which dimensions of service recovery satisfaction are the most important predictors of overall satisfaction and loyalty.
Highlights
The discipline of marketing is primarily based on the philosophy of the so-called ‘marketing concept’ (Perreault & McCarthy, 1996)
The results also show that the there is a slight difference in the impact of different service recovery dimensions on a relatively short-term dimension such as Satisfaction, as opposed to a relatively long-term dimension such as Loyalty
While the appropriate communication style is important to both, it is important to note that while Tangibles do not influence the short-term measure of Satisfaction, they certainly do influence the long-term measure of Loyalty
Summary
The discipline of marketing is primarily based on the philosophy of the so-called ‘marketing concept’ (Perreault & McCarthy, 1996). Adherence to the marketing concept should lead to a firm-wide customer orientation which places the understanding of customer needs and wants at the centre of efforts to tailor product or service offerings, in order to satisfy those needs. Many firms fail to implement the marketing concept properly during their daily activities. Newspaper headlines such as ‘Wrong foot amputated’ and ‘SAA apologises for leaving child on plane’ are not uncommon. The argument goes, is an intangible entity, and needs a different and unique marketing approach when compared to marketing a physical product. The situation-specific and ‘immediate’ nature of service delivery and service failure calls for relatively speedy and effective attempts to recover from poor service delivery, in order to avoid the resultant harmful outcomes
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