Teddy-bear effect in service recovery

Abstract

The extent of the widely demonstrated babyface effect in other disciplines remains understudied in hospitality-based service failure situations. By addressing this research gap, our pioneer study based on the Stereotype Content Model adopts four scenario-based experiments (text and video) with results revealing that a babyfaced (vs. mature faced) service provider has a more positive effect on consumer forgiveness and recovery satisfaction. However, the babyface effect diminishes while the mature face effect increases as service failure severity increases. Furthermore, warmth or competence inference is found to play a mediating role depending on service failure severity. This paper not only extends the well-documented babyface effect into tourism and hospitality but also provides cost-effective service recovery strategies by involving service providers' facial traits.