Tell us your concern, and we shall together address! Role of service booking channels and brand equity on post-failure outcomes

Abstract

The extant literature on service failure and recovery has overlooked the post-service failure evaluations when customers interact through different online service booking channels, such as direct websites (Direct) and online travel agents (OTAs). In this study, following the attribution theory and the expectation disconfirmation framework, we analyse the impact of service failure across service booking channels (direct vs. OTA) and its influence on post-service failure outcomes. Besides this, the study also examines the moderating roles of co-created service recovery and brand equity between channel type and post-recovery outcomes. A between-subjects experimental design revealed that when a service failure occurs in a direct (vs. OTA) website, it creates adverse outcomes of higher magnitude. The results also suggest that, in the case of a direct channel, co-created service recovery generates favourable service outcomes when the channel carries low brand equity. However, in the case of an OTA, the use of co-created service recovery works better when that OTA carries high level of brand equity. Further, the results also supported that these post-recovery outcomes are driven by recovery satisfaction and channel engagement. Thus, this study findings offer novel insights into online service recovery literature and managerial practice, primarily for efficient design and execution of recovery efforts across channels. • Highlights how service failures develop differential post-failure outcomes across online service booking channels, such as direct vs. OTAs. • Analyses the effectiveness of co-created service recovery across service booking channels. • Examines the role of brand equity of the booking channel in conditioning the effectiveness of online co-recovery interventions. • Insights on engagement and recovery satisfaction as parallel intervening mechanisms. • Guides practitioners working in the tourism industry about the ways to manage service failures.