The Consequences of Service Encounter Failures at Shopping Centers: A Study of Visually Impaired Consumers

Abstract

The enactment of the Brazilian Law on the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in 2015 has had a number of implications for marketing researchers, as it guarantees the right of disabled persons to inclusion in different public and private spaces for leisure and consumption, such as shopping centers. Despite the growth of these consumption spaces in Brazil, service encounter failures are recurrent, particularly when the consumers are visually impaired. The objective of the present study is thus to understand the consequences of service encounter failures at shopping centers on the consumer behavior of the visually impaired. A phenomenological qualitative approach was used to achieve the objective. Data were collected through direct naturalistic observations of the research subjects and nine face-to-face interviews with visually impaired consumers. Using content analysis to examine the results, it was concluded that there are a number of different service encounter failures, such as an excessive display of pity from salespeople towards consumers, contempt, and abrupt changes in the service script. For this reason, the service encounter failures had a range of consequences, from verbal confrontation and abandoning the transaction to negative word-of-mouth and expressions of frustration on online social networks. The study also presents managerial and academic contributions for marketing researchers.