What drives customer engagement after a service failure? The moderating role of customer trust

Abstract

AbstractThis study investigated the relationships between complaint handling, customer experience, and customer engagement, as well as the moderating effect of customer trust prior to a service failure. The results were obtained from 320 Indonesian consumers of courier, express, and parcel services. Favourable employee behaviour was found to be the most effective complaint handling effort that influenced customer experience, followed by organizational procedures and then compensation, indicating that positive customer experience led to customer engagement. Additionally, this study revealed that higher levels of customer trust prior to a service failure reduced the positive effects of complaint handling efforts on customer experience. This finding suggests that customers with higher levels of trust in a firm are less sensitive to that firm's complaint handling and recovery efforts. This article contributes to the literature on customer engagement in the service failure and recovery contexts, especially in developing countries. It examines the most influential complaint handling dimensions for predicting customer engagement following service failures. Furthermore, this study is one of the first to explore the moderating role of customer trust in service failure and recovery literature.