Negative Critical Incidents Research Articles

The structure of affective reactions to critical incidents

The present study examines affective reactions to positive and negative critical incidents in public transport and their impact on satisfaction. Forty-one respondents who used public transport rather frequently read descriptions of four positive critical incidents, four negative critical incidents, and four neutral incidents. They were asked to rate how they would feel if the incidents happened to them. The ratings were obtained on 12 bipolar affect adjective scales and three satisfaction scales. The results showed that the critical incidents varied in both unpleasantness–pleasantness and deactivation–activation. Satisfaction with public transport was, however, only accounted for by unpleasantness–pleasantness.

Critical incident techniques

The traditional critical incident technique (CIT) and variants of the same have frequently been applied in service research for several decades. The technique has often been used to capture data on and analyse both negative and positive critical incidents. While one technique displays hosts of critical incidents in benchmark‐type series (SIT), another variant describes the dynamism in one discrete critical incident and a third the dynamism of the configuration of critical incidents (SPAT). In this article the different variants are discussed in relation to psychological theory focusing on the concepts of time, history and memory. To be able to analyse the criticality from the individual customer’s perspective, we argue that one must understand the significance of critical incidents in the light of human memory mechanisms and judgement processes. The discussion forms the basis for suggesting a new, tentative framework for analysing the criticality of critical incidents. We call this criticality critical incident technique (CCIT).

Frequency of negative critical incidents and satisfaction with public transport services. I

A mail survey was conducted to investigate factors affecting public transport users’ satisfaction with the service. The respondents were residents of a metropolitan area of Sweden. A model was proposed and estimated using the maximum-likelihood method available in LISREL VIII. In the model, overall cumulative satisfaction is positively related to attribute-specific cumulative satisfaction which in turn is negatively related to the remembered frequency of negative critical incidents. In addition, measurement models indicated that both attribute-specific satisfaction and the frequency of negative critical incidents are related to treatment by employee, reliability of service, simplicity of information, and design.

Frequency of negative critical incidents and satisfaction with public transport services. II

A stated-preference study was conducted to investigate user satisfaction with public transport services. A convenience sample of 95 public transport users participated. The results of a previous large-scale survey were replicated in showing that overall satisfaction is related to satisfaction with treatment by employee, reliability of service, simplicity of information, and design. It was further shown that the total frequency of negative critical incidents affected overall satisfaction whereas the frequencies of different types of negative critical incidents selectively affected attribute-specific satisfaction. In both cases relative rather than absolute frequency was important.

Is a critical incident critical for a customer relationship?

Focuses on the criticality of critical incidents in customer relationships. Aims to discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the notion of “critical” in a critical incident. Why is something perceived as critical? What does it lead to? Is criticality a feature built into the service or is it a contextually‐defined phenomenon, depending both on the customer, the service provider, the interaction and the surrounding relationship environment? Suggests a contextual framework for describing, analysing and understanding critical incidents, based on the idea that critical incidents are always embedded in customer relationships. Two interdependent context dimensions are used: the time dimension, and the situational dimension. These elements, combined, lead to a focus on customer‐perceived and relationship‐oriented contexts, which reveal new insights into the role of critical incidents. This framework is used in an empirical study concerning business customers’ perceptions of “critical incidents” in their relationship with a hotel. The findings indicate that the majority of positive and negative critical incidents reported had only a minor impact on customer behavior.

Academic Adjustment and Learning Processes: a comparison of international and local students in first‐year university

This article examines the academic adjustment and learning processes of international and local first‐year students. Twenty first‐year local and international students participated in a semi‐structured interview study upon the completion of their first year in a Faculty of Commerce and Management. Students reported positive and negative critical incidents which helped or hindered their learning during the first year. In addition, students described their feelings, thoughts and behaviours in relation to these incidents. Critical incidents were coded, themes identified, and comparisons made across local and international student groups. The impact of particular teaching processes are considered, and implications for teaching and learning in the first year are discussed.

When the desert floods: Military relief work, attributing clean-up responsibility, and future helping intentions following the Katherine flood

AbstractAttribution theory has seldom been applied to assess the impact of community disaster relief work on military personnel, despite a clear prediction from Actor-Observer theory that direct experience of the community's environment will increase helpers' motivation to help in future crises. In the wake of the Northern Territory's Katherine River Flood in January 1998, 31 Royal Australian Army relief workers and 21 army personnel not posted to relief work attributed responsibility for cleaning-up homes, shops and businesses in the recently flood-affected South Pacific communities of Katherine, Townsville, and the Cook Islands. Direct experience of disaster relief work was not associated with any systematic differences in dispositional or situational attributions, although the latter were generally linked to intention to help in future crises. Occasional rumours of negative critical incidents with the local community, although rare considering the magnitude of the relief effort, may have partly coloured the experience of seeing the tragedy first-hand, which would suggest a need to research the Negative Information Bias and the psychology of rumour in future disaster recovery projects.

A Critical Incident Approach to Examining the Effects of Service Failures on Customer Relationships

This article presents the results of empirical studies of critical incidents in airline services in Sweden and the United States. The main aim is to describe and analyze service break downs from the customer's point of view and thus create a basis for crisis management. The aim is also to compare Sweden, a monopoly market, with the United States, a market with keen competition in airline services. The discussion is based on personal interviews with 320 customers and 80 airline employees in Sweden and 241 customers and 100 employees in the United States. The study focuses on negative critical incidents in the relations between the service provider and business passengers.

Consumer response to service and product quality: A study of motor vehicle owners

AbstractThere is currently much interest in the idea of integrated quality management for durable products, extending from the product design, development and manufacturing process and through the ownership cycle of the product. We have carried out a logit analysis of events pertaining to a critical incident model which demonstrates how quality in both the product and its supporting services, as well as the interactions between these factors, can affect owner intentions regarding future purchases. The model was evaluated through a study of 659 motor vehicle owners. Two of our specific conclusions are: (1) our data suggests that owners tend to have a tolerance towards negative vehicle incidents, but negative service incidents can harm owner perceptions of both the dealer and the manufacturer, and (2) positive critical incidents can counteract negative critical incidents. Proactively creating positive service incidents and avoiding negative service incidents can help improve customer loyalty to the service agent and counteract negative vehicle incidents which affect loyalty to the manufacturer. We also suggest that the results from this study may be generalizable to service and product quality management for other types of equipment.

A critical incident study of general practice trainees in their basic general practice term.

To obtain information on the experiences of general practice (GP) trainees during their first general practice (GP) attachment. Critical incident technique--a qualitative analysis of open-ended interviews about incidents which describe competent or poor professional practice. Thirty-nine Western Australian doctors from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners' (RACGP) Family Medicine Program who were completing their first six months of general practice in 1992. Doctors reported 180 critical incidents, of which just over 50% involved problems (and sometimes successes) with: difficult patients; paediatrics; the doctor-patient relationship; counselling skills; obstetrics and gynaecology; relationships with other health professionals and practice staff; and cardiovascular disorders. The major skills associated with both positive and negative critical incidents were: the interpersonal skills of rapport and listening; the diagnostic skills of thorough clinical assessment and the appropriate use of investigations; and the management skills of knowing when and how to obtain help from supervisors, hospitals and specialists. Doctors reported high levels of anxiety over difficult management decisions and feelings of guilt over missed diagnoses and inadequate management. The initial GP term is a crucial transition period in the development of the future general practitioner. An analysis of commonly recurring positive and negative critical incidents can be used by the RACGP Training Program to accelerate the learning process of doctors in vocational training and has implications for the planning of undergraduate curricula.

Service Breakdowns: A Study of Critical Incidents in an Airline

Presents the results of an empirical study of critical incidents in an airline. Describes and analyses service breakdowns from the customers′ point of view and thus creates a basis for “crisis management”. The discussion is based on interviews with 320 customers and 80 airline employees. Focuses on negative critical incidents in the relations between the service provider and business passengers. Provides a background as to why quality in services is an important aspect of management and a major research field. Discusses the typical features of service production and defines the term critical incident. Considers the strengths and weaknesses of the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) and describes the choice of method and model for the empirical study. Presents and discusses the results of the survey. Reveals, among other things, that there is a considerable difference between the way customers perceive critical incidents and the view of the airline employees as to what causes critical situations for the customer. This shows how important direct information from customers is. Further, it appears that many critical incidents can be explained by faults in the production system, primarily regarding information to and communication with customers.