Alleviating the negative impact of delayed recovery: process- versus outcome-focused explanations

Abstract

Purpose

Limited research has explored the potential marketing strategies to counter the damage associated with delayed recovery. Based on the construal level theory, this study seeks to suggest that customers tend to focus on different aspects of the compensation according to the speed of recovery. Thus, providing an adequate explanation to customers corresponding to expected recovery speed can effectively alleviate customer dissatisfaction with a delayed recovery.

Design/methodology/approach

This study examined the proposed hypotheses using a 2 (immediate vs delayed) by 2 (explanation: process-focused vs outcome-focused) experimental design.

Findings

The analytical results show that when an immediate recovery is available, an outcome-focused explanation will result in higher post-failure satisfaction than will a process-focused explanation. Conversely, when a delayed recovery is expected, post-failure satisfaction is higher for customers who receive a process-focused explanation than for those who receive an outcome-focused explanation.

Practical implications

This study thus recommends that firms should provide explanations compatible with expected recovery speed to better enhance post-failure satisfaction.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the body of service recovery literature by examining the differential effectiveness of outcome-focused and process-focused explanations under immediate and delayed recovery conditions. The findings provide a guideline that managers can use to formulate suitable explanations to alleviate the detrimental effects of delayed recovery.

Citation

Chang, C.-C. and Chen, C.-Y. (2013), "Alleviating the negative impact of delayed recovery: process- versus outcome-focused explanations", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 27 No. 7, pp. 564-571. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-06-2012-0097