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The role of collective angst during and after a service failure

Amro A. Maher (Department of Marketing and Management, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar)
Rana Sobh (Department of Marketing and Management, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar)

Journal of Services Marketing

ISSN: 0887-6045

Article publication date: 6 May 2014

779

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of collective angst, the concern about the future viability of one’s group, during service failure and recovery.

Design/methodology/approach

To test this objective the authors utilize an experiment to examine how Kuwaitis react to service failures when the front-line employee is a foreigner.

Findings

The results indicate that collective angst is associated with greater anger following a service failure. The authors also find that collective angst moderates the impact of cultural distance on anger and recommendation intentions following a service-failure recovery attempt. More specifically, cultural distance leads to greater anger and lower intentions to recommend a service establishment for consumers that experience greater collective angst.

Originality/value

The research provides the first attempt at examining how local consumers react to foreigner service providers, by examining how concern about the future vitality of one’s national group, in other words collective angst, affects such reactions.

Keywords

Citation

A. Maher, A. and Sobh, R. (2014), "The role of collective angst during and after a service failure", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 28 No. 3, pp. 223-232. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-10-2012-0203

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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