Search results

All hypothesized relationships were significant. Specifically, H1 was supported as disconfirmation and surprising consumption were significantly correlated. Moreover, arousal (H2) and outrage (H4a) were functions of surprising consumption and negative affect (H3) and outrage (H4b) were functions of arousal. H4c was also supported as negative affect had a significant direct effect on consumer outrage. In addition, disconfirmation had negative direct effects on both negative affect (H5) and dissatisfaction (H6a) and dissatisfaction was a function of negative affect. Finally, both outrage (H7a) and dissatisfaction (H7b) had significant negative effects on behavioral intentions.

Respondents were recruited to participate in the data collection in a “college town” in the Southeastern United States. Respondents were provided a paper and pencil data collection instrument that include complete survey instructions and the balance of the research design. To adequately test all hypotheses, the researchers developed a unique scenario that described an extreme service failure that takes place during a hotel check-in. Each respondent was asked to read the scenario and then reflect upon it as they responded to items that assessed their feelings toward the hotel check-in experience.

The results provide additional evidence in support of the existence of the satisfaction-dissatisfaction continuum, as well as specifically identifying the affective nature of levels of satisfaction that fall surprisingly well-below the zone of tolerance. The authors feel that the present study is a necessary step to provide a more comprehensive view of the satisfaction-dissatisfaction continuum. Likewise, the authors posit initial evidence of the antecedents and consequences of consumer outrage. This research supports the prior assumptions of Westbrook (1987) about the vast detrimental effects of negative affective responses to service or product failures.

Future research needs to discover just how extremely deficient service has to be to elicit outrage. Is outrage a personal phenomenon with every consumer experiencing it to different degrees? As such, is outrage triggered at different points on the satisfaction-dissatisfaction continuum? The zone of tolerance seems to suggest this, but it would be interesting to discover if at some collective level of dissatisfaction consumers generally begin to show signs of outrage. Likewise, it would be interesting to understand how the level and pattern of outrage results in customers exiting the relationship but also results in loyal customers becoming enemies (e.g. Gregiore et al., 2009; Gregiore and Fisher, 2008).

The motivation for the current study is both pragmatic and theoretical. As alluded to above, it is evident that the level of service customers’ emotional responses to their service experiences are increasing in frequency and intensity. These negative emotions affect the efficacy of service workers and impede the financial performance of service providers. The popular mantra of “anti-woke” consumers, “Go Woke, Go Broke,” is indicative of the importance of negative emotion. Sometimes referred to as “brand activism” (Moorman, 2020; Sarkar and Kotlet, 2019), recent public stances on social and political issues have led to a boycott of Gillette razors, the burning of Nike shoes, and the canceling of Costco Memberships in what has been called “virtue signaling” (Vredenburg et al., 2020). While none of these actions are desirable, the importance of investigating the impact of strong negative emotions (i.e. outrage) is further demonstrated in reports that 65% of consumers expect companies to authentically support such issues (Barton et al., 2018; Edelman, 2018; Larcker and Tayan, 2018; Moorman, 2020).

This study aims to descriptively identify and refine the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in the retail banking employee–customer contact context, and prescriptively use this knowledge to develop a framework for improving true customer service without excess organizational cost, in Lebanon.

The research adopts the classical interpretive/constructivist ontology and the interpretivism/constructivism epistemology, and it rests on a tripod of methodological foundations. The first leg is the theoretical work that sets the extant scientific ground for the empirical work to develop. The second incorporates the main (qualitative) empirical tools, i.e. 40 interviews with customers and HR managers (NVivo-analyzed), plus a critical incident technique study. The third includes the supportive tools of secondary data and an expert panel composed of industry and scholarly specialists.

EI was empirically shown to modulate the levels of customer satisfaction and to hold a critical role in the company–customer interface, albeit one that is currently and unjustly both undervalued and ineffectively controlled. The findings identify the key factors and exhibited behavioral attributes of EI within the customer service process, and they integrate all into a comprehensive framework of both scholarly and executive worth.

This study provides distinct theoretical elucidations and conceptualization that have identified and interrelated the relevant works on the subject; empirically refines the variables involved in the EI context of retail banking customer service; and culminates in the form of the proposed framework that incorporates and interrelates the findings into an empirical-data-based composition of both scholarly and executive orientation and worth.

This study aims to conceptualize the potential stimuli and consequences of perceived yuanfen in the accommodation service encounter by interpreting how Chinese customers perceive yuanfen during their stay in accommodations.

Online accommodation reviews containing yuanfen perception were interpreted using a grounded theory approach. Group interviews were conducted to verify the interpretations.

Positive outcome-generated emotional accommodation experiences (e.g. happiness) can elicit perceived yuanfen, which then evokes customers’ feelings of gratitude, emotional attachment to an accommodation and memorable accommodation experiences. Also, perceived yuanfen facilitates customers’ tolerance of service failures and promotes customers’ intention to stay longer at, recommend and revisit the accommodation.

This study contributes to the literature on accommodation experiences, loyalty, word-of-mouth and service recovery. Future research can explore the interventions that trigger Chinese customers’ perceived yuanfen during accommodation.

This study informs practitioners of the importance of perceived yuanfen in enhancing accommodation experiences and service recovery. Moreover, the conceptualized characteristics and stimuli of perceived yuanfen offer possible guidelines for practitioners on how to stimulate customers’ yuanfen perception.

This study fills the gap of how perceived yuanfen functions in the service encounters in accommodations.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of service recovery experiences on customer engagement in negative word-of-mouth (WOM) in the hotel industry and explore the psychological motives and mediating mechanisms driving consumer behavior.

A scenario-based experimental design on Qualtrics was used, with a pre-test (N = 200). The main study data were collected using Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform.

Findings reveal that negative service experiences lead to higher engagement in negative WOM compared to positive and satisfactory recovery service experiences. Even well-executed recovery efforts may not completely eliminate negative WOM. The mediating role of emotional responses is substantiated, as heightened negative service experiences result in more intense negative emotional responses, leading to increased engagement in negative WOM.

The study emphasizes the importance of service recovery strategies and the need for businesses to consistently strive for exceptional service quality. It also highlights the complexity of customer reactions to service experiences, suggesting that further research is needed to explore the factors that minimize negative WOM across various service contexts.

The purpose of this study is to investigate characteristics of apparel-related critical incidents that motivate both Generation Z and Y consumers to share electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) via specific online channels.

The current research used an exploratory mixed-methods approach.

Qualitative findings of critical incidents revealed that the main situations that led to the spread of eWOM involved new purchases (49%), product quality (21%), pricing and promotions (19%), complaints (9%) and brand content (48%). Participants were motivated to spread information about the critical incidents by a desire to connect with friends and family (83%), help others (37%), influence others (48%) and express brand loyalty (32%). Quantitative results indicated significant relationships between critical incidents, motivations and eWOM channel choice.

This study has theoretical implications for apparel researchers attempting to gain insight into critical incidents that motivate consumers to engage in eWOM on specific channels in a positive or negative manner.

These findings are important for marketers as it appears that brand content does an efficient job at driving engagement on SM; marketers need to increase efforts to engage with consumers via feedback on websites, as this is an opportunity to counteract negative experiences and retain consumers’ loyalty.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the current research is the first to extend theories of communication and motivation to connect critical incidents with situational intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for spreading eWOM via online channels for Millennial and Generation Z consumers.

Artificial intelligence (AI) agents have been increasingly applied in the tourism and hospitality industry. However, AI service failure is inevitable. Thus, AI service recovery merits empirical investigation. This study aims to explore how AI empathic accuracy affects customers’ satisfaction in the context of AI service recovery.

A moderated mediation model was presented to describe the effect of empathic accuracy on customer satisfaction via four scenario-based experiments.

The results reveal the positive impact of AI empathic accuracy on customer satisfaction and the mediating effects of perceived agency and perceived experience. Moreover, anthropomorphism moderates the empathic accuracy effect.

This paper expanded AI service studies by exploring the significance of empathic accuracy in customer recovery satisfaction. The results provide a novel theoretical viewpoint on retaining customers following AI service failure.

人工智能（AI）设备已越来越多地应用于旅游业和酒店业。然而, AI服务失败是不可避免的。因此, AI服务补救值得进一步实证研究。本研究探讨了AI共情准确性如何影响顾客对AI服务补救的满意度。

通过四个基于场景的实验, 提出了一个有调节的中介模型来描述共情准确性对顾客满意度的影响。

结果揭示了AI共情准确性对顾客满意度有积极影响, 感知能动性和感知感受性具有中介效应。此外, 拟人化调节了共情准确性的效应。

本文通过探讨共情准确性在顾客服务补救满意度中的作用, 拓展了AI服务研究。研究结果为AI服务失败后如何留住顾客提供了新的理论视角。

Las agentes de inteligencia artificial (IA) se aplican cada vez más en el sector del turismo y la hostelería. Sin embargo, los fallos de los servicios de IA son inevitables. Por lo tanto, la recuperación de servicios de IA merece una investigación empírica. Esta investigación explora cómo la precisión empática de la IA afecta a la satisfacción de los clientes con la recuperación del servicio de IA.

Se presentó un modelo de mediación moderado para describir el efecto de la precisión empática en la satisfacción del cliente mediante cuatro experimentos basados en escenarios.

Los resultados revelan el impacto positivo de la precisión empática de la IA en la satisfacción del cliente y los efectos mediadores de la agencia percibida y la experiencia percibida. Además, el antropomorfismo modera el efecto de la precisión empática.

Este artículo amplía los estudios sobre los servicios de IA al investigar el papel de la precisión empática en la satisfacción del cliente. Los resultados aportan un punto de vista teórico novedoso sobre la retención de clientes tras el fallo de un servicio de IA.

The purpose of this commentary is to present a critically constructive examination of the contribution of service research to the development of services from institutions that offer fair and sustainable living for all humans.

The authors draw upon critical thinking and critical social theory to problematise the neoliberal agenda (e.g. marketisation and privatisation) that shapes the service ecosystems within which the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and service research relating to SDG11 – sustainable cities and communities – and SDG16 – peace, justice and strong institutions – are often based. The authors critically review extant literature aimed at these goals and present constructive pathways for transformative social change to foster fair and sustainable living for all.

The authors find that the United Nations institutions, the SDGs and the service ecosystems that shape the research and practice addressing SDG11 and SDG16 are often grounded in neoliberal capitalist ideology that may inhibit transformative change. While service research has made some relevant and important contributions to support the development of services from institutions that offer fair and sustainable living, there is a need to consider alternative assumptions upon which service research and service design can be based to fully realise such transformative goals.

This commentary encourages service research scholars to engage with critically constructive perspectives that harness critique for transformative change.

Service research offering a view of both the dark and bright sides of smart technology remains scarce. This paper embraces a critical perspective and examines the conflicting outcomes of smart services on the customer experience (CX), with a specific focus on chatbots.

This study uses empirical research methods to examine a single case study where an online retail service provider implemented a chatbot for customer service. Using discourse analysis, we analysed 7,167 conversations between customers and the chatbot over a two-year period.

The analysis identifies seven general themes related to the effects of the chatbot on CX: interaction quality, information gathering, procedure literacy, task achievement, digital trust, shopping stress and shopping journey. We illuminate both positive (i.e. having a pleasant interaction, providing information, knowing procedures, improving tasks, increasing trust, reducing stress and completing the journey) and negative outcomes (i.e. having an unpleasant interaction, increasing confusion, ignoring procedures, worsening tasks, reducing trust, increasing stress and abandoning the journey).

The paper develops a comprehensive framework to offer a clearer view of chatbots as smart services in customer care. It delves into the conflicting effects of chatbots on CX by examining them through relational, cognitive, affective and behavioural dimensions.

This study aims to develop and test an integrative model that examines the effects of customization and perceived employee authenticity on customer delight, which in turn influences customers’ willingness to recommend (WTR) and willingness to pay a premium (WTPP) as outcomes in a hotel context. The moderating role of online review valence in this process is also examined.

This study adopts a 2 (customization: low vs high) × 2 (perceived employee authenticity: low vs high) × 2 (online review valence: negative vs positive) experimental design. A total of 409 US consumers were recruited and randomly assigned to a hotel check-in scenario. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships.

Findings confirmed the role of customer delight in mediating customization and employee authenticity on WTR and WTPP. In addition, perceived employee authenticity was a stronger driver of customer delight for consumers exposed to negative online reviews than for those exposed to positive reviews.

The findings provide useful guidance in designing efficient service strategies for generating a delightful customer experience. Hotel practitioners should provide customized services and manage employees in a way that helps them deliver authentic services that achieve customer delight. Understanding that customer expectations formed through online reviews play a significant role in service evaluations, hotel managers make an extra effort to monitor online reviews and manage customer expectations.

Although existing research suggests that customer delight plays an important role in positive consumer outcomes, there is still potential space to explore the theoretical mediational mechanisms underlying this effect and the moderating effect on this relationship between customer delight and consumer responses. This study contributes by testing the moderating impact of online review valence and the mediating impact of customer delight.

Service failure and recovery encounters are often witnessed by other customers, but little is known about how these encounters impacts other customers. With an aim to bridge this gap, the purpose of the paper is to explore why and how service recovery directed at a focal customer impacts other customers who are present in the same service environment.

The paper follows a qualitative research methodology. Purposive sampling was used to collect data from 30 customers through semi-structured face-to-face interviews. The data was analysed using thematic analysis.

Findings of the study show that service recovery directed at a focal customer has an impact on other customers' fairness judgments, emotions, service quality perceptions and behaviour. Other customers' behavioural reactions in response to observed service recovery are driven by two different motives: self-interest and moral obligation. Observing customers' cautious behaviour and (re)purchase behaviour are found to be primarily driven by self-interest, whereas their helping behaviour, punishment behaviour and word-of-mouth behaviour are found to be driven by moral obligation.

This study findings contribute to theory development on “other-oriented” effects of service recovery and provides valuable insights for effective management of service failures in the shared service environment.

This is the first study, which qualitatively explores the “other customers” perspective of service recovery in the context of shared servicescape.