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The management of unprofitable customer relationships and particularly their abandonment is a topic that has received increasing interest among practitioners and researchers over recent years. Within this manuscript, the authors aim to analyze the impact of unprofitable customer abandonment on the abandoning firm's current customers, specifically their exit, voice, and loyalty intentions toward the abandoning firm.

The study is based on an online experiment conducted among 385 US customers. Respondents were allocated randomly to one of ten conditions (five levels of tie strength x two types of abandonment strategy) and exposed to a scenario describing a customer abandonment decision implemented by a mobile phone provider. The resulting data were analyzed using a combination of analysis of variance (ANOVA) and structural equation modeling.

The study shows that current customers are significantly more likely to respond actively to unprofitable customer abandonment (exit/voice) than passively through silence and loyalty. Additionally, it shows that increasing satisfaction or switching cost among current customers are unlikely to limit the potential negative consequences of unprofitable customer abandonment. The only variable that drives the choice between exit, voice, and loyalty is the perceived attractiveness of the best alternative relationship.

This work analyzes for the first time how existing customers that the firm would like to retain react toward the news that the company proactively terminates unprofitable customer relationships. Therefore, insight is provided into the likely cost associated with unprofitable customer abandonment – a question that has not been the subject of any empirical study as of today.

This paper empirically examines the direct and indirect effects of perceived termination severity on customers' behavioral reactions via betrayal and justice. It also examines the moderating effects of attitude toward complaining (ATC).

This paper employs a quantitative method approach using a scenario-based experiment in a banking setting.

The results show that a more severe termination approach results in higher customer negative reactions. Betrayal is shown to be a key driver of customers' behavioral reactions, and ATC moderates these effects.

Future studies should examine the effects of different termination strategies in markedly different cultures and should also examine other boundary conditions such as prior warning, relationship quality and service importance in influencing customers' negative behavioral responses.

This paper contributes to the service termination literature by shedding light on the impact of termination severity on customers' reactions. It also unveils the mechanism that explains customers' reactions to service termination. Further, it reveals that ATC moderates customers' public (but not private) complaining behaviors.

Profitability considerations lead service providers to terminate service contracts with low-value customers. However, customers targeted by service contract terminations often take revenge through negative word-of-mouth (NWOM). Presently, it is unclear how service contract termination initiatives prevent this harmful side effect. The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of common service contract termination initiatives for reducing NWOM of customers whose service contracts are being cancelled. The study results provide guidance for minimizing the downside of service contract termination.

This study distinguishes between service contract termination initiatives common in practice (preannouncement, explanation, financial compensation, apology and support in finding an alternative provider). Drawing on a multi-industry survey of 245 customers who have experienced service contract terminations in real life, the authors estimate regression models to link perceived service contract termination initiatives to NWOM.

All else equal, only preannouncement and support in finding an alternative are effective to reduce NWOM. This study also shows that the right choice of service contract termination initiatives depends on the context of the termination. Making a preannouncement, offering an explanation and providing support in finding an alternative are more effective in reducing NWOM when these actions are aligned with the contextual factors of relationship duration and competitive intensity.

This study shows that service contract termination needs to address several aspects of the service termination experience. The key implication for future research is that it matters in terms of NWOM how service contract terminations are performed.

This research identifies the service contract termination initiatives that are most effective to reduce NWOM after service contract termination in general and under consideration of the moderating roles of relationship duration and competitive intensity.

While most related studies have considered customer responses to the cancellation of other customers’ contracts, this study contributes to the scarce literature on the undesirable customer responses (such as NWOM) to the termination of their own contract. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first study in this emerging stream of research that accounts for the effects of process- and outcome-oriented contract termination initiatives on NWOM. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is also the first study to account for moderators of the effect of contract termination initiatives on NWOM, namely, relationship duration and competitive intensity.

This study aims to examine the effects of organizational tactics (e.g. explanation and monetary compensation) on customers’ reactions to service termination. The mediating role of anger and the moderating role of termination strategy on the effectiveness of organizational tactics are examined to enhance the understanding of customers’ reactions to service termination.

Three experimental studies are conducted with different contexts (telecom and banking) and samples (students and consumers).

Study 1 results show that explanation and high monetary compensation reduce negative word-of-mouth and enhance corporate image and anger mediates these effects. Study 2a results show that high monetary compensation becomes ineffective when firms use a soft termination approach. Study 2b results show that an explanation is equally effective in soft and hard termination approaches. Importantly, unlike high monetary compensation, the explanation can fully eliminate the negative consequences of service termination.

Managers can mitigate negative customers’ reactions to service termination by offering a truthful explanation. Further, they should provide high monetary compensation only if they do not help dismissed customers find an alternative provider.

This paper contributes to the service termination literature by shedding more light on the effectiveness of different organizational tactics following different termination strategies. The findings challenge existing wisdom on the overrated role of monetary compensation showing that in service termination, the explanation is the most effective remedy. Further, unlike justice, anger better explains customers’ reactions to service termination.

The few studies on the effects of a sponsorship termination do not consider the effects of different exit options on consumers’ attitudes toward the exiting sponsor. To fill this gap, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of the extent of the exit (gradual vs entire) as well as the timing of the announcement (early vs late) on consumers’ attitudes. Moreover, this research considers the mediating role of the perceived abandonment of the sponsored party.

This research uses an experimental study (n=204). Data were collected among supporters of a German second division soccer team.

The results emphasize that the extent of the exit as well as the timing of the announcement influences consumers’ attitudes. They develop negative attitudes toward the withdrawing sponsor, especially when the sponsor exits entirely instead of gradually and announces the decision late instead of early. Furthermore, the results reveal that the perceived abandonment of the sponsored party mediates the effect of the extent of exit on attitudes.

The results help to formulate several exit options for the withdrawing sponsor that will help to minimize the possible negative effects on their brand. Specifically, the author recommends a gradual exit as well as an early announcement of the decision to prevent negative effects on the sponsor brand.

This study expands the research on the effects of a sponsorship termination on consumers’ attitudes toward the sponsor brand. Specifically, it is the first study that considers several aspects regarding the sponsor management of a sponsorship termination as important determinants of consumers’ attitudes.

The intention-behavior gap that occurs when one’s actions do not align with their intentions has been the topic of interest of many researchers. However, the effects of the various constructs that influence the intention-behavior gap in service failure and recovery remain under-explored to date. To fill this gap, this study aims to examine the relationship between switching intention (i.e. intention) and customer exit (i.e. behavior) and the moderating roles of failure severity and service recovery satisfaction.

To test the proposed hypotheses, the authors used a longitudinal panel involving 821 customers who actually experienced a service failure and recovery in 38 fitness centers in Brazil. The data analysis is composed of logistic regression and cross-tabulation.

The results confirmed the significant role of switching intention on customer exit and the moderating effect of failure severity (but not service recovery satisfaction) in the relationship between switching intention and customer exit. Most of all, switching intention had low explanatory power for customer exit, confirming the presence of the intention-behavior gap. The authors further identified a weaker presence of the intention-behavior gap for female (vs male) customers and for those who experienced process failure (vs outcome failure).

Although the authors confirmed the intention-behavior gap, the biggest proportion of the variance remains unexplained. Thus, it is important to explore the roles of other possible drivers, moderators and mediators.

As switching intention is not a strong predictor of customer exit, managers should not assume that those who appear to be on the verge of switching will immediately exit the service provider.

As researchers question the explanatory power of intention for actual behavior, this paper confirms that there is an intention-behavior gap in service failure and recovery. Moreover, given that most researchers have focused on the positive outcomes of service recovery efforts, such as customer loyalty and commitment, studying negative outcomes, including switching intention and customer exit, is a key contribution of this research.

The purpose of this study is to distinguish those emotions which customers express verbally during a failed remote service encounter from those which they do not. The study further attempts to investigate the post-consumption customer behaviour of verbally expressed and unexpressed negative customer emotions.

The authors used a survey-based research design. The hypotheses were tested through the “partial least squared structural equation modelling” method.

This study shows that in a failed remote service encounter, customers verbally express retaliatory rage emotions, such as anger and rage. At the same time, they are able to suppress rancorous rage emotions, such as disgust and contempt and do not express them verbally. The authors demonstrate that after emotions are verbally expressed during a failed remote service encounter, they are followed by the post-consumption behaviours of negative word of mouth and revenge; when emotions are not expressed verbally during a failed service encounter, they are followed up by exit behaviour.

The effects of variables, such as switching costs and individual and situational factors, can be investigated in the model. Future studies can also explore the role of organizational interventions, such as explanation and apology, on negative customer emotions during failed remote service encounters. Their moderating impact on customer behaviour during and after the encounters can be investigated.

This study has much practical relevance in the post-COVID-19 world, where remote service delivery is becoming the new normal in many sectors. In remote service delivery situations, verbally unexpressed negative emotions can remain undetected; however, they have negative consequences for firms. This study underscores the need to train frontline employees to notice these unexpressed emotions so that service recoveries can be initiated.

This paper contributes to the area of dysfunctional customer behaviour and service recovery. The existing literature has not explored whether some negative emotions are expressed during a failed service encounter and then acted upon later, and some emotions are not expressed but acted upon later. This study addresses the problem of firms getting caught unawares when they find customers resorting to undesirable post-consumption behaviour without demonstrating any verbal expressions during the preceding failed service encounters.

The purpose of this paper is to link customer satisfaction, switching intentions, perceived switching costs, and perceived alternative attractiveness in the context of the Bangladeshi mobile telecommunications market (MTM). In addition, this study develops three key formative determinants of customer satisfaction: financial factor, technological factor, and customer service factor.

A model is developed and tested using PLS-SEM with a sample size of 442 respondents. The three key formative determinants of customer satisfaction were developed using a panel of five industry experts.

Financial, technological, and customer service factors were found to have significant positive effects on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction and perceived switching costs were found to have a significant direct effect on switching intentions, and perceived switching costs and perceived alternative attractiveness were found to have significant moderating effects on switching intentions through customer satisfaction. However, no significant direct effect of perceived alternative attractiveness on switching intentions was found.

This is the first study to link customer satisfaction, switching intentions, perceived switching costs, and perceived alternative attractiveness using structural equation modeling in the context of the Bangladeshi MTM. In addition, three key formative determinants of customer satisfaction are developed.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of three different dimensions of switching costs on customer dissatisfaction response styles as well as on the evaluation of service recovery.

Study 1 is a scenario-based experiment and Study 2 uses a critical incident technique combined with survey-based measures of switching costs, dissatisfaction responses and perceived complaint handling.

The results of these studies highlight the need to consider the different effects of switching costs. Not only do different switching costs lead to varying customer dissatisfaction responses, they also have differential moderator effects on the interrelationships between customer-perceived recovery justice and service recovery satisfaction.

Service failure severity was an influential control variable. Future studies should investigate how the type, context and severity of service failure influence customers’ complaint behavior. Furthermore, participants had trouble differentiating between their relations toward their service provider in general and one particular employee. Hence, further research should explore the relationship between customers and frontline employees.

The authors encourage managers to take a closer look at the switching cost dimensions of their service industry. This may lead practitioners to promote differentiated strategies for complaint stimulation and complaint handling.

This is the first study to simultaneously explore all three dimensions of switching costs when examining their impact on customers’ dissatisfaction response styles as well as the moderating effects in the recovery process. In doing so, this study reveals some hitherto uncovered effects.