Better him than me: social comparison theory and service recovery

Abstract

We conduct two studies to examine if, when, and why communication strategies using social comparisons can effectively restore emotional equilibrium after a service failure, and thus aid recovery efforts. In our first study, we find that after a service failure, like compensation, downward social comparisons reduce anger and improve post-purchase behavioral intentions (including exiting, complaining to management, engaging in negative word-ofmouth, and complaining to a third party). However, when two recovery tools, compensation and downward social comparisons are used together they do not have an additive effect. Additionally, we show that anger mediates the social comparison effect. In a second study, we further explore the social comparison effect and the financial compensation effect using complete and incomplete downward social comparisons and multiple levels of financial compensation. Our findings indicate that complete downward social comparisons are particularly effective at improving all four types of post-purchase behavioral intentions when financial compensation is non-existent or relatively low. Finally, we discuss implications for theory and practice.

Consumer’s Evaluation About Service Recovery: The Role of Social Comparison

“…Social comparison is a specific type of interpersonal information (Bonifield & Cole, 2008) which may occur in several contexts, as work environment (Brown, Ferris, Heller, & Keeping, 2007), service provision (Ambrose, Harland, & Kulik, 1991;Grienberger, Rutte, & Knippenberg, 1997), service recovery process (Bonifield & Cole, 2008), and price evaluations (Bolton et al, 2010;Grewal et al, 2004;Haws & Bearden, 2006;Xia et al, 2004).…”

“…Upward comparison occurs when the other person has a better performance, while downward comparison occurs when the other person has a lower performance (Argo, White, & Dahl, 2006;Aspinwall & Taylor, 1993;Bonifield & Cole, 2008;Brown et al, 2007). Upward comparison information is usually avoided in a situation of weak performance (Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Laprelle, 1985).…”

“…Downward comparisons may reinforce self-assessments and increase expectations of success among people with low self-esteem who are experiencing negative effects or natural threatens in important areas of life. Individuals who have a negative emotional experience can improve their subjective well-being when comparing to less fortunate others (Aspinwall & Taylor;Bonifield & Cole, 2008). Besides, horizontal social comparison among employees of the same hierarchical level can lead to a perception of injustice in the payment (Gartenberg & Wulf, 2017).…”

“…An exception is the study of Bonifield and Cole (2008) that analyzes the effects of compensation levels Luiza Venzke Bortoli, Cristiane Pizzutti and social comparison on distributive justice and behavior after failure. The authors found that not only social comparisons with people who received less (downward) decrease irritation and increase perceptions of distributive justice but also that compensation levels have relevance in intentions of post purchase behavior.…”

Contextual Influences: Online Service Failure and Recovery Strategies

“…These industries include fashion (Luo, Ba, & Zhang, 2012;Ozuem & Lancaster, 2014), the airline industry (Bitner et al, 1990;Ringberg, Odekerken-Schroder, & Christensen, 2007;Bonifield & Cole, 2008;Roggeveen et al, 2012;Tshin, Tanakinjal, & Sondoh, 2014), medical care (Singh, 1990;Choi & Mattila, 2008), hospitality (Bitner et al, 1990;Smith, Bolton, & Wagner, 1999;Smith & Bolton, 2002;Hess, Ganesan, & Klein, 2003;Craighead et al, 2004;Bonifield & Cole, 2008), grocery shopping (Singh, 1990), automotive repair (Singh, 1990;Craighead et al, 2004), and the financial industry (Singh, 1990;Maxham & Netemeyer, 2002;Chuang et al, 2012). Based on the reach of the analysis, it can be argued that the latter industry is perhaps the least researched area.…”