Expressing gratitude versus empathetic apology: which one is better to use as an initial recovery strategy after a service failure?

Abstract

PurposeThe main purpose of this work is to evaluate the different psychological impacts of two initial verbal recovery strategies (gratitude vs empathetic apology) on the consumers' loyalty after a service failure. The proposed theoretical model also appraises the mediating role of two emotional responses (consumer forgiveness, consumer anger) and consumer self-esteem and the moderating role of self-oriented perfectionism.Design/methodology/approachTwo studies (i.e. an experimental design and a field study) are considered for this investigation to assess the effectiveness of gratitude expression versus empathetic apology on post-recovery loyalty and test the effects of mediators and the moderator applied between the verbal recovery strategies and post-recovery loyalty.FindingsThe results of Study 1 revealed the supremacy of gratitude to empathetic apology in maintaining consumers' loyalty after service failure recovery. The better impact of gratitude expressed in increasing post-recovery loyalty is mediated through the elevation of consumers' forgiveness, the reduction of consumers' anger and consumers' self-esteem. The findings of Study 2 indicated that gratitude increases more post-recovery loyalty through individuals with a high level of self-oriented perfectionism.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research could examine other service failure situations, different types of service recovery, mediators or moderators, which contribute to the service marketing literature.Practical implicationsAfter a service failure, using gratitude expressions to consumers often makes them feel better and more valuable.Originality/valueThis work increases service providers' knowledge in using proper expressions after a service failure to help elevate consumers' positive reactions resulting in maintaining their loyalty.

Facilitation of Customer Empathy: The Effect of Robot Apology on Customer Reaction Following a Service Failure

“…Until now, the research on the effect of robot service recovery on consumer satisfaction is limited. Due to service failure frequency and adverse subsequences, it is important to find cost-effective and easy-to-implement effective recovery methods to retain consumers (Ahmadi & Fakhimi, 2021). Previous studies have highlighted that apology is one of the most convenient and cost-saving approaches (Tzeng, 2004).…”

Customer responses to airline companies' service failure and recovery strategies: the moderating role of service failure habit

“…In a similar vein, previous research has examined the relationships between service failure, recovery strategy, customer forgiveness (CF) and re-patronage intention (RI) in various contexts and settings, including the airline industry (Joireman et al , 2013; Ahmadi and Fakhimi, 2021). However, to the best of our knowledge, before the current work, few studies had investigated CF in a service context, especially within the airline setting in the Middle Eastern (ME) region (Rasouli et al , 2022).…”