Service recovery: a framework and empirical investigation

Abstract

Although recovery activities are primarily managed by the operations function, service recovery has received little attention in the operations management literature. This paper outlines a framework for examining the service recovery process and then reports on an empirical study to test this framework. The results not only validate much of what is anecdotally claimed by researchers and casual observers of service industries, but also highlight the role of operational activities in service recovery. The paper then points to the need for an array of operations‐based research efforts that will lead to better understanding of the recovery process and to more empirically based descriptive and prescriptive models.

The Relationship between Service Recovery and Patronage Intentions: The Mediating Role of Relationship Quality

“…According to Zemke and Bell (1990), service recovery is "a thought-out process for returning aggravated customers to a state of satisfaction with the company after a service has failed to exceed the customer's expectations". SR contains all strategies, actions, and tactics a service provider undertakes to respond to a service failure, in order to satisfy customers and retain them (Andreassen, 2000;Miller, Craighead, and Karwan, 2000;Petzer, Steyn and Mostert 2009). It encompasses all the corrective actions to respond to a poor quality service (Gronroos, 1988).…”

Customer complaints and service policy in electronic commerce

“…Therefore, firms should have different recovery strategies to resolve customer complaints. Miller, Craighead and Karwan (2000) indicated two typical types of recovery strategies. One is a psychological form, in which a service provider apologizes to and sympathizes with their customers to comfort them and decrease customer complaints.…”

Service Poka Yoke

“…When service failures occur, service recovery is the primary way a firm can retain its customers and minimize the costs associated with customer defection and negative word of mouth (Seawright et al, 2008). According to Miller et al (2000), service recovery involves those actions designed to resolve problems, alter negative attitudes of dissatisfied customers and to ultimately retain these customers; Moreover, it includes situations in which a service failure occurs but no complaint is lodged by the customers (Smith et al, 1999). Johnson (1994) expresses service recovery as to "seek out and deal with service failures".…”

“…The critical incident technique (i.e. open-ended survey), which allows respondents to highlight any service problem they have encountered in order to identify and assess service recovery strategies, has been addressed and used by Bitner et al (1990), Kelley et al (1993), Johnston (1994), Hoffman et al, (1995, Tax et al (1998), Miller et al (2000 and Lewis and Spyrakopoulos (2001). The strategies they identified could be classified as:…”

“…The interventions of senior employee management were found to be important by Kelley et al (1993) and Hoffman et al (1995); but Lewis and Spyrakopoulos (2001) and Miller et al (2000) identified benefits, if recovery is handled by front-line staff.…”