Justice strategy options for increased customer satisfaction in a services recovery setting

Customer reactions to service failure depend on what is done to fix problems (outcomes), as well as how they are resolved (processes).

“Many service recovery studies have pointed out that customer reactions to service failure depend on what is done to fix problems (outcomes), as well as how they are resolved (processes) (e.g., Mattila and Patterson 2004;Sparks and McColl-Kennedy 2001).”

Perceptions of justice affect overall satisfaction with the service encounter.

“In addition, in the services literature, it has been found that perceptions of justice affect the overall satisfaction with the service encounter (Mattila and Cranage 2005;Smith, Bolton, and Wagner 1999;Sparks and McColl-Kennedy 2001;Tax, Brown, and Chandrashekaran 1998).”

Providing a customer an opportunity to voice his or her complaint influences perceived procedural justice.

“It is well documented in the marketing literature on service recovery that providing a customer an opportunity to voice his or her complaint influences the perceived procedural justice (e.g., Sparks and McColl-Kennedy 2001).”

Encouraging customers to voice their complaints typically enhances customer satisfaction ratings.

“Within the context of service recovery, earlier research has found that encouraging customers to voice their complaints typically enhances customer satisfaction ratings (Sparks and McColl-Kennedy 2001).”

Past research has operationalized voice as the willingness of a customer to air his or her complaint to a firm.

“Past research has operationalized voice as the willingness of a customer to air his or her complaint to a firm (e.g., Didow and Barksdale 1982;Goodwin and Ross 1992;Sparks and McColl-Kennedy 2001).”