The Service Encounter: Diagnosing Favorable and Unfavorable Incidents
Abstract
The service encounter frequently is the service from the customer's point of view. Using the critical incident method, the authors collected 700 incidents from customers of airlines, hotels, and restaurants. The incidents were categorized to isolate the particular events and related behaviors of contact employees that cause customers to distinguish very satisfactory service encounters from very dissatisfactory ones. Key implications for managers and researchers are highlighted.
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Consumers attribute staff behavior to firm management, so better service prompts consumers to give credit to the firm, facilitating affect transfer across customer-staff and customer-firm levels.
“Moreover, according to attribution theory, consumers attribute the staff's behavior to firm management (Bitner, Booms, and Tetrault 1990), so better service prompts consumers to give credit to the firm, which facilitates affect transfer across the customer-staff and customer-firm levels.”
From Strengthening Customer Loyalty through Intimacy and Passion: Roles of Customer–Firm Affection and Customer–Staff Relationships in Services (2008) · cites this paper as Bitner, Booms, and Tetrault 1990
The scenario approach offers researchers more control.
“offers researchers more control (Bitner, Booms, and Tetreault 1990)”
From Recovery Voice and Satisfaction After Service Failure: An Experimental Investigation of Mediating and Moderating Factors (2007) · cites this paper as Bitner, Booms, and Tetreault 1990
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- Authors
- Bitner, M. J., Booms, B. H., & Tetreault, M. S.
- Affiliations
- Arizona State University (US)
- Washington State University (US)
- George Mason University (US)
- ORCID
- Bitner, Mary Jo
- Venue
- Journal of Marketing
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1990-01
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 71-84
- ISSN
- 0022-2429 (ISSN-L)
- 1547-7185
- OpenAlex
- W1995561053
- Cited by
- 4,860
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 80 · 2025: 81 · 2024: 102 · 2023: 118 · 2022: 130 · 2021: 142 · 2020: 197 · 2019: 180 · 2018: 193 · 2017: 190 · 2016: 230 · 2015: 254 · 2014: 261 · 2013: 257 · 2012: 239
- FWCI
- 38.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Marketing (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Customer Service Quality and Loyalty
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Emotional Labor in Professions
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Service and Product Innovation
- Keywords
- service encounters, customer satisfaction, critical incident technique, service quality, airline customers, hotel guests, retail consumers
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