Service recovery's influence on consumer satisfaction, positive word-of-mouth, and purchase intentions

This paper reports two studies (i.e., an experimental design and a field study) that examine the effects that different levels of service recovery have on satisfaction, purchase intentions, and one's propensity to spread positive word-of-mouth (WOM). The results indicate that moderate to high service recovery efforts significantly increase post-failure levels of satisfaction, purchase intent, and positive WOM. Alternatively, poor service recoveries seemingly exacerbate the discontent attributed to a service failure. The results do not support a recovery paradox, whereby post-recovery satisfaction is greater than that satisfaction prior to the service failure. In addition, the studies suggest that firms may not always benefit (in terms of consumer perceptions) from service recovery efforts over and above a moderate level. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.