I would have felt better if only ... or, how to enhance customer satisfaction following service problems

Abstract

This paper presents a discussion of the use of Fairness Theory in better understanding consumer responses to service failures. By adopting an exploratory approach through the use of focus groups, preliminary evidence emerged to illustrate the ways in which customers view service failures. In particular, the results showed that consumers could often think of a range of ways that the service failure might have been managed. Importantly, consumers' emotional responses (such as the degree of anger felt) varied depending upon how easy it would have been to resolve the service failure in a way other than what was experienced.