The impact of service failure severity on service recovery evaluations andpost-recovery relationships

Abstract

Previous research has found that interactional justice and distributive justice are critical factors influencing customer satisfaction after a service recovery. In addition, previous service recovery research has found that satisfaction is an important determinant of key outcome variables such as trust, commitment, and negative word-of-mouth. The current study extends previous research by investigating the role of service failure severity within the existing framework of service recovery research. The results indicate that service failure severity has a significant influence on satisfaction, trust, commitment, and negative word-of-mouth. The results also provide partial support for a moderating influence of service failure severity. Implications and areas for future research are discussed. © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited