THE EFFECTS OF PERCEIVED SATISFACTION WITH SERVICE RECOVERY EFFORTS: A STUDY IN A HOTEL SETTING

In the service industry, the importance of achieving the satisfaction of all involved agents is widely recognized. It is important to note that within the service sector, the hospitality sector involves a high degree of personal contact between hotel staff and customers, during which various misunderstandings can result in service failures. Therefore, instruments that enable learning about and solving problems emerging from customers now serve as one of the most important elements of the hospitality industry. In this context, the objective of answering the call for more studies investigating the effectiveness of recovery efforts and discovering their effects to perceived customer satisfaction, following a service recovery process, and customer behavior outcomes towards a hotel which had dropped the ball but later offered a solution. A structural equation model using a sample of 274 valid questionnaires, obtained from hotel establishment customers who had experienced failed service provisions and who had shown their discontent with these services, was used to examine these issues. The results confirm a significant and positive effect between the analyzed relations and also reinforce the importance of recovery efforts on satisfaction in service recovery and also determine the impact of that perceived satisfaction on behavioral outcomes of the affected consumers. Additionally, the empirical results show that communication and explanation are the dimensions of importance to consumers when they report a service failure to a service firm. Based on these results, this study recommends designing recovery process in such a way to get maximum advantage of this phenomenon. Therefore, organizations should offer dissatisfied customers with the option to choose among various recovery options.