Study Unit 10 - Chapter 15 Flashcards
(19 cards)
Causes of service failures
= service failure implies the inability of a service organisation to meet customer expecatations
-examples of service failures
* malfunctioning
* incorrectness
* unavailability
* latenes
* slowness
* uncaring, impolite, unresponsive, unkwowledgeable staff
Customer complaint behaviour
- customer enters a service encounter with predetermined expectations (E)
- during & after the service encounter( such as making an international flight reservation with a travel agent), the customer compares actual performance (P) with those expectations
- if performance is equal to what was expected (P=E) or exceeds expectations (P>E),, then the customer is likely to be satisfied with the encounter, which will lead to at least thre positibe oucomes
Customer complaint behaviour
-3 positive outcomes
- Will enhance the customer’s attitude towards the service provider
- Will enhance retention (repeat purchases) & loyalty towards the provider
- Will lead to positive word-of-mouth communication
Customer complaint behaviour
- 3 responses if performance of service provider falls shorts of customer’s expectations
- Exit
- destructive as no attempt is made by the service organisation to maintain the relationship with the complaining customer - Effort to maintain the relationship “voice”
- constructive behaviour , affords the organisation the opportunity to correct the wrong - Loyalty
- passive response, customer merely accepts dissatisfaction in hope that things wil improve in the future
Customer complaint behaviour
- service recovery strategy
- What should be done to recover?
- Who should execute the recovery?
- How quickly should it be done?
Customer complaint behaviour
- Outcomes of dissatisfaction
- lost confidence in service provider
- customer defection
- negative word-of-mouth
- in some cases, even negative publicity
Customer complaint behaviour
- why customers do not complain
- they believe it is not worth the time & effort
- they believe it will not make a difference ( they do not believe that anything will be done about the problem)
- they believe that no one is interested
- they do not know how to complain ( there or no procedures or facilities)
- they fear victimisation and/or embarrasment
The dimensions of service recovery
- Time
- speed with which the customer complaint is resolved - Apology
- providing an apology to the customer for any inconvenience caused - Communication style
- manner in which service employees address the customer - Accepted responsibility for the service failure
- who takes the blame/ responsibility for the service failure - Feedback
-once the problem is solved, the service organisation provides information about the problem & what is being done to resolve it - Explanation
- Fair fix
- Locus of control
- Controllability
- Stability
- Kept promises/ reliability
- Empowering employees
- Access/ approachability
- Tangibles
- Staff attitude
- Atonement
- Empathy
Customer perceptions of justice (fairness)
- important consideration for complaining customers is whether they have been treated fairly by the offending service organisation
Customer perceptions of justice (fairness)
- equity theory
= suggests that a complaining customer will evaluate the fairness of the complaint-handling process from 3 perspectives:
1. Fairness of outcome
2. Fairness of the procedure
Customer perceptions of justice (fairness)
- equity theory
= suggests that a complaining customer will evaluate the fairness of the complaint-handling process from 3 perspectives:
1. Fairness of outcome
2. Fairness of the procedure
3. Fairness of the interactional treatment during the service recovery process
Customer perceptions of justice (fairness)
- perceived justice is a 3 dimensional concept
- Distributive justice
- can be conceptualised as the customer’s evaluation of whether they goy adequate compensation for the emotional distress they had to go through
-Procedural justice
* researches have suggested that a fair procedure is 1 that is easy to access, flexible, convient, timely, accurate, consistent & gives the consumers freedom to communicate views on the recovery decision process
-Interactional justice
* includes aspects related to the manner in which the complaining customer was treated & may be based on considerations such as the manner & style of communication & the treatment of customers with politness, courtesy, respect & empathy
Managing service recovery
- empowerment
- essential requirement for effectively implementing a service recovery strategy is the decision to empower front-line staff to handle & resolve complaints if & when appropriate without managerial intervention
Managing service recovery
- front-line employees who are appropiately EMPOWERED
- Are more tend to enjoy their jobs more
- Motivated
- Feel more valued by their boss & their organisation
- Find their jobs more interesting
- Report higher levels of self-esteem
Managing service recovery
Empowerment
- advantages of empowerment
- Include the ability to provide a better & quicker service, which often leads to sustained customer loyalty & positive word-of-mouth
- Happier, satisfied employees are also more likely to provide better service than those who are frustrated due to their lack of authority to handle problems that do not require managerial attention
- Interaction is also a rich source of ideas about how service delivery can be improved
Managing service recovery
Empowerment
- disadvantages
- Include costlier selections & training & generally higher labour costs
- Can lead to slower service delivery when an attempt is made to resolve a complaint on the spot
- Inconsistent service delivery, which can violate other customers’ sense of fair play
- Failure to train staff appropriately or provide them with suffiecient knowledge
Service guarantees
= an explicit commitment by the service organisation that its service will fully meet customers’ expectation
Managing service recovery
- service guarantees work best when:
- service are expensive
- negative impact of unresolved problems/complaints is significant
- buyer resistance is high
- customer expertise is low
- industry has poor image
- organisation depends heavily on repurchases
- influence of negative word of mouth can be devastsating
Managerial implications
- managers need to encourage complaints using communication channels, such as suggestion boxes, 0800 telephone numbers & compony websites
- service staff must be assured that they will not be penalised for complaining
- management must regularly measure customers; satisfaction with organisation’s service recovery efforts using techniques such as customer surveys,m monitoring complaint trends, critical incident analyses & social media & websites specifically set up for customers to complain
