Holger Roschk

A Meta-Analysis of Organizational Complaint Handling and Customer Responses

Service recovery is a crucial success factor for organizations. Thus, many studies have addressed the issue of post-complaint behavior. Conducting a meta-analysis, the authors test the following path model: ‘‘organizational responses (compensation, favorable employee behavior, and organizational procedures) → justice perceptions (distributive, interactional, and procedural justice) → post-complaint satisfaction (transaction-specific and cumulative satisfaction) → customer behavioral intentions (loyalty and positive word of mouth [WOM]).’’ The results confirm this model as well as the mediating role of justice perceptions and post-complaint satisfaction. Surprisingly, the results also show that the common contention of distributive justice as the salient driver of service recovery is only true for transaction-specific satisfaction, which in turn reinforces positive WOM. Cumulative satisfaction, however, which is the primary antecedent of customer loyalty, even slightly more depends on interactional justice than on distributive justice. Further, the results show that the relationships between justice perceptions and satisfaction constructs depend on several moderators such as target group, industry, and complaint type. A major managerial implication is the fact that organizations should pay particular attention to distributive justice when complainants are students and to interactional justice when failure is nonmonetary or occurs in service industries. The authors discuss theoretical implications and provide suggestions for future research.

Identifying Appropriate Compensation Types for Service Failures A Meta-Analytic and Experimental Analysis

This article examines how compensation type and failure type explain the recovery effect of compensation, using a meta-analysis (Study 1) and an experiment (Study 2). Drawing on resource exchange theory, we propose new classifications for both compensation and failure type and find three major results. First, consistent with our matching hypothesis, the strongest recovery effect is generally observed when compensation represents a resource similar to the failure it is supposed to offset, that is, immediate monetary compensation for a monetary failure, exchange for a flawed product, reperformance for a failed service, and psychological compensation for lack of attention. Surprisingly, lack of attention may also be rectified by the other compensation types. Second, consistent with our intertemporal choice hypothesis, immediate monetary compensation is generally more effective than delayed monetary compensation. Yet, this effect also varies with failure type. Third, resource-based classifications explain the recovery effect of compensation better than current classifications of compensation and failure type. As a theoretical contribution, the resource-based classifications help to explain the fluctuating effect sizes of compensation reported in prior research. From a managerial point of view, practitioners can choose the appropriate compensation type for a failure, one that repays in kind what customers have lost. As a result, companies achieve stronger recovery effects without additional costs.

Eastern Versus Western Culture Pricing Strategy: Superstition, Lucky Numbers, and Localization

Eastern versus Western culture pricing practices differ with respect to price endings; however, Eastern cultures are increasingly influenced by Western multinational corporations. At the same time, increasing antiglobalization sentiment suggests the use of localization strategies in these markets. The authors investigate whether pricing practices still differ in this new environment, examine the role of superstition, and ask whether Western brands can benefit from localizing pricing practices. They explore the use of lucky number price endings and consumer responses to such pricing strategies in Singapore, an Eastern culture that is strongly exposed to Western multinational influence. Using a content analysis of newspaper advertisements and two experiments, the authors find that superstitious pricing practices continue, especially with high-priced items and brands of Eastern (vs. Western) origin. In the experimental studies, they find that superstitious pricing has a positive effect on price attractiveness and that foreign brands that localize their prices benefit from a more positive brand attitude.

Compensation Revisited: A Social Resource Theory Perspective on Offering a Monetary Resource After a Service Failure

This research examines how to recompense customers, from a social resource theory perspective, which portrays financial compensation as the act of offering the resource “money” to customers during a service recovery attempt. This resource can differ in its particularism (is the money offered in a more or less personal way?) and concreteness (is the money offered in a more or less tangible way?), which are shown in two experiments to affect recovery outcomes. Specifically, personal compensation accompanied by a handwritten note from the service person (vs. impersonal: a typewritten note from the firm) fosters recovery satisfaction, mediated by justice perceptions, and reciprocal customer behavior (tipping, cross-buying), mediated by an obligation to reciprocate. Tangible compensation in the form of a banknote or banknote-like coupon (vs. intangible: a credit entry) also fosters reciprocal customer behavior via the obligation to reciprocate. In both studies, relationship strength amplifies the indirect effect of compensation’s particularism on recovery satisfaction. As a theoretical contribution, we show that the way the monetary resource is presented matters for service recovery. As a major managerial takeaway, this research presents personal (vs. impersonal) compensation as an impactful property of compensation: It increases recovery outcomes without additional monetary costs. Further, managers learn that handing over the money in a personal and tangible way can be a way to increase monetary returns to the firm in the form of tipping and cross-buying.

Talking about Films: Word-of-Mouth Behavior and the Network of Success Determinants of Motion Pictures

Recent studies analyze word-of-mouth (WOM) communication as a force that drives the success of motion pictures. The authors build upon that research and integrate measurements of WOM into a broader network of success determinants. Results show that production costs and critics’ evaluation are predictors of WOM volume at the end of the first week. No effect is observed for star power and advertising expenditures. WOM volume at the end of the first week is a major predictor of short-term theatrical box office revenues, which strongly affect long-term revenues. The authors conclude that WOM volume after opening week is positively influenced by WOM volume preceding that week, by advertising expenditures, by critics’ evaluation, by awards, and by length of runtime, but not by short term revenues. Surprisingly, WOM volume after the first week appears to be unrelated to long-term revenues. The authors explore the theoretical and managerial implications of these results.

Consumer Brand Bullying Behaviour in Online Communities of Service Firms

The current study explores consumer brand bullying behaviour in online communities, which we define as a brand specific consumer interaction process during which one consumer harasses or is perceived to harass another consumer or the brand itself. The analysis is based on a sixteen-month netnography of four online brand communities, where we sought to identify this particular consumer misbehaviour and to understand the different forms in which it occurs.

Insights from Social Resource Theory for Service Business Development

The authors discuss how Social Resource Theory can provide a theoretical perspective to the development of service businesses, in particular with regards to the early stages of service development (e.g. idea generation or concept development). Its value lies in the conceptualization of what resources can be exchanged and how they are exchanged in interpersonal encounters, thus allowing to formulate a variety of implications for the development of new service offerings.

A Cross-National Observation of Counter-Cultural Consumer Behaviour

The present research examines the occurrence of counter-cultural consumer behaviour in an experiential consumption context. We define this behaviour as product or service usage that varies across cultures, contradiction - rather than conforming to - the prevailing values in these cultures. Drawing on Hofstede´s cultural concept, we develop hypotheses on the relationship between two cultural value dimensions - individualism and indulgence - and counter-cultural behaviour in an experiential consumption context. An observational study with 3.710 customers of Starbucks in ten countries supports consumption patterns that oppose cultural value orientation. Specifically, the results of multilevel linear modelling show that individualism increases joint consumption, and indulgence decreases extensive consumption. We discuss these findings, provide recommendations on how a global experiential service provider such as Starbucks can leverage the observed counter-cultural consumer behaviour, and conclude with limitations and guidelines for future research.