Scott W. Kelley

A Typology of Retail Failures and Recoveries

Abstract This study extends previous research by developing a typology of retail failures and recovery strategies. Upon sorting 661 critical incidents pertaining to general merchandise retailers, results revealed fifteen different types of retail failures and twelve unique recovery strategies. In addition, the effectiveness of the recovery strategies are examined and research implications are discussed.

The role of relationship quality in the stratification of vendors as perceived by customers

Companies implement preferred supplier programs to reduce their vendor relationships to a reasonable few. Consequently, vendors who do not effectively manage their customer-based relationships are strong candidates for deletion from a customer’s list of long-term suppliers. The emergence of preferred supplier programs suggests that businesses are beginning to formally recognize and reward differences between their qualified vendors. Vendor stratification is proposed as a framework for understanding the evolution of preferred vendor programs. With the growing interest in relationship marketing, a study was conducted to empirically examine the extent to which businesses use relationship quality perceptions to differentiate their qualified vendors. The findings support the notion that relationship quality is a higher-order construct that can be used as a basis for developing vendor stratification systems. The article concludes with a discussion of the managerial and research implications of the study findings.

Antecedents to Customer Expectations for Service Recovery

Selected antecedents of customers’ service recovery expectations are considered in this study. A conceptual model is proposed in which customer perceptions of service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer organizational commitment function as antecedents to service recovery expectations. The proposed model was tested with covariance structure analysis. The results support the hypothesized relationships, suggesting that service quality and customer organizational commitment have direct effects on customer service recovery expectations and that customer satisfaction has an indirect effect on service recovery expectations.

Tracking service failures and employee recovery efforts

Demonstrates a method for examining service failures and recovery strategies in service industries and provides a typology of service failures and recoveries in the restaurant industry. Based on 373 critical incidents collected from restaurant customers, uses the critical incident technique (CIT) to identify 11 unique failure types and eight different recovery strategies. Additional data regarding the magnitude of the service failure, the service recovery rating, the lapsed time since the failure/recovery incident, and customer retention rates were also collected. Presents this information along with managerial and research implications.

Developing customer orientation among service employees

A conceptual framework is proposed that considers the customer orientation of service employees and its relationship with their perceived level of organizational socialization and perceptions of the organizational climate for service, motivational effort and direction, and organizational commitment. Structural equation modeling techniques are applied to data collected from employees in the financial services industry to test the framework. The results of this study indicate higher levels of customer orientation result from favorable perceptions of the organizational climate for service and higher levels of motivational direction and organizational commitment. In addition, organizational socialization was found to have a positive impact on perceptions of climate, levels of motivation, and organizational commitment.

Perceived justice needs and recovery evaluation: a contingency approach

An equity theory‐based contingency framework is presented to further our understanding of customer evaluations of the service failure/recovery process. Six contingencies are presented that are proposed to influence the relative importance of interactional and distributive justice on consumer‐based service recovery evaluations. The six contingencies include: depth of the relationship, proximity of the relationship, duration of the encounter, degree of customization, switching costs, and the criticality of consumption. Relevant research propositions are developed and discussed.

Service recovery attributions and word‐of‐mouth intentions

The impact of service recovery attributions in determining consumers’ intentions of engaging in post‐recovery word‐of‐mouth behaviors is examined. Research questions are investigated utilizing satisfactory service recovery scenarios that vary in their perceived likelihood of reoccurrence (i.e. stability) and responsibility for the recovery (i.e. locus) in three service industries. Results indicate that consumers who have service failures satisfactorily corrected demonstrate a strong propensity to share positive information about their experience. As a person’s social network extends outward, stability and locus interact to influence intentions to discuss a service failure/recovery. A greater propensity to share information and higher levels of customer praise and recommendations were found for shorter service recovery times. Recommendations for customer service managers are provided.

Organizational socialization of service customers

Abstract This study considers the organizational socialization of the customers of service organizations. Service customers contribute to service quality through what they do (customer technical quality) and how they do it (customer functional quality). The level of organizational socialization achieved by customers was found to be positively related to customer perceptions of the organizational climate for service, the motivational direction of customers, and customer satisfaction. Organizational climate and motivational direction were positively related to customer technical quality. Motivational direction was inversely related to customer functional quality, whereas customer satisfaction was positively related to customer technical and functional quality.

Consumer perceptions of service quality attributes at sporting events

Abstract Building on existing knowledge in the service marketing literature, this study investigates the importance of service attributes used by sports fans when evaluating the quality of their service experience at sporting events. A pool of 35 attributes was generated based on sports marketing and service quality literature, and pretest information provided from an MBA Services Marketing class and two undergraduate Sports Marketing classes. Cooperation was obtained from the athletic department of a university from a major athletic conference in the southeast. The sample was drawn from fans attending four basketball games during the month of February. The data were analyzed as follows. First, the mean importance value for each of the sports marketing service quality attributes was calculated. Next, the 35 attribute importance items were factor analyzed. Nine factors emerged from the data. The interpretation of these factors lead to the following labels (in order of variance explained): (1) employees, (2) price, (3) facility access, (4) concessions, (5) fan comfort, (6) game experience, (7) showtime, (8) convenience, and (9) smoking. After conducting the exploratory factor analysis, differences were examined in the mean importance values of these factors across a variety of demographic and fan identification characteristics.

An investigation of positive affect, prosocial behaviors and service quality

Abstract This research investigates the relationships among service provider and customer positive affect, employee- and customer-directed prosocial behaviors, and sales-oriented behavior; three types of behavior commonly exhibited in the context of service delivery. In addition, employee and customer perceptions of service quality are considered. Three studies are presented. The principle findings indicate that employee positive affect is positively related to employee perceptions of altruistic organizational citizenship behavior and customer-oriented behavior, and negatively related to sales-oriented behavior. Customer positive affect is positively related to customer perceptions of customer-oriented behavior and service quality, and negatively related to sales-oriented behavior. Managerial and research implications are also discussed.