Organizational Responses to Consumer Complaints: A Re-Examination of the Impact of Organizational Messages in Response to Service and Product-Based Failures

Abstract

In a recent investigation of consumer complaining, Bolkan and Daly (2007) found that consumer complaints were mitigated by organizational response types (excuses, justifications, and apologies) and their components (believability, appropriateness, consideration, and accepting responsibility). What remained to be explained was if organizations' remediation tactics differed in the minds of consumers of services and products. The current study sought to determine if consumers of services and products differ in their perceptions of organizational remediation messages. Results showed two major patterns reoccurred throughout. First, assuming responsibility was less important for service-based failures than it was for product-based failures. Second, alleviating negativity was easier to do for service- based failures than it was for product-based failures.