Consumer Decision Making Following A Failed Service Encounter: A Pilot Study

Abstract

This paper contributes to the current understanding of consumer decision making by studying the relationship among several postpurchase behaviors. An experimental design is employed to examine the relationships between the manner in which a business handles a complaint and respondents' subsequent attribution, word-of-mouth (WOM) and repurchase decisions. Results indicate that complaint handling positively impacts the valence and likelihood of WOM as well as respondents' overall evaluation of the service experience. However, complaint handling did not significantly effect respondents' repurchase decisions. Respondents who believed that the cause of the service failure was unstable (service would be better the next time) had higher repurchase intentions. Stability attributions did not influence WOM valence. Finally, repurchase intention was strongly influenced by the valence of WOM respondents provided.