Customer responses to airline companies' service failure and recovery strategies: the moderating role of service failure habit

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceived severity of service failure (PSSF) and service recovery strategies (SRSs) as antecedents of customer forgiveness (CF), customer reconciliation, negative word-of-mouth and re-patronage intention as outcomes across two Middle Eastern countries: Egypt and Oman. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative technique was used, using a questionnaire, to collect data from customers of the national airline companies of Egypt and Oman. The perspectives of 1,084 airline customers were analysed using partial least squares-structural equation modelling. Findings The results of this study show that service failure severity has a negative influence on the effectiveness of SRSs. In turn, proper SRSs strongly and positively affect both Egyptian and Omani CF. Furthermore, the findings of this study indicate that service failure habit plays an important role in increasing the negative influence of perceived service failure severity on Egyptian, but not Omani, CF. Overall, results suggest that CF differs considerably between Egyptians and Omanis. Originality/value This study developed and empirically examined a comprehensive conceptual model of the drivers and outcomes of CF of airline companies. This study provides academics with meaningful insights into how social and cultural differences between customers in different countries can result in sometimes dramatically different behaviours following a service failure.