THE ROLE OF EMPLOYEE AFFECTIVE DELIVERY AND CUSTOMER PERCEIVED CONTROL IN SERVICE RECOVERY

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of two non-cognitive service recovery tactics firms actually use: displaying emotional involvement by the provider of the service recovery and intentionally allowing some perceived control for consumers participating in recovery. Design/Methodology/Approach - The research study used a factorial experiment, testing recovery scenarios in a restaurant setting. Findings and implications - Research results suggest that employee affect and consumers' perceived control have a positive impact on satisfaction. Our research also shows that organizational actions are never perceived in isolation by consumers; there are rich interactions between different forms of recovery attempts. Results have demonstrated that there are interactions among each combination of compensation, employee affect and perceived control. Implications for managers suggest the use of a portfolio of recovery tactics. Limitations - The study is based on scenario manipulations that were developed and tested through a multi-step strategy; however, some subjects may perceive scenarios as less realistic than real life, in-person interactions. Second, individual differences may exist in susceptibility to emotional contagion. In this study, the focus was on general consumer processes, but individual differences is an area that can be investigated in the future. Originality - With this study we expand the cognitively-dominated understanding of service recovery through the inclusion of the impact of affective ("employee affective delivery") and conative/behavioral ("customer perceived control") service recovery tactics.