The Healing Power of Forgiveness: How Failure Severity Moderates the Effect of Emotions on Forgiveness and Behavioural Intentions

Year 2024, Volume: 10 Issue: 2, 182 - 194, 31.12.2024

Engin Tengilimoğlu

https://doi.org/10.26650/jot.2024.10.2.1544161

Abstract

Despite the undesirable consequences of service failures, it is not possible to prevent them entirely due to the characteristics of the hospitality industry. In this regard, related studies have focused on the transformation of the negative consequences of service failures into positive outcomes. In such negative situations, customer forgiveness, as a healing power, is crucial in terms of both reducing negative attitudes and behaviours and developing positive ones. This study examines the effect of post-recovery emotional responses on forgiveness and the effect of forgiveness on repurchase and positive word-of-mouth intentions, with a particular focus on the moderating role of failure severity. The study used a semi-experimental research design through the scenario technique, presenting participants with realistic fictional service failure scenarios. A 2x2 between-participants factorial design was implemented, varying the service failure severity (low vs. high) and recovery type (apology vs. discount). Data were collected from 396 participants, with 99 responses for each scenario. To address the research objectives, a multi-group structural equation model was employed. The findings indicated that positive and negative emotional response influence forgiveness, which in turn has a positive effect on repurchase and positive word-of-mouth intentions. Additionally, the effect of negative emotions on forgiveness is stronger in cases of high-severity failures, whereas positive emotions are more influential in low-severity failures. Finally, it was determined that forgiveness has a greater effect on repurchase and positive word-of-mouth in cases of low-severity failures.

Keywords

Service Failures, Customer Forgiveness, Emotional Response, Repurchase, PWOM

References

• Andreasen, A. R., & Best, A. (1977). Consumers complain-does business respond. Harvard Business Review, 55(4), 93-101. google scholar
• Babin, B.J., Darden, W.R. and Babin, L.A. (1998). Negative emotions in marketing research: affect or artifact?, Journal of Business Research, 42(3), 271-285. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0148-2963(97)00124-0 google scholar
• Bacile, T. J., Wolter, J. S., Allen, A. M. & Xu, P. (2018). The effects of online incivility and consumer to consumer interactional justice on complainants, observers, and service providers during social media service recovery. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 44(4), 60-81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2018.04.002 google scholar
• Bagozzi, R. P., Gopinath, M., & Nyer, P. U. (1999). The role of emotions in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 27(2), 184-206. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070399272005 google scholar
• Balaji, M. S., Roy, S. K. & Quazi, A. (2017). Customers’ emotion regulation strategies in service failure encounters. European Journal of Marketing, 5(6), 960-982. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-03-2015-0169 google scholar
• Barcaccia, B., Ioverno, S., Salvati, M., Medvedev, O. N., Pallini, S., & Vecchio, G. M. (2021). Measuring predictors of psychopathology in Italian adolescents: forgiveness, avoidance and revenge. Current Psychology, 42(1), 35-49. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01414-2 google scholar
• Blodgett, J. G., Hill, D., & Tax, S. S. (1997). The effects of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice on postcomplaint behavior. Journal of Retailing, 73(2), 185-210. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0022-4359(97)90003-8 google scholar
• Bonifield, C. M. and Cole, C. (2006). Affective responses to service failure: anger, regret, and retaliatory versus conciliatory responses. Marketing Letters, 18(1-2), 85-99. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-006-9006-6 google scholar
• Bougie, R., Pieters, R., & Zeelenberg, M. (2003). Angry customers don’t come back, they get back: the experience and behavioral impli-cations of anger and dissatisfaction in services. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 31(4), 377-393. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 0092070303254412 google scholar
• Byrne, B. M. (2016). Structural Equation Modeling with Amos, (3rd ed.). Routledge, New York. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315757421 google scholar
• Cheng, B. L., Gan, C. C., Imrie, B. C., & Mansori, S. (2019). Service recovery, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty: evidence from malaysia’s hotel industry. International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, 11(2), 187-203. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijqss-09-2017-0081 google scholar
• Chin, W. W. (1998). Issues and opinions on structural equation modelling. MIS Quarterly, 22(1), 7-16. https://www.jstor.org/stable/249674 google scholar
• Cho, S., Jang, Y. J., & Kim, W. G. (2016). The moderating role of severity of service failure in the relationship among regret/disappointment, dissatisfaction, and behavioral intention. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism, 18(1), 69-85. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 1528008x.2016.1169470 google scholar
• Deng, W., Yeh, M., & Sung, M. (2013). A customer satisfaction index model for international tourist hotels: integrating consumption emotions into the American customer satisfaction index. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 35, 133-140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. ijhm.2013.05.010 google scholar
• Elbaz, A. M., Soliman, M., Al-Alawi, A., Al-Romeedy, B. S., & Mekawy, M. A. (2022). Customer responses to airline companies’ service failure and recovery strategies: the moderating role of service failure habit. Tourism Review, 78(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1108/tr-03-2022-0108 google scholar
• Filieri, R., Raguseo, E. and Vitari, C. (2018). When are extreme ratings more helpful? Empirical evidence on the moderating effects of review characteristics and product type. Computers in Human Behavior, 88(2018): 134-142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.05.042 google scholar
• Fornell, C. and Lacker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1981), 39-50. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378101800104 google scholar
• Fu, X., Pang, J. & Gursoy, D. (2022). Effects of online commercial friendships on customer revenge following a service failure. Journal of Business Research, 153(2022), 102-114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.08.014 google scholar
• Gelbrich, K. and Roschk, H. (2011). A meta-analysis of organizational complaint handling and customer responses. Journal of Service Research, 14(1), 24-43. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670510387914 google scholar
• Gerlsma, C., Lugtmeyer, V., Denderen, M. v., & Keijser, J. d. (2020). Revenge and forgiveness after victimization: psychometric evalua-tion of a Dutch version of the trim intended for victims and offenders. Current Psychology, 41(10), 7142-7154. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s12144-020-01283-1 google scholar
• Gregoire, Y., Ghadami, F., Laporte, S., Senecal, S. & Larocque, D. (2018). How can firms stop customer revenge? The effects of direct and indirect revenge on post-complaint responses. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 46(2018), 1052-1071. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s11747-018-0597-2 google scholar
• Hair, J. F. JR., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J. and Andersoni R. E. (2008). Multivariate Data Analysis, (7th ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River. google scholar
• Haj-Salem, N. and Chebat, J. (2014). The double-edged sword: the positive and negative effects of switching costs on customer exit and revenge. Journal of Business Research, 67(6), 1106-1113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.05.050 google scholar
• Han, H. and Back, K. (2007). Investigating the effects of consumption emotions on customer satisfaction and repeat visit intentions in the lodging industry. Journal of Hospitality &Amp; Leisure Marketing, 15(3), 5-30. https://doi.org/10.1300/j150v15n03_02 google scholar
• Harrison-Walker, L.J. (2019). The critical role of customer forgiveness in successful service recovery. Journal of Business Research, 95, 376-391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.07.049 google scholar
• Hellier, P., Geursen, G., Carr, R., & Rickard, J. (2003). Customer repurchase intention. European Journal of Marketing, 37(11/12), 1762-1800. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560310495456 google scholar
• Hennig-Thurau, T., Gwinner, K. P., Walsh, G., & Gremler, D. D. (2004). Electronic word-of-mouth via consumer-opinion platforms: what motivates consumers to articulate themselves on the internet?. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 18(1), 38-52. https://doi.org/10.1002/dir. 10073 google scholar
• Hess, R. L., Jr., Ganesan, S. and Klein, N. M. (2003). Service failure and recovery: The impact of relationship factors on customer satisfaction. Journal ofthe Academy ofMarketing Science, 31(2), 127-145. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070302250898 google scholar
• Hogreve, J., Bilstein, N. & Hoerner, K. (2019). Service recovery on stage: Effects of social media recovery on virtually present others. Journal of Service Research. 22(4), 421-439. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670519851871 google scholar
• Houwelingen, G. v., Dijke, M. v., Hoogervorst, N., Meijs, L., & Cremer, D. D. (2022). Two sides of the same coin: punishment and forgiveness in organizational contexts. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.908021 google scholar
• Hur, J. Y. and Jang, S. C. (2019). Is consumer forgiveness possible? Examining rumination and distraction in hotel service failures. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 31(4), 1567-1587. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-07-2017-0395 google scholar
• Jeong, M. and Lee, S. A. (2017). Do customers care about types of hotel service recovery efforts? Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 8(1), 5-18. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTT-09-2016-0049 google scholar
• Jin, D., Nicely, A. Fan, A. & Adler, H. (2019). Joint effect of service recovery types and times on customer satisfaction in lodging. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 38(2019), 149-158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2019.01.005 google scholar
• Joireman, J., Gregoire, Y., & Tripp, T. M. (2016). Customer forgiveness following service failures. Current Opinion in Psychology, 10, 76-82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.11.005 google scholar
• Karreman, A., Assen, M. A. v., & Bekker, M. H. J. (2013). Intensity of positive and negative emotions: explaining the association between personality and depressive symptoms. Personality and Individual Differences, 54(2), 214-220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.08.040 google scholar
• Koç, E. (2017). Service Failures and Recovery in Tourism and Hospitality: A Practical Manual. Wallingford, Oxford: CABI. google scholar
• Koç, E. (2019). Service failures and recovery in hospitality and tourism: A review of literature and recommendations for future research. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 28(5), 513-537. https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2019.1537139 google scholar
• Kozub, R. K., Anthony O’Neill, M. & A. Palmer, A. (2014). Emotional antecedents and outcomes of service recovery: an exploratory study in the luxury hotel industry. Journal of Services Marketing, 28(3), 233-243. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM- 08- 2012- 0147 google scholar
• Kuo, Y. F. & Wu, C. M. (2012). Satisfaction and post-purchase intentions with service recovery of online shopping websites: Perspectives on perceived justice and emotions. International Journal of Information Management, 32(2), 127-138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2011. 09.001 google scholar
• Lazarus, R. and Folkman, S. (1984), Stress, Appraisal and the Coping Process, Springer, New York, NY. google scholar
• Lazarus, R. S. (1991). Emotion and adaptation. Oxford University Press. google scholar
• Lewis, B. R. and McCann, P. (2004). Service failure and recovery: evidence from the hotel industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 16(1), 6-17.https://doi.org/10.1108/09596110410516516 google scholar
• Liao, H. (2007). Doing it right this time: the role of employee service recovery performance in customer perceived justice and customer loyalty after service failures. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(2), 475-489. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021- 9010.92.2.475 google scholar
• Liu, H., Jayawardhena, C., Dibb, S. & Ranaweera, C. (2019). Examining the trade-off between compensation and promptness in e-wom triggered service recovery: A restorative justice perspective. Tourism Management, 75(2019), 381-392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2019.05.008 google scholar
• Maxham, J. G. and Netemeyer, R. G. (2002). A longitudinal study of complaining customers’ evaluations of multiple service failures and recovery efforts. Journal of Marketing, 66(4), 57-71. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.66.4.57.18512 google scholar
• McColl-Kennedy, J. R. and Smith, A. K. (2006). Chapter 10 customer emotions in service failure and recovery encounters. Research on Emotion in Organizations, 237-268. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1746-9791(06)02010-4 google scholar
• McCullough, M. E., Kurzban, R., & Tabak, B. A. (2013). Cognitive systems for revenge and forgiveness. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x11002160 google scholar
• Min, H. and Kim, H. J. (2019). When service failure is interpreted as discrimination: emotion, power, and voice. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 82, 59-67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2019.03.017 google scholar
• Mohammed, M., Asare, C., Fatawu, A., & Abubakari, A. (2022). An analysis of the effects of customer satisfaction and engagement on social media on repurchase intention in the hospitality industry. Cogent Business Management, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2028331 google scholar
• Muhammad, L., & Gul-E-Rana. (2020). Mediating role of customer forgiveness between perceived justice and satisfaction. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 52(2020), 101886. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JRETCONSER.2019.101886 google scholar
• Obeidat, Z. M., Xiao, S., Iyer, G. R., & Nicholson, M. (2017). Consumer revenge using the internet and social media: an examination of the role of service failure types and cognitive appraisal processes. Psychology & Marketing, 34(4), 496-515. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21002 google scholar
• Özgen, Ö. and Kurt, S. (2012). Pre-recovery and post-recovery emotions in the service context: a preliminary study. Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, 22(6), 592-605. https://doi.org/10.1108/09604521211287561 google scholar
• Parasuraman, A., Berry, L. L., & Zeithaml, V. A. (1991). Perceived service quality as a customer-based performance measure: an empirical examination of organizational barriers using an extended service quality model. Human Resource Management, 30(3), 335-364. https: //doi.org/10.1002/hrm.3930300304 google scholar
• Petzer, D. J., Meyer, C. D., Svari, S., & Svensson, G. (2012). Service receivers’ negative emotions in airline and hospital service settings. Journal of Services Marketing, 26(7), 484-496. https://doi.org/10.1108/08876041211266413 google scholar
• Phillips, D. M. and Baumgartner, H. (2002). The role of consumption emotions in the satisfaction response. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 12(3), 243-252. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327663jcp1203_06 google scholar
• Roschk, H. and Gelbrich, G. (2014). Identifying appropriate compensation types for service failures: A meta-analytic and experimental analysis. Journal of Service Research, 17 (2), 195-211. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670513507486 google scholar
• Salagrama, R., Prashar, S., & Vijay, T. S. (2021). Examining the influence of forgiveness and its antecedents on consumer behavior: the moderating role of service failure severity. International Journal of Emerging Markets, 18(10), 3973-3994. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijoem-11-2020-1378 google scholar
• Singh, J. and Crisafulli, B. (2016). Managing online service recovery: Procedures, justice and customer satisfaction. Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 26(6), 764-787. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-01-2015-0013 google scholar
• Smith, A. K. and Bolton, R. N. (2002). The effect of customers’ emotional responses to service failures on their recovery effort evaluations and satisfaction judgments. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 30(1), 5-23. https://doi.org/10.1177/03079450094298 google scholar
• Sparks, B. and Fredline, L. (2007). Providing an explanation for service failure: context, content, and customer responses. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 31(2), 241-260. https://doi.org/10.1177/1096348006297292 google scholar
• Stokburger-Sauer, N. & Hofmann, V. (2023). Can a smile help healing service failures? the interplay of employee emotions, guest emotions and justice perceptions for successful service recoveries in the hospitality industry. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 55, 261-276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2023.03.018 google scholar
• Su, L., Lin, P., & Huang, Y. (2023). How does destination crisis event type impact tourist emotion and forgiveness? the moderating role of destination crisis history. Tourism Management, 94, 104636. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2022.104636 google scholar
• Surachartkumtonkun, J., Patterson, P. G., & McColl-Kennedy, J. R. (2013). Customer rage back-story: linking needs-based cognitive appraisal to service failure type. Journal of Retailing, 89(1), 72-87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2012.06.001 google scholar
• Tabachnick, B. G. and Fidell, L. S. (2007). Using Multivariate Statistics (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson, Allyn & Bacon. google scholar
• Tax, S. S., Stephen W. B. and Murali C. (1998). Customer evaluations of service complaint experiences: Implications for relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 62(1), 60-76. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224299806200205 google scholar
• Tengilimoglu, E. and Öztürk, Y. (2024). The effects of eWom triggered service recovery on customer citizenship behavior in the hospitality industry: the moderating role of failure severity. International Journal of Tourism Research, 26(4). https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.2673 google scholar
• Tsao, W. C. (2018). Star power: The effect of star rating on service recovery in the hotel industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 30(2), 1092-1111. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-05-2016-0247 google scholar
• Tsarenko, Y. and Tojib, D. R. (2011). A transactional model of forgiveness in the service failure context: a customer-driven approach. Journal of Services Marketing, 25(5), 381-392. https://doi.org/10.1108/08876041111149739 google scholar
• Tsarenko, Y. and Tojib, D. R. (2012). The role of personality characteristics and service failure severity in consumer forgiveness and service outcomes. Journal of Marketing Management, 28(9-10), 1217-1239. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257x.2011.619150 google scholar
• Tsarenko, Y. and Tojib, D. R. (2015). Consumers’ forgiveness after brand transgression: the effect of the firm’s corporate social responsibility and response. Journal of Marketing Management, 31(17-18), 1851-1877. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257x.2015.1069373 google scholar
• Valentini, S., Orsingher, C., & Polyakova, A. (2020). Customers’ emotions in service failure and recovery: a meta-analysis. Marketing Letters, 31(2-3), 199-216. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-020-09517-9 google scholar
• Wang, B., Cheng, C., Jin, Z., Wu, S., & Ling, X. (2021). The influence of negative emotional intensity on dual-processing recognition. Biological Psychology, 161, 108083. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108083 google scholar
• Xu, X., Liu, W., & Gürsoy, D. (2018). The impacts of service failure and recovery efforts on airline customers’ emotions and satisfaction. Journal of Travel Research, 58(6), 1034-1051. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287518789285 google scholar
• Xu, Y., Marshall, R., Edvardsson, B., & Tronvoll, B. (2014). Show you care: initiating co-creation in service recovery. Journal of Service Management, 25(3), 369-387. https://doi.org/10.1108/josm-11-2012-0253 google scholar
• Xu, Y., Yap, S. F., & Hyde, K. F. (2016). Who is talking, who is listening? service recovery through online customer-to-customer interactions. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 34(3). https://doi.org/10.1108/mip-03-2015-0053 google scholar
• Zeithaml, V. A., Parasuraman, A., & Berry, L. L. (1985). Problems and strategies in services marketing. Journal of Marketing, 49(2), 33-46. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224298504900203 google scholar
• Zhao, X., Liu, Y., Bi, H. & Law, R. (2014). Influence of coupons on online travel reservation service recovery. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 21(2014), 18-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2014.03.001 google scholar
• Zourrig, H., Chebat, J., & Toffoli, R. (2015). “in-group love and out-group hate?” a cross cultural study on customers’ revenge, avoidance and forgiveness behaviors. Journal of Business Research, 68(3), 487-499. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2014.09.014 google scholar