A re‐assessment and refinement of RECOVSAT: An instrument to measure satisfaction with transaction‐specific service recovery

Purpose – To do an empirical assessment of the psychometric properties of an instrument that captures the multi‐dimensional nature of satisfaction with service recovery (RECOVSAT) using data (post‐recovery satisfaction ratings) from customers who have actually complained to a service firm.Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is a survey of bank clients who have lodged complaints with a retail bank.Findings – The empirical results suggest that a refined and shorter version of RECOVSAT demonstrates excellent construct validity when used to measure the post‐recovery satisfaction of complaining customers.Research limitations/implications – RECOVSAT is a valid and reliable instrument that can and should be used by service managers to assess customer satisfaction with their service recovery efforts. Failure to ensure that complaining customers are satisfied with the firm's service recovery efforts, can only lead to serious problems, as the service firm will be letting the customer down for the second t...

[1]  Jc Ko de Ruyter,et al.  Customer equity considerations in service recovery: a cross‐industry perspective , 2000 .

[2]  K. Gwinner,et al.  Why don’t some people complain? A cognitive-emotive process model of consumer complaint behavior , 1998 .

[3]  R. Hallowell.  The relationships of customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and profitability: an empirical study , 1996 .

[4]  R. Pieters,et al.  Angry customers don't come back, they get back: The experience and behavioral implications of anger and dissatisfaction in services , 2003 .

[5]  T. Andreassen,et al.  What Drives Customer Loyalty with Complaint Resolution? , 1999 .

[6]  Joel Herche,et al.  Reversed-polarity items and scale unidimensionality , 1996 .

[7]  Michael A. McCollough,et al.  An Empirical Investigation of Customer Satisfaction after Service Failure and Recovery , 2000 .

[8]  Moshe Davidow.  Organizational Responses to Customer Complaints: What Works and What Doesn’t , 2003 .

[9]  S. O. Olsen.  Comparative evaluation and the relationship between quality, satisfaction, and repurchase loyalty , 2002 .

[10]  N. Paparoidamis,et al.  Service quality and marketing performance in business‐to‐business markets: exploring the mediating role of client satisfaction , 2004 .

[11]  Ko de Ruyter,et al.  The Impact of Perceived Listening Behavior in Voice-to-Voice Service Encounters , 2000 .

[12]  Hing Po Lo,et al.  An integrated framework for customer value and customer‐relationship‐management performance: a customer‐based perspective from China , 2004 .

[13]  Stephen S. Tax,et al.  Customer Evaluations of Service Complaint Experiences: Implications for Relationship Marketing: , 1998 .

[14]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Critical Service Encounters: The Employee's Viewpoint , 1994 .

[15]  Stephen S. Tax,et al.  The effects of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice on postcomplaint behavior , 1997 .

[16]  Terence A. Oliva,et al.  A Catastrophe Model for Developing Service Satisfaction Strategies , 1992 .

[17]  J. E. Swan,et al.  Consumer perceptions of interpersonal equity and satisfaction in transactions: A field survey approach. , 1989 .

[18]  Susan M. Keaveney,et al.  Customer Switching Behavior in Service Industries: An Exploratory Study , 1995 .

[19]  C. Fornell,et al.  Customer Satisfaction, Market Share, and Profitability: Findings from Sweden , 1994 .

[20]  Gary W. Loveman,et al.  Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work , 1994 .

[21]  Thomas O. Jones,et al.  Why Satisfied Customers Defect , 1996 .

[22]  Hooman Estelami,et al.  Competitive and Procedural Determinants of Delight and Disappointment in Consumer Complaint Outcomes , 2000 .

[23]  R. Rust,et al.  Return on Quality (ROQ): Making Service Quality Financially Accountable , 1995 .

[24]  W. Sasser,et al.  The profitable art of service recovery. , 1990, Harvard business review.

[25]  Kathy Hammond,et al.  First-Store Loyalty and Retention , 2000 .

[26]  D. Wittink,et al.  A model of consumer perceptions and store loyalty intentions for a supermarket retailer , 1998 .

[27]  W. Bearden,et al.  Selected Determinants of Consumer Satisfaction and Complaint Reports , 1983 .

[28]  C. Boshoff.  Recovsat: An Instrument to Measure Satisfaction with Transaction-Specific Service Recovery , 1999 .

[29]  Piyush Kumar,et al.  The Impact of Long-Term Client Relationships on the Performance of Business Service Firms , 1999 .

[30]  Ruth N. Bolton,et al.  An Experimental Investigation of Customer Reactions to Service Failure and Recovery Encounters , 1998 .

[31]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  Delivering quality service : balancing customer perceptions and expectations , 1990 .

[32]  J. Hair.  Multivariate data analysis , 1972 .

[33]  Shankar Ganesan,et al.  Service failure and recovery: The impact of relationship factors on customer satisfaction , 2003 .

[34]  N. Malhotra,et al.  Marketing Research: An Applied Approach , 2000 .

[35]  Gary W. Loveman.  Employee Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty, and Financial Performance , 1998 .

[36]  E. Lawler,et al.  The empowerment of service workers: what, why, how, and when. , 1992, Sloan management review.

[37]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  The Behavioral Consequences of Service Quality , 1996 .

[38]  Gilbert A. Churchill.  A Paradigm for Developing Better Measures of Marketing Constructs , 1979 .

[39]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  Marketing Services: Competing Through Quality , 1991 .

[40]  H. Håkansson,et al.  Dyadic Business Relationships within a Business Network Context , 1994 .

[41]  Bernd Stauß,et al.  Complaint management profitability: what do complaint managers know? , 2004 .

[42]  Holly M. Rotalsky,et al.  Tracking service failures and employee recovery efforts , 1995 .

[43]  R. Johnston.  Service failure and recovery: impact, attributes and process , 1995 .

[44]  Gerrard Macintosh,et al.  Retail relationships and store loyalty: A multi-level perspective , 1997 .

[45]  Mark A. Davis,et al.  Antecedents to customer expectations for service recovery , 1994 .

[46]  R. Jennrich,et al.  Rotation for simple loadings , 1966, Psychometrika.

[47]  Jan-Benedict E. M. Steenkamp,et al.  The use of LISREL in validating marketing constructs. , 1991 .

[48]  Carl L. Saxby,et al.  Measuring Consumer Perceptions of Procedural Justice in a Complaint Context , 2000 .

[49]  Beverley Sparks,et al.  Application of Fairness Theory to Service Failures and Service Recovery , 2003 .

[50]  Das Narayandas,et al.  Measuring and Managing the Benefits of Customer Retention , 1998 .