The authors propose that customers’ views of service provider effort critically determine satisfaction ratings and intended consumer complaint behaviors. This paper reports a study which investigates the impact of staff empowerment and communication style on perceptions of service provider effort, and the relationships between effort, satisfaction and consequent consumer behavior. Results are consistent with the view that service provider effort is a major determinant of customer satisfaction evaluations which in turn predict consumer complaint behavior. Service providers who demonstrate an accommodating communication style and high discretion are evaluated as exerting most effort in the service recovery process.
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