The purpose of this study was to investigate the use and effectiveness of service recovery strategies that are employed in the hospitality industry. More specifically, this research uses the critical incident technique to analyze approximately 750 recovery incidents in restaurant and hotel industries. Eleven recovery strategies are identified and assessed by comparing customer preference to firm use. In many instances, what customers want most is not what restaurants/hotels are necessarily implementing.
Adams, J. S. (1963). Toward an understanding of inequity. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67(5), 422-436.
2.
Becker, W. S., & Wellins, R. S. (1990). Customer-service perceptions and reality. Training and Development Journal, 44(3), 49-51.
3.
Bejou, D., Edvardsson, B., & Rakowski, J. P. (1996). A critical incident approach to examining the effects of service failures on customer relationships: The case of Swedish and U.S. airlines. Journal of Travel Research, 35(1), 35-40.
4.
Bitner, M. J., Booms, B. H., & Mohr, L. A. (1994). Critical service encounters: The employee’s viewpoint. Journal of Marketing, 58(October), 95-106.
5.
Bitner, M. J., Booms, B. H., & Tetreault, M. S. (1990). The service encounter: Diagnosing favorable and unfavorable incidents. Journal of Marketing, 54(1), 71-84.
6.
Bowen, D. E., & Lawler, E. E. (1992). The empowerment of service workers: What, why, how, and when. Sloan Management Review, 33(3), 31-39.
7.
Colenutt, C. E., & McCarville, R. E. (1994). The client as problem solver: A new look at service recovery. Journal of Hospitality and Leisure Marketing, 2(3), 23-35.
8.
Ettorre, B. (1994). Phenomenal promises that mean business. Management Review, 83(3), 18-23.
9.
Etzel, M. J., & Silverman, B. I. (1981). A managerial perspective on directions for retail customer dissatisfaction research. Journal of Retailing, 57(3), 124-136.
10.
Fiske, S. T., & Taylor, S. E. (1984). Social cognition. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
11.
Gremler, D., & Bitner, M. J. (1992). Classifying service encounter satisfaction across industries. In C. T. Allen, T. J. Madden, T. A. Shimp, R. D. Howell, G. M. Zinkhan, D. H. Heisley, R. J. Semenik, P. Dickson, V. Zeithaml, & R. Jenkins (Eds.), Marketing theory and applications (pp. 111-118). Chicago: American Marketing Association.
12.
Hart, C.W.L., Heskett, J. L., & Sasser, W. E. (1990). The profitable art of service recovery. Harvard Business Review, 68(4), 148-156.
13.
Heskett, J. L., Jones, T. O., Loveman, G. W., Sasser, W. E., Jr., & Schlesinger, A. (1994). Putting the service-profit chain to work. Harvard Business Review, 72(2), 164-174.
14.
Hoffman, K. D., & Kelley, S. W. (1996). Guidelines for developing retail recovery strategies. In E. J. Wilson & J. F. Hair, Jr., (Eds.), Developments in marketing science (p. 123). Phoenix, AZ: Academy of Marketing Science.
15.
Hoffman, K. D., Kelley, S. W., & Rotalsky, H. M. (1995). Tracking service failures and employee recovery efforts. Journal of Services Marketing, 9(2), 49-61.
16.
Jacob, R. (1994, September 19). Why some customers are more equal than others. Fortune, pp. 218, 220.
17.
Keaveney, S. M. (1995). Customer switching behavior in service industries: An exploratory study. Journal of Marketing, 59(2), 71-82.
18.
Kelley, S. W., Hoffman, K. D., & Davis, M. A. (1993). A typology of retail failures and recoveries. Journal of Retailing, 69(4), 429-452.
19.
McCollough, M. A., & Bharadwaj, S. G. (1992). The service recovery paradox: An examination of consumer satisfaction in relation to disconfirmation, service quality, and attribution-based theories. In C. T. Allenet al. (Eds.), Marketing theory and application. (pp. 102-107). Chicago: American Marketing Association.
20.
Reichheld, F. F., & Sasser, W. E. (1990). Zero defections: Quality comes to services. Harvard Business Review, 68(5), 105-111.
21.
Solomon, M. R., Surprenant, C., Czepiel, J. A., & Gutman, E. G. (1985). A role theory perspective on dyadic interactions: The service encounter. Journal of Marketing, 49(1), 99-111.
22.
Sparks, B. A., & Callan, V. J. (1996). Service breakdowns and service evaluations: The role of customer attributions. Journal of Hospitality and Leisure Marketing, 4(2), 3-24.
23.
Sundaram, D. S., Jurowski, C., & Webster, C. (1997). Service failure recovery efforts in restaurant dining: The role of criticality in service consumption. Hospitality Research Journal, 20(3), 137-149.
24.
Tax, S. S., & Brown, S. W. (1998). Recovering and learning from service failure. Sloan Management Review, 40(1), 75-88.
25.
Tax, S. S., Brown, S. W., & Chandrashekeran, M. (1998). Customer evaluations of service complaint experiences: Implications for relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 62(2), 60-76.
26.
Wels-Lips, I., van der Ven, M., & Pieters, R. (1998). Critical service dimensions: An empirical investigation across six industries. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 9(3), 286-309.
27.
West, J. J., & Olsen, M. D. (1990). Grand strategy: Making your restaurant a winner. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 31(2), 72-77.