Recovering from Services Failures: The Moderating Role of Emotional Attachment

Abstract

This study aims to improve information about service recovery by investigating the moderating function of emotional attachment on the relationships between perceived justice components, satisfaction with service recovery, overall satisfaction, trust and loyalty. Since emotional attachment appear to have a significant influence on the way in which customers' process service information through purchase decision making, awareness of the role of emotional attachment can help service companies better comprehend how customers respond to service failures and to their efforts towards service recovery. Based on a questionnaire of 472 customers who experienced service recoveries, the results mostly support the hypothesized effects, making essential contributions to and having important implications for marketing literature and practitioners. The difference that is observed between low and high emotionally attached customers in the hypothesized relationships presents the requirement of taking emotional attachment into consideration within the context of service recovery strategies.