CRITICAL INCIDENTS IN TOURISM: FAILURE, RECOVERY, CUSTOMER SWITCHING, AND WORD‐OF‐MOUTH BEHAVIORS

Abstract

As an evolving area of academic investigation, service failure and recovery research is particularly relevant in the tourism field but research is still lacking. This study identifies and classifies commonly experienced service failures and recovery strategies as perceived by tourism customers that result in overall (dis)satisfying encounters. The effectiveness of service recovery strategies is assessed via behavioral responses. Specifically, switching behaviors of (dis)satisfied consumers, the extent of word‐of‐mouth engaged in, and its valence are investigated.

Keywords:

• Service failure
• service recovery
• switching
• tourism
• word‐of‐mouth