The Role of Airline Travelers’ Pre-Recovery Emotions during the Service Recovery Process

ABSTRACT

This study examines (1) the relationships between airline travelers’ casual attribution (stability and controllability), pre-recovery emotions, post-recovery emotions, and overall satisfaction; and (2) analyzes the mediating effect of pre-recovery emotions on the relationship between causal attribution and post-recovery emotions. Theoretical hypotheses were derived based on a literature review, and to empirically test the hypotheses, data were collected from 210 airline travelers in Malaysia. These respondents were airline travelers who experienced some service failure and relevant service recovery within the past year. According to the results, the two dimensions of casual attribution both influenced pre-recovery emotions. Pre-recovery emotions were significantly related to positive and negative post-recovery emotions, and post-recovery emotions were significantly related to overall satisfaction. In addition, pre-recovery emotions moderated the relationship between casual attribution and post-recovery emotions. These results have important practical implications.

KEYWORDS:

• Airline travelers
• casual attributions
• stability
• controllability
• pre-recovery emotions
• post-recovery emotions
• customer satisfaction

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Davoud Nikbin

Davoud Nikbin was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Management, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Malaysia (E‐mail: [email protected]). He has since moved institutions and is now a Lecturer with the Faculty of Business, Multimedia University, 75450, Melaka, Malaysia.

Mohammad Iranmanesh

Mohammad Iranmanesh is a PhD student, School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia (E‐mail: [email protected]).

Sunghyup Sean Hyun

At the time of writing, Sunghyup Sean Hyun was an Associate Professor at the Department of Tourism and Convention, Pusan National University, Busan, Republic of Korea (E‐mail: [email protected]). He has since moved institutions and is now an Associate Professor with the School of Tourism, Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Rohaizat Baharun

Rohaizat Baharun is Professor at the Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Management, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310, Johor Bahru, Malaysia (E‐mail: [email protected]).

Insin Kim

Insin Kim is Assistant Professor at the Department of Tourism and Convention, Pusan National University, Jangjeon-Dong, San 30, Kumjung-Gu, Busan 609–735 Korea (E‐mail: [email protected]).