Customers’ reactions to other customer caused service failures: the effects of tie strength on customer loyalty

ABSTRACT

This research examines the reactions of customers who witness other customer caused service failures through two experimental design studies with a sample of 391 and 265 respectively. Study 1 examines a customer caused service failure using a 2 (service recovery: strong/weak) x 2 (firm tie: strong/weak) x 2 (employee tie: strong/weak) design. Both employee and brand tie fail to moderate the negative impact caused by the ineffective service recovery, suggesting service recovery is the most salient to observing customers. To build upon the results, Study 2 examines brand and employee loyalty using a 2 (brand tie: strong/weak) x 2 (employee tie: strong/weak) design when witnessing no service failure. Results find a significant main effect and interaction effect of brand and employee tie on loyalty. The results build upon the social servicescape, observing customer, other customer service failure, tie strength, and loyalty literature.

本研究以391位顾客与265位顾客为样本，透过两项实验设计研究，检视其他顾客造成服务失败的顾客反应研究1使用2（服务补救：强/弱）x 2（企业领带：强/弱）x2（员工领带：强/弱）设计检查客户导致的服务失败无论是员工还是品牌领带都未能缓解服务补救无效带来的负面影响，这表明服务补救对观察顾客最为显著. 为了建立在研究结果的基础上，研究2在没有服务失败的情况下，使用2（品牌搭配：强/弱）x 2（员工搭配：强/弱）设计来检验品牌和员工忠诚度结果发现品牌与员工关系对忠诚有显著的主效应和交互效应. 研究结果建立在社会服务情境、观察顾客、其他顾客服务失败、联系强度和忠诚文献的基础上.

KEYWORDS:

• Tie strength
• customer loyalty
• other customer
• service failure
• service recovery
• service experience
• social servicescape