Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Customer participation in service recovery: a meta-analysis

  • Published:
Marketing Letters Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Research on customer participation in service recovery is surging, yet empirical examinations provide mixed results. A meta-analysis of 30 independent samples reported in 21 studies (N = 7872) shows that the effect sizes for the relationships between customer participation in service recovery and customer outcomes are rather weak. We also find that customer participation in service recovery has an indirect effect on satisfaction with service recovery via distributive justice and procedural justice, but not via interactional justice. Conversely, customer participation in service recovery has an indirect effect on overall satisfaction via distributive justice and interactional justice, but not via procedural justice. Finally, the effectiveness of customer participation in service recovery is stronger when customers participate in the outcome of the recovery and for customers with an Eastern cultural background, but weaker when additional compensation is offered and in online settings.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Multilevel meta-regressions often suffer from multicollinearity (e.g., Pick and Eisend 2016). Unfortunately, multilevel models do not offer a direct diagnostic for multicollinearity. Similar to Pick and Eisend (2016), we applied the variables in a linear regression model. The variance inflation factors (maximum VIF = 3.0) fall below the recommended threshold, suggesting that multicollinearity is not an issue.

  2. We also ran a more parsimonious model, in which we used one intercept rather than the set of dependent variable-specific intercepts at level 1. The model fit did not change significantly (∆χ2(7) = 3.511, p > .05). The results for the moderators did not vary substantially.

  3. Additional tests show that the strength of this effect does not depend on the nature of the compensation, that is, whether additional monetary compensation or psychological compensation (i.e., an apology) is offered.

References

References marked with an asterisk are included in the meta-analysis

  • *Armirotto, V. (2016). How can we best solve your problem? The impact of co-creation of service recovery on complaining customers’ perceptions. Master thesis: KU Leuven, Belgium.

  • Association of Business Schools (2015). Academic Journal Guide 2015. 54 pages.

  • *Balaji, M. S., Jha, S., Sengupta, A. S., Krishnan, B. C. (2018) Are cynical customers satisfied differently? Role of negative inferred motive and customer participation in service recovery. Journal of Business Research, 86:109–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bijmolt, T. H. A., & Pieters, R. G. M. (2001). Meta-analysis in marketing when studies contain multiple measurements. Marketing Letters, 12, 157–169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burnett, J. J., & Dune, P. M. (1986). An appraisal of the use of student subjects in marketing research. Journal of Business Research, 14, 329–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chan, H., Wan, L. C., & Sin, L. Y. M. (2007). Hospitality service failures: Who will be more dissatisfied? International Journal of Hospitality Management, 26, 531–545.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang, C.-C., & Chin, Y.-C. (2011). Comparing consumer complaint responses to online and offline environment. Internet Research, 21, 124–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Cheung, F. Y. M., To, C. W. M. (2016). A customer-dominant logic on service recovery and customer satisfaction, Management Decision, 54:2524–2543.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Collier, J. E., Breazeale, M., White, A. (2017). Giving back the “self” in self-service: Customer preferences in self-service failure recovery. Journal of Services Marketing, 31:604–617.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Dong, B., Evans, K. R., Zou, S. (2008) The effects of customer participation in co-created service recovery. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36:123–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Dong, B., Sivakumar, K., Evans, K. R., Zou, S. (2016). Recovering coproduced service failures: Antecedents, consequences, and moderators of locus of recovery. Journal of Service Research, 19: 291–306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dong, B., & Sivakumar, K. (2017). Customer participation in services: domain, scope, and boundaries. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 45, 944–965.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farley, J. U., Lehmann, D. R., & Sawyer, A. (1995). Empirical marketing generalization using meta-analysis. Marketing Science, 14, 36–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A.-G., & Buchner, A. (2007). G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 175–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Field, A. (2001). Meta-analysis of correlation coefficients: A Monte Carlo comparison of fixed- and random-effects methods. Psychological Methods, 6, 161–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelbrich, K., & Roschk, H. (2011). A meta-analysis of organizational complaint handling and customer responses. Journal of Service Research, 14, 24–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Gohary, A., Hamzelu, B., Alizadeh, H. (2016a) Please explain why it happened! How perceived justice and customer involvement affect post co-recovery evaluations: A study of Iranian online shoppers. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 31:127–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Gohary, A., Hamzelu, B., Pourazizi, L., Hanzaee, K. H. (2016b). Understanding effects of co-creation on cognitive, affective and behavioral evaluations in service recovery: An ethnocultural analysis. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 31:182–198.

  • Grönroos, C. (1988). Service quality: The six criteria of good perceived service quality. Review of Business, 9, 10–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Guo, L., Lotz, S. L., Tang, C., Gruen, T. W. (2016). The role of perceived control in customer value cocreation and service recovery evaluation. Journal of Service Research, 19:39–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Hazée, S., Van Vaerenbergh, Y., Armirotto, V. (2017). Co-creating service recovery after service failure: The role of brand equity. Journal of Business Research, 75:101–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Heidenreich, S., Wittkowski, K., Handrich, M., Falk, T. (2015) The dark side of customer co-creation: Exploring the consequences of failed co-created services. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43:279–296.

  • Herzberg, F. (1971). Work and the nature of man. New York: World Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G. (1997). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. London: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hong, Y., Liao, H., Hu, J., & Jiang, K. (2014). Missing link in the service profit chain: A meta-analytic review of the antecedents, consequences, and moderators of service climate. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 98, 237–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Huang, H-H. (2016) A study of customer co-recovery from self-oriented and other-oriented perspectives. J Hosp Leis Sport To, 6:1–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Huang, H-H., Wang, J. S., Kung, S. H. (2016) The influence of customer participation in service recovery on overall satisfaction and repurchase intention. Journal National Huwei University Science Technology, 33:1–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, J. E., & Schmidt, F. L. (2004). Methods of meta-analysis: Correcting error and bias in research findings (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Joireman, J., Grégoire, Y., Devezer, B., & Tripp, T. M. (2013). When do customers offer firms a “second chance” following a double deviation? The impact of inferred firm motives on customer revenge and reconciliation. Journal of Retailing, 89, 315–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Joosten, H., Bloemer, J., Hillebrand, B. (2017) Consumer control in service recovery: beyond decisional control. Journal of Service Management, 28:499–519.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Karande, K., Magnini, V.P., Tam, L. (2007) Recovery voice and satisfaction after service failure: An experimental investigation of mediating and moderating factors. Journal of Service Research, 10:187–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knox, G., & Van Oest, R. (2014). Customer complaints and recovery effectiveness: A customer base approach. Journal of Marketing, 78, 42–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Mattila, A. S. (2010) Do women like options more than men? An examination in the context of service recovery. Journal of Services Marketing, 24:499–508;

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murtaugh, P. A. (2002). Journal quality, effect size, and publication bias in meta-analysis. Ecology, 83, 1162–1166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orsingher, C., Valentini, S., & de Angelis, M. (2010). A meta-analysis of customer satisfaction with complaint handling in services. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 38, 169–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Payne, A. F., Storbacka, K., & Frow, P. (2008). Managing the co-creation of value. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36, 83–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, R. A., & Brown, S. P. (2005). On the use of beta coefficients in meta-analysis. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 175–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, R. A., & Merunka, D. R. (2014). Convenience samples of college students and research reproducibility. Journal of Business Research, 67, 1035–1041.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pick, D., & Eisend, M. (2016). Customer responses to switching costs: A meta-analytic investigation of the moderating influence of culture. Journal of International Marketing, 24, 39–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Roggeveen, A. L., Tsiros, M., Grewal, D. (2012) Understanding the co-creation effect: when does collaborating with customers provide a lift to service recovery? Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40:771–790.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenthal, R. (1979). The ‘file-drawer problem’ and tolerance for null results. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 638–641.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rust, R., & Cooil, B. (1994). Reliability measures for qualitative data: Theory and implications. Journal of Marketing Research, 31, 1–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rust, R., & Lemon, K. (2001). E-service and the consumer. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 5, 85–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sengupta, S., Ray, D., Trendel, O., & Van Vaerenbergh, Y. (2018). The effect of apologies in the global online retail. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 22, 419–445.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharma, P. (2010). Measuring personal cultural orientations: Scale development and validation. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 38, 787–806.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A. K., Bolton, R. N., & Wagner, J. (1999). A model of customer satisfaction with service encounter involving failure and recovery. Journal of Marketing Research, 36, 356–372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Talgø, T., Rødsjø, E. L. (2017) You break it, you fix it? Customer participation in service production and service recovery. Master thesis: BI Norwegian Business School, Norway.

  • Valentine, J. C., Pigott, T. D., & Rothstein, H. R. (2010). How many studies do you need? A primer on statistical power for meta-analysis. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 35, 215–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Vaerenbergh, Y., & Orsingher, C. (2016). Service recovery: An integrative framework and research agenda. Academy of Management Perspectives, 30, 328–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Vaerenbergh, Y., Orsingher, C., Vermeir, I., & Larivière, B. (2014). A meta-analysis of relationships linking service failure attributions to customer outcomes. Journal of Service Research, 17, 381–398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vargo, S. L., & Lusch, R. F. (2016). Institutions and axioms: An extension and update of service-dominant logic. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 44, 5–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Vazquez-Casielles, R., Iglesias, V., Varela-Neira, C. (2017) Co-creation and service recovery process communication: effects on satisfaction, repurchase intentions, and word of mouth. Service Business, 11:321–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Völckner, F., & Hofmann, J. (2007). The price-perceived quality relationship: A meta-analytic review and assessment of its determinants. Marketing Letters, 18, 181–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Xu, Y., Tronvoll, B., Edvardsson, B. (2014a) Recovering service failure through resource integration. Service Industries Journal, 34:1253–1271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Xu, Y., Marshall, R., Edvardsson, B., Tronvoll, B. (2014b) Show you care: Initiation co-creation in service recovery. Journal of Service Management, 25:369–387.

Download references

Funding

The first author (G0C5617N) and third author (SB/151556) are grateful for financial support from the Research Foundation—Flanders.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marketing, KU Leuven, Warmoesberg 26, 1000, Brussels, Belgium

    Yves Van Vaerenbergh & Annelies Costers

  2. Department of Marketing, HEC Liège, University of Liège, Rue Louvrex, 14, 4000, Liège, Belgium

    Simon Hazée

Authors
  1. Yves Van Vaerenbergh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Simon Hazée
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Annelies Costers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yves Van Vaerenbergh.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 3 Overview of studies used in the meta-analysis
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Van Vaerenbergh, Y., Hazée, S. & Costers, A. Customer participation in service recovery: a meta-analysis. Mark Lett 29, 465–483 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-018-9470-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-018-9470-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation