Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Hotel, Restaurant, Institution Management & Dietetics / Carol W. Shanklin / Ki-Joon Back / This study proposed and tested a theoretical model of service recovery consisting of antecedents and consequences of service recovery satisfaction. This study further tested recovery paradox effects and investigated the effects of situational and attributional factors in the evaluation of service recovery efforts and consequent overall satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The study employed scenario experimentation with three dimensions of justice manipulated at two levels each (2x2x2 between-groups factorial design). Postage paid, self-addressed envelopes and questionnaires (600 copies) were distributed. Participants represented 15 religious and community service groups. All respondents were regular casual restaurant customers. Of 308 surveys returned, 286 cases were used for data analysis. In study 1, the proposed relationships were tested using the structural equation modeling. In study 2, multivariate analysis of variance and multivariate analysis of covariance tests were employed to test proposed hypotheses. The three dimensions of justice had positive effects on recovery satisfaction. Recovery satisfaction had a significant positive effect on customers’ trust. Trust in service providers had positive effect on commitment and overall satisfaction. Commitment had positive effects on overall satisfaction and behavioral intentions. This study indicated that, although a service failure might negatively affect customers’ relationship with the service provider, effective service recovery reinforced attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. The results of this study emphasized that service recovery efforts should be viewed not only as a strategy to recover customers’ immediate satisfaction but also as a relationship tool to provide customers confidence that ongoing relationships are beneficial to them. This study did not find recovery paradox in the experimental scenarios. The magnitude of service failure had significant negative effects on perceived justice and recovery satisfaction. Customers’ rating of stability causation had significant negative effects on overall satisfaction, revisit intention, and word-of-mouth intention. The study findings indicated that positive recovery efforts could reinstate customers’ satisfaction and behavioral intentions up to those of pre-failure. Restaurant managers and their employees need to provide extra efforts to restore the customers’ perceived losses in serious failure situations. Service providers should reduce systematic occurrences of service failure so customer will not develop stability perception.

Sammanfattning Titel: Fastighetsmäklarens felhantering Nivå: Examensarbete på Grundnivå (Kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Adam Fröberg & Ramazan Ra Be Handledare: Akmal Hyder Datum: 2022 – Juni  Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att skapa förståelse för hur enskilda fastighetsmäklare arbetar med service recovery för att åtgärda tjänstemisslyckande, service failure, som uppstår. Metod: Denna studie har tillämpat en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med ett induktivt förhållningssätt. Studiens data har samlats in via semistrukturerade intervjuer och totalt genomfördes åtta intervjuer med fastighetsmäklare. Resultat och slutsats: Studien visar att fastighetsmäklare har en gemensam uppfattning om att när missnöje uppstår är det viktig att ta reda på orsaken till problemet samt lösa det så snabbt som möjligt. Fastighetsmäklarens viktigaste verktyg är kommunikation, i from av, informationsutbyte, tydlighet samt god återkoppling. Åtgärdens snabbhet och initiering är de två viktigaste service recovery åtgärderna för en fastighetsmäklare.  Examensarbetets bidrag: Studien kan nyttjas praktiskt av enskilda fastighetsmäklare som vill jämföra sitt arbetssätt mot andra fastighetsmäklare. På en operativ nivå uppmanar studien till att se över om det finns oönskade arbetssätt hos fastighetsmäklare påmäklarbyrån. Teoretiskt bidrar studien med en beskrivning av fastighetsmäklarensfelhantering samt poängterar de viktigaste service recovery åtgärderna för en fastighetsmäklare. Förslag till vidare forskning: Ett förslag till vidare forskning är att studera hur service recovery hanteras av fastighetsmäklare utifrån kundens perspektiv. Detta är för att belysa kundens version av hur missnöje hanteras. Nyckelord: Service Recovery, Service Failure, Recovery Attributes, Word of Mouth, elektroniskt Word of Mouth

This study investigates outcomes of organizational responses to customer complaints by using a sample of hotel guests in Northern Cyprus as its setting. Results suggest that organizational response options have varying degrees of influence on customer satisfaction and revisit intentions. Implications of the results for hotel managers and public policy makers are discussed. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: docdelivery@haworthpress.com Website: http://www. HaworthPress.com.

Aim: The study aims to explore the process of service recovery, its transformation into a marketing tool and identifying the outcomes of the tool to the organizations. Methodology: The research employed a qualitative methodology with an inductive approach. Data collection was carried out via semi-structured interviews with participants from four organizations in Stockholm City. The analysis involved the use of questions based on the main concepts derived from the literature and manual coding scheme to identify new themes. Findings & Conclusion: Service recovery is a powerful marketing tool that can benefit organizations in various ways. By implementing effective strategies such as employee training, transparency, multiple service recovery options, and process improvement, organizations can turn service failures into opportunities. The outcomes of using service recovery as a marketing tool include customer retention and repeat purchases, positive word-of-mouth marketing, confidence and trust, building customer relationships, competitive advantage, and business growth and sustainability. The findings of the study highlight the critical importance of service recovery in marketing for customer retention and acquisition. Limitations and recommendations for further research: While this study provides valuable insights into how organizations can use service recovery as a marketing tool, further research is needed to understand its impact from a customer’s perspective and to broaden the scope of industries and geographic locations studied. Further research is also suggested to compare the performance of organizations that prioritize service recovery in marketing with those that don’t and to conduct a comparative analysis with other marketing tools. Also, exploring additional theories and concepts could provide a more comprehensive understanding of the topic.

Varubrist i dagligvaruhandeln har kommit att bli en allt vanligare företeelse som kan skapa problem för såväl butik som konsument. Problematiken har aktualiserats de senaste åren med oförutsedda externa världshändelser, exempelvis Covid-19 pandemin och kriget i Ukraina, vilka har orsakat produktionsproblem samt leveransstörningar. Således har det blivit viktigare än någonsin för dagligvaruhandeln att hantera problemet på ett effektivt sätt som främjar bibehållandet av goda kundrelationer. Innan studien genomfördes existerade en hel del forskning inom området ånger och besvikelse efter ett genomfört köp. Men det fanns begränsat med forskning rörande en situation där ett köp ofrivilligt har avbrutits till följd av varubrist. Detta väckte ett intresse hos författarna om att bidra till att stänga detta forskningsgap. Syftet med studien har varit att studera konsumenters reaktioner och preferenser avseende dagligvaruhandelns agerande vid varubrist. Genom den empiri som insamlats ämnar den identifiera det av konsumenterna föredragna agerandet från butikerna vid uppkommen varubrist. Vidare är målbilden att analysen av empirin ska alstra för möjligheter att förslag på framtida åtgärder kan finnas vilket i sin tur kan tillämpas av handeln för att de negativa effekterna ska minimeras. Med hjälp av den teoretiska referensramen innefattande teorier om service recovery, rättviseteori, kommunikation samt missnöje vid ofrivilligt avbrutna köp utformades ett konceptuellt ramverk som tillsammans utgjorde grunden för studiens intervjuer. För att visualisera processen presenteras även en av författarna framtagen modell där kopplingen mellan befintlig teori inom nämnda områden tydliggörs. För att nå ovanstående syfte formulerades följande problemformulering: “Hur kan dagligvaruhandeln agera för att minska konsumenters missnöje vid varubrist?” För att besvara frågeställningen har en kvalitativ studie genomförts där 12 konsumenter inom åldersspannet 31–55 år boende i Umeå samt Luleå intervjuats. Samtliga respondenter hade huvudansvar eller ett delat ansvar över inköp av dagligvaror samt minst ett hemmavarande barn under 18 år. I empiriavsnittet framkom att främst information och kommunikation från butikerna var de aspekter respondenterna fann särskilt betydelsefulla för att bibehålla kundnöjdheten. Vidare fann författarna även att respondenterna till stor utsträckning värderade samma eller liknande former av kommunikation. Studien bekräftar delvis redan existerande forskning inom teorierna inkluderade i det teoretiska ramverket men erbjuder även nya insikter kring hur dessa kan tillämpas i kombination för att skapa värdefulla verktyg i form av främst ökad användning av skriftlig kommunikation för dagligvaruhandeln att applicera vid varubrist. Genom dessa kan handeln motverka de negativa effekterna som varubrist leder till och bidra till att kundnöjdheten bibehålls.

Managers have begun to respond to customers' online reviews of services on online review websites. However, it is not known how viewers evaluate company-initiated service recovery in the form of manager responses to online reviews. This research has three objectives: (1) to explore how managers are currently responding to electronic word of mouth; (2) to investigate whether a manager's response to electronic negative word of mouth (eNWOM) positively influences viewers' behavioral intentions; (3) to examine which elements in a manager's responses increases viewers' evaluations of trust and behavioral intentions towards the company. Three studies were conducted, one for each objective. Study "1 examined 21,211 online reviews and manager responses from Tripadvisor.com from 184 hotels in five cities. Study "2 was a single-factor between-subject experimental design by manipulating a manager's response to eNWOM (response message vs. no response message) through scenarios. Study "3 was a 2 (procedural justice: high vs. low) x 2 (interactional justice: high vs. low) x 2 (social presence: high vs. low) between-subject experimental design that manipulated manager's responses through scenarios. Findings from Study "1 revealed that managers were more likely to respond to eNWOM compared to neutral word of mouth. A content analysis of 432 company responses to eNWOM determined that managers used nine online review management strategies: appreciation, apology, future patronage encouragement, explanation, follow up, flexibility, correction, compensation, and social presence. Results from Study "2 indicated that viewers were more likely to visit a restaurant when a manager responded to eNWOM compared to no response to eNWOM. Results from Study "3 revealed a three-way interaction of procedural justice, interactional justice, and social presence on trust. There were also main effects of procedural justice and interactional justice on trust. Additionally, results provided partial support for the mediating role of trust in the relationship between the three-way interaction and behavioral intentions. This study contributes to the online service recovery literature and online trust formation literature by enhancing the understanding of how viewers evaluate manager responses to eNWOM and how social presence can be used with procedural justice and interactional justice to enhance trust in the online review management context. Service organizations should create a comprehensive online review system to respond to eNWOM and identify ways to enhance procedural justice, interactional justice, and social presence into their responses. Online review websites should encourage companies to provide managerial response to online complaints and allow for social presence and enhanced creative options in manager responses.

Title: Service Failure och Service Recovery inom snabbmatskedja branschenLevel: Bachelor’s degreeFörfattare: Sami Sami & Aya BelkhairSupervisor: Peter EkDate: 2022 - JuneAim: The purpose of the study is to explore the methods that leaders and employees in the fast-food industry apply to create a Service Recovery (SR).Method: Qualitative study based on a deductive research approach, the interpretation of the result has been in accordance with a thematic analysis method. The empirical data has been collected with the help of semi-structured interviews that have taken place on site.Result and conclusion: The study has proven that the methods used for Service Recovery in the fast-food industry differ in details from the ordinary restaurant industry. Customers have more options in the form of offerings and easier access to the restaurant, which leads to their complaints being compensated more effectively. Contribution of the thesis: The attention of new Service Failure in the fast-food industry that did not occur in previous studies.Suggestion for future research: Investigate why different restaurants within the same franchise have varying SRs and guidelines.Keywords: Service Recovery, Service Failure, Interpersonal Failure, Core Failure, Processual Failure, Brand Credibility, Justice Theory

Title: A study on empowerment leadership and service recovery in the restaurant industry.   Level: Student thesis, final assignment for bachelor’s degree in business administration   Authors: Ellinor Strinnholm and Emma Söderstjerna   Supervisor: Svante Brunåker and Monika Wallmon   Date: 2020 – June     Aim: This study interprets empowering leadership's impact on frontline staff's initiative in service recovery in the restaurant industry.   Method: Through a qualitative-phenomenological approach, semi-structured interviews have been conducted with both frontline staff in the restaurant industry as well as managers. Through a thematic analysis, connections were made between themes in the respondents' statements and Spreitzer's four dimensions.   Result & Conclusions: The results indicate that frontline staff do not feel that Spreitzer's four dimensions of empowerment leadership, are met. Instead, the study found that authoritarian leadership in various forms is implemented at all restaurants in the study, despite the fact that empowerment leadership is in demand.   Contribution of the thesis: The study contributes with frontline staff's views on empowerment leadership as well as key drivers for increased staff performance. In addition, the problems in the restaurant industry are highlighted today and how these can be linked to a certain kind of leadership.   Suggestions for future research: For future research, we recommend exploring further why empowerment leadership is not implemented in the restaurant industry today.

This research aims to investigate the role of employee's personality type (most specifically introversion/extraversion) in the service recovery process. Toe literature review suggests that introverts and extraverts exhibit unique traits. Toe researcher hypothesizes that those traits associated with most extraverts may inhibit their performance in the service recovery process. It is believed their consistent tendencies to talk in argumentative tones, ill attention span, and disregard direction can have damaging results on the recovery process. Based on the research objectives, a survey was designed and data was collected from a sample of approximately 140 students in an Introduction to hospitality management or Guest service management class from the Rosen College of Hospitality Management, at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. Toe participants who ranked in the extreme levels of introversion or extraversion responses were used. Their information was then analyzed using statistical programs and tested for main effects. Toe research findings suggest there is a relationship between personality and the service recovery process. Though two hypotheses were not supported by the data, the data analysis results supported the hypothesis that extraverts have a greater capability for empowerment. It is believed further investigation will reveal other human resource management issues for which personality will play a significant role in.

Titel: Service Recovery genom hantering av eWOM - En studie om e-handelns modebransch. Nivå: Examensarbete på grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi. Författare: Omar Aboukhaled & Viktor Oleandersson. Handledare: Akmal Hyder. Datum: 2022 juni. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur e-handelsföretag inom modebranschen hanterar negativ eWOM genom nyttjandet av Service Recovery. Metod: Studien utgår från en kvalitativ metod med ett hermeneutistiskt synsätt samt en induktiv forskningsansats. Empirin består av sju semistrukturerade intervjuer. Slutsats: Digitala utvecklingen har givit ett stort utrymme för Service Failure, det har även underlättat för eWOM att spridas. Vanligaste orsakerna till att negativ eWOM sprids enligt studien är framförallt leveransproblem eller missnöje över en produkt. Studien visar även att majoriteten av företagen saknar en plan för Service Recovery och istället förlitar sig på kundserviceavdelningen. Studiens bidrag: Studiens bidrag till teorin inom marknadsföring är en ökad förståelsekring hur svenska företag inom e-handelns modebransch hanterar negativ eWOM samtorsakerna till eWOMs uppkomst. Det praktiska bidraget är en visdom för ehandelsföretag inom modebranschen för att kunna utforma en Service Recovery strategisamt vilka aspekter som kan förebygga negativ eWOM. Förslag till vidare forskning: Forskningen kan fördjupas ytterligare genom att ta hänsyn till kundens perspektiv. Vidare framgick det i denna studie att den digitala utvecklingen har påverkat e-handelsföretag och eWOM markant, därav blir det av intresse att undersöka hur företag ska handskas med digitaliseringen. Slutligen är ett förslag att undersöka detta ämne inom andra branscher. / Title: Service Recovery by managing eWOM - A study of the e-commerce fashion industry. Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degrees in Business Administration. Authors: Omar Abou Khaled & Viktor Oleandersson. Supervisor: Akmal Hyder. Date: 2022 June. Aim: The purpose of this study is to investigate how e-commerce companies in the fashion industry manage negative eWOM through the use of Service Recovery. Method: This study is based on a qualitative method with a hermeneutic approach and an inductive research approach. The empirical data consists of seven semi-structured interviews. Conclusion: Digital development has given a lot of room for mistakes, it is also easier for eWOM to spread. The most common reasons for negative eWOM spreading are mainly delivery issues or dissatisfaction with a product. The study also shows that the majority of companies lack strategies and instead rely on the customer service department, which makes it important to have well-trained staff. Contribution: The study’s contribution to the theory in marketing is an increased understanding of how Swedish companies in the e-commerce fashion industry manage negative eWOM and the reasons for eWOM’s emergence. The practical contribution is a wisdom for e-commerce companies in the fashion industry to be able to design a Service Recovery strategy and the aspects that can prevent negative eWOM. Suggestions for future research: The research can be further deepened by taking the customer perspective into account. It will also be of interest to investigate how companies should deal with digitalisation. Finally, a suggestion is to study this topic in other industries.