The press is filled with stories about termination of customer relationships in banking, telecom and other service industries. Yet, there is limited research on firm-initiated service termination and in particular, customers’ reactions to different termination strategies is under-researched. This study employs a 2 (termination strategies: firm-oriented and customer-oriented) * 5 (compensation types: explanation, apology, moderate monetary compensation, high monetary compensation and no compensation) experimental design with US adult consumers in retail banking. In phase 1, the study examines the direct and indirect effects of termination severity on customers’ reactions and the perceived justice theory is used to explain the post termination conceptual framework. The results show that a firm-oriented approach is perceived as more severe and less fair compared with a customer-oriented approach. In addition, termination severity negatively influences perceived justice and positively influences anger, direct complaint, negative WoM and revenge behaviours. The results also demonstrate that anger and perceived justice mediate the relationships between termination severity and behavioural responses and attitude towards complaining moderates the effects of anger on revenge, direct and third party complaint. The study contributes to the service termination literature by enhancing the understanding of the consequences of service termination and also providing a theoretical model of customers’ attitudinal, emotional and behavioural reactions to firm-initiated service termination. Furthermore, little is known about the role that compensation plays in influencing customers’ responses to intentional failures such as service termination. Therefore, in phase 2, this research examines the effects of different types of compensation and different level of monetary compensation on customers’ anger, satisfaction, image and negative WoM following the two termination approaches. Expectancy violation theory is used to explain the post compensation conceptual model. Contrary to the accepted wisdom, the findings reveal that explanation is the salient compensation type for both termination approaches. In addition, high level of monetary compensation is only effective following a firm-oriented, but not a customer-oriented approach. Moreover, apology and moderate monetary compensation are not effective in improving customers’ satisfaction and reducing their anger following either approach. The research contributes to the service recovery literature by examining the effectiveness of psychological and monetary compensation in service termination, which is an intentional failure. The findings provide managers with critical insights about the effectiveness of different compensation strategies based on specific termination strategies (i.e. psychological compensation following customer-oriented and both psychological and high monetary compensation following firm-oriented approaches).

Le secteur touristique souffre de plus en plus des départs de clients insatisfaits suite aux dysfonctionnements de services vécus. De nombreux établissements de services, attachent encore, peu d’importance à la gestion des réclamations en raison des moyens financiers qu’elles suscitent. Or, une gestion efficace de la réclamation pourrait transformer un client insatisfait en un client plus confiant et engagé. Notre recherche s’est intéressée à l’identification des critères d’évaluation sur lesquels les réclamants se basent pour juger la gestion de la réclamation, et à l’impact de cette évaluation sur la qualité de la relation établie avec l’établissement touristique. Pour ce faire une étude qualitative exploratoire suivie d’une étude quantitative ont été réalisées.Après avoir examiné la revue de la littérature, nous nous sommes focalisés sur les théories de la justice perçue lors de l’évaluation de la gestion de la réclamation. En outre, nous avons mobilisé les dimensions de la confiance et de l’engagement comme critères de jugement de la qualité relationnelle perçue. Les résultats de notre étude montrent l’existence d’un impact positif et significatif de quelques critères de la justice perçue (jugés par les réclamant comme étant les plus importants) sur la satisfaction post-réclamation et la qualité relationnelle perçue. Ces critères sont essentiellement l’équité du résultat accordé par l’établissement (ex : compensation accordée), l’empathie et la politesse développées par le personnel en contact, et la rapidité du traitement de la réclamation. / The tourist sector is suffering more and more from the departure of the unsatisfied customers after experienced service failures. Several services companies, still attach, few importance to complaint handling because of financial funds needed. However, an efficient complaint handling management could transform a dissatisfied customer to a more confident and committed customer. Our research was interested in the identification of the appraisal criteria on which claimants base to judge complaint handling and the impact of this evaluation on the quality of the relationship established with the tourist establishment. Consequently, a qualitative study followed by a quantitative study has been accomplished. After examining the literature review, we focused on the perceived justice theory to evaluate the complaint handling. Besides, we used trust and commitment dimensions as a criteria of judgment of the perceived relationship quality (Morgan et Hunt, 1994).The outcomes of our study show the existence of a positive significant impact of some criteria of the perceived justice (considered by consumers as the most important), on recovery satisfaction and perceived relationship quality. These criteria are mainly equity of the result provided by the establishment (Ex. Compensation provided), empathy and politeness developed by the front line staff, and the quickness of the complaint treatment.

Submitted by Manoela Sabbadin Begas (manu.begas@gmail.com) on 2017-03-21T17:15:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Manoela_Dissertação.pdf: 1812808 bytes, checksum: c5237fd3e360f7c33edd0f82fc1e73be (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Pamela Beltran Tonsa (pamela.tonsa@fgv.br) on 2017-03-21T17:17:07Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Manoela_Dissertação.pdf: 1812808 bytes, checksum: c5237fd3e360f7c33edd0f82fc1e73be (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-22T12:14:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Manoela_Dissertação.pdf: 1812808 bytes, checksum: c5237fd3e360f7c33edd0f82fc1e73be (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-24 / The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of perception of pressure to buy in the perception of consumer justice in direct sales. In addition, it also sought an approximation/friendship between salespeople and consumers influencing the perceived pressure effect on consumer perception of justice, as well as whether emotions (positive versus negative) mediate a relationship between a perception of justice and behavior (intent of repurchase and word-of-mouth) from salespeople. A quantitative study was carried out through a survey of 411 direct selling custom ers, and the data were analyzed by structural equation modeling (SEM). The results showed that consumers do not feel pressured by resellers, so a perception of fairness perceived by consumers has been high and has led them to the intentions of positive repurchase and buzz behavior in relation to the salespeople. Proximity/friendship between consumers and salespeople increased a perception of consumer justice, and only as positive emotions did they partially mediate a perception of fairness and consumer behavior. / Este estudo teve como objetivo principal investigar o efeito da percepção de pressão para comprar na percepção de justiça do consumidor, na venda direta. Além disso, também buscou compreender se a proximidade/amizade entre revendedores e consumidores influencia o efeito da percepção de pressão na percepção de justiça do consumidor, bem como se as emoções (positivas vs. negativas) mediam a relação entre a percepção de justiça e o comportamento (intenção de recompra e boca-a-boca) dos consumidores em relação aos revendedores. Foi realizado um estudo quantitativo mediante levantamento de dados (survey) com 411 consumidores de venda direta, e os dados foram analisados pela modelagem de equações estruturais (MEE). Os resultados mostraram que os consumidores não se sentem pressionados pelos revendedores, portanto a percepção de justiça percebida pelos consumidores foi alta e os levou a intenções de comportamentos de recompra e boca-a-boca positivos em relação ao revendedor. A proximidade/amizade entre consumidores e revendedores aumentou a percepção de justiça do consumidor, e apenas as emoções positivas mediaram parcialmente a relação entre a percepção de justiça e o comportamento do consumidor.