ServiceFriday: Your Customers Received Less Than They Expected – How Much Will it Cost to Recover?

When flights are cancelled or a noisy party disturbs hotel guests, financial compensation is an effective and often-used salve to sooth aggrieved customers. Still, some firms try to avoid paying compensation, while others pay too little or not enough to achieve the customer satisfaction impact they seek. A new paper in the Journal of Service Research dissects service recovery, arming service managers with a more nuanced way of analyzing compensation size the next time they need to assuage customers.

Service in a Time of Rapid Change: Under Stress – Break or Change

Months before the U.S. woke up to the threat of COVID-19, Ron Zielinski was hearing about a new kind of pneumonia in China. Zielinski, who leads Global Customer Services for Coherent Inc., heard from one of his managers in Singapore in late December that there were some 12 to 14 of these cases in Wuhan. They agreed to keep an eye on it, he says, and “since then I feel like I’ve had a front row seat to this pandemic unfolding.”

Service in a Time of Rapid Change: The Unthinkable Happens…What Next?

As sucker punches go, this coronavirus pandemic was a championship blow. Some companies would probably agree with boxer Mike Tyson, who said “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”

This is a historic moment, but we have been surprised by sudden, disruptive change in the past, and we are sure to be challenged by rapidly shifting conditions in the future. So, what determines which organizations will respond successfully?

ServiceFriday: “That’s On Me.” – Consumer Reaction to Service Failures in Self-Service and Full-Service Settings

IKEA is a furniture retailer that has become world renowned for many reasons, including the frequency in which customers get lost in their stores which are known to be as expansive as the Palace of Versailles. One of the main reasons that IKEA has stood apart from other furniture outlets is that, by designing and selling ready-to-assemble furniture, they are a key player in the self-service industry. Self-service settings have begun to proliferate the modern world and with them a new plethora of challenges have been brought forth to the service research community.

ServiceFriday: Determining Compensation Size for Recovery Satisfaction

Herd mentality is a phenomena that can cause people to react irrationally and emotionally to situations they may not normally care about. In times of service failures, the same can occur with customers’ responses. In a setting where multiple customers are affected simultaneously, such as in delayed air travel, negative energy can spread quickly throughout a group. For businesses working to recover from these failures, consideration must be made for a difference in response caused by a group dynamic, rather than an individual one.

ServiceFriday: California Conundrum – Wildfire’s Impact on Service Delivery

Despite the number of wildfires decreasing from their peak in 1980, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Purdue stated in September 2017 that the U.S. was spending more than $2 billion to combat fires. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, that 2017 fire season was the most expensive ever with the costs exceeding $2.4 billion. Understanding the outstanding liability costs associated with these wild fires, on October 9 California utility company Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) decided to start shutting off power to its affected areas. 

ServiceFriday: Temper Tantrum Technique – How the Intensity of Customer Anger Impacts Compensation

In one episode of the hit sitcom Seinfeld, Jerry’s car gets stolen so he must use a rental car in the meantime. As is typical for the show, another hilarious service failure ensues as the rental car agency employee informs Jerry that, despite his reservation, they were out of midsize cars.

ServiceFriday: Justice for All – The Impact of Perceived Justice After a Service Recovery

Often considered to be one of the greatest television shows ever made, Seinfeld was no stranger to making bold and unconventional moves. A stand-out example of this occurred when the show air the episode, “The Chinese Restaurant”. The single-setting plot revolved around Jerry, Elaine and George waiting for a table at a Chinese restaurant with plans to see a movie afterwards. But this is Seinfeld: a world where service failures are hilariously abundant throughout the series (e.g.

ServiceFriday: Who is Blamed in a Service Failure?

When a customer reacts negatively to a service failure, how harmful is it for another customer or outside observer to view this reaction? Will the customer on the outside of the interaction attribute the blame to the service provider or to the customer involved? And what factors determine how they choose to place their blame?

ServiceFriday: Culture Affects Perception of Service

Service failures can make or break a company’s competitive edge, but the degree to which this can affect a company can change dramatically across different cultures. Globalization has allowed for businesses to reach consumers all around the world, but many are failing to manage behavioral responses to failures based on culture, and are mistakenly focusing on a specific one they are most familiar with. As service failures are inevitable, companies’ ability to bounce back and understand how customers from different cultures are affected by a dissatisfactory experience is crucial.