Service failure and recovery encountered by consumers in restaurants

Although it is a desired aim for service firms to provide service delivery without any failure, it is very difficult to achieve this goal due to the unique characteristics of services. Companies try to eliminate customer dissatisfaction caused by service failures by applying effective service recovery strategies and to prevent possible behaviors of customers that may negatively affect the company such as negative word of mouth, switching to other service providers or complaining. The aim of this study is to propose and test a theoretical model consisting of the antecedents and outcomes of recovery satisfaction. The specific objects of the study are to test the effects of perceived justice dimensions' (distributional justice, procedural justice, interactional justice) on recovery satisfaction and the effects of recovery satisfaction on negative word of mouth, switching intentions, complaining intentions and the moderator effect of social anxiety on the relationship between recovery satisfaction and complaining intention at a restaurant setting. In order to test the model in the study, data collected from 467 individuals and tested by PLS-SEM structural equation modeling. The results show that both distributional and interactional justice have a positive effect on recovery satisfaction. The results also indicate that recovery satisfaction has a negative effect on negative word of mouth, switching intention and complaining intention. Finally, social anxiety is found to moderate the relationship between recovery satisfaction and complaining intention.