The effects of service failure recovery strategies on customer satistaction and repurchase intention in health care organizations

Due to the unique characteristics of health services, it is inevitable that service failure occur in the service delivery process. Service failures cause dissatisfaction and complaints of customers purchasing service from health institutions, and then affect their intention to repurchase service from the institution. At this point, service recovery emerges as an important strategic method for eliminating the dissatisfaction caused by service failures, and continuing to repurchase service. Service recovery strategies are implemented as a corporate response to complaints to ensure customer satisfaction. These strategies are; It is evaluated in six dimensions by Davidow (2000) as timeliness, facilitation, attentiveness, apology, redress, and credibility. From this point of view, it is the main purpose of this study to determine the effect of implementing service recovery strategies, which consist of six dimensions, on the satisfaction and post-recovery behavior of customers who have complained in health institutions. In line with this purpose, the research was carried out by applying face-to-face questionnaire to 244 complainant participants in a private health institution in the within borders of Izmir province, which includes eighteen items for six service compensation dimensions and six items for satisfaction and repurchase intention developed by Davidow (2000). The data obtained at the end of the application were analyzed with the structural equation model and the research hypotheses were tested. The results of the analysis revealed that the credibility, attentiveness and redress dimensions of service recovery strategies have a significant effect on satisfaction and repurchase intention post-recovery. It has been proved that the apology dimension also has a significant effect on satisfaction after recovery, and that there is no significant relationship with repurchase intention. It was observed that timeliness and facilitation dimensions did not affect both postcompensation satisfaction and repurchase intention. In addition, it has been determined that the satisfaction achieved with recovery strategies has a significant effect on repurchase intention. Based on the findings of the research, it is thought that it will be more effective in positively affecting customer satisfaction and repurchase intention if health institutions offer service recoveries with different combinations. Key Words: Healthcare Institutions, Service Failure, Service Recovery Strategies, Satisfaction, Repurchase