Implementing service recovery through customer relationship management: identifying the antecedents

Purpose – This study seeks to combine components of service failure recovery and customer relationship management. It aims to develop a model of the antecedents of successful service recovery that proposes relationships between employee empowerment, job satisfaction, self‐efficacy, employee ratings of the service firm's service recovery practices, and service technology usage. Design/methodology/approach – An online survey tool was used to collect data. The hypothesized model was tested utilizing structural equation modeling. Findings – Results support the hypothesized relationships between the empowerment of employees and their job satisfaction and perceived self‐efficacy, as well as the relationships between job satisfaction and self‐efficacy and service recovery. Practical implications – Managers may improve the implementation of service technology and service recovery strategies by increasing employee empowerment. Originality/value – The paper addresses a significant gap in the current literature by linking the well‐established constructs of employee empowerment, job‐satisfaction, self‐efficacy and adaptability with measures of service failure recovery and service technology usage.