Timing and compensation strategies in service recovery

Purpose: A combined model involving the intensity of negative emotions and the strategic combinations (timing and means) of service recovery is developed. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performances of these different combinations through customer satisfaction, repurchase intention and fitting curves between the two under hotel service scenarios. Design/methodology/approach: A 2 (recovery timing: immediate/delayed) × 2 (recovery means: psychological/economic) × 3 (type of service failure: failure in a delivery system/failure in responding to customer needs/improper employee behavior) between-subject experimental design was used with 456 participants. Findings: The results suggest that immediate and economic recovery effectively raises the service recovery evaluations from customers with low-intensity negative emotions, whereas delayed and psychological recovery helps customers with high-intensity negative emotions to give higher evaluations. Originality/value: When service failures happen, the strategies for and timing of recovery directly influence customers’ service recovery evaluations. This study sheds light on the role that negative emotions play in the process of service recovery and provides implications for service industry managers.