Customer Evaluations of Service Complaint Experiences: Implications for Relationship Marketing
Tax, Brown and Chandrashekaran note that many companies invest in complaint handling to build commitment and loyalty but are not well informed about handling service failures. They find that a majority of complaining customers were dissatisfied with recent complaint handling. Using justice theory, they show that customers evaluate complaint incidents by the outcomes they receive, the procedures used and the interpersonal treatment, and they test competing hypotheses about how satisfaction, trust and commitment relate.
Tax, Brown and Chandrashekaran note that many companies invest in complaint handling to build commitment and loyalty but are not well informed about handling service failures. They find that a majority of complaining customers were dissatisfied with recent complaint handling. Using justice theory, they show that customers evaluate complaint incidents by the outcomes they receive, the procedures used and the interpersonal treatment, and they test competing hypotheses about how satisfaction, trust and commitment relate.
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Tax, S. S., Brown, S. W., & Chandrashekaran, M. (1998). Customer Evaluations of Service Complaint Experiences: Implications for Relationship Marketing. Journal of Marketing, 62(2), 60-76. doi:10.1177/002224299806200205