Service Failure Scenario: An Empirical Analysis of Customer Responses across Four Service Categories

This paper aims to investigate the differences in the consumers’ response toward service failure incidents in different service categories. Additionally, it also examines in what ways customers assign responsibility to dissatisfying service outcome. A survey was conducted among 240 customers of the computer hardware retailing, diagnostic center, fast-food restaurant and telecommunication services. Total ten variables were used to investigate the customers’ response and attribution behavior following service failure incidents in the respective service category. The results of the research proved that the customers of the computer hardware retailing service are more likely to submit their complain directly to the service provider. The customers of these four services were not keen to disclose the service failure incidents to the third parties and to engage in legal actions. It was also found that the customers of the telecommunications service are almost reluctant to consider other customers responsible for the service failure. One-way ANOVA results revealed that significance differences exist in case of the direct disclosure to service provider and the process-related attribution behaviors for the diagnostic center service. Such considerable difference was found to exist for third party action behavior for telecommunications service. Further, there was no significant differences exist for the diagnostic center service category across the variables when taking occupation as the independent variable. The results of this research can be useful for designing and improving the service delivery processes of different services.