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Marketing Letters

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01.09.2013

The nature of an apology: An experimental study on how to apologize after a service failure

verfasst von: Holger Roschk, Susanne Kaiser

Erschienen in: Marketing Letters | Ausgabe 3/2013

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Abstract

Extant service recovery research treats apology as a dichotomy, in that it is either present or absent, but how it is conveyed is neglected. Based upon social psychological research, this study argues that an apology comprises three different components: empathy, intensity, and timing, which make each apology unique. It is shown that how well an apology is delivered across failure types (outcome vs. process) drives service recovery satisfaction, not its mere presence. Empathy, intensity, and timing separately impact satisfaction. The more empathic and intense the apology is given, the more satisfied respondents are. A late apology decreases satisfaction ratings. Effect sizes indicate that empathy has the strongest impact on service recovery satisfaction followed by intensity and timing. The effect of empathy is stronger for process failures than for outcome failures. Interestingly, the apology’s overall effect size is comparable to that of compensation in case of a process failure.

Vorheriger Artikel The perils of selling online: Manufacturer competition, channel conflict, and consumer preferences

Nächster Artikel 1 + 1 does not always equal value creation: The case of YouTube

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In case of perfect manipulation, the value of the control group would be 0.00. However, few respondents haven’t marked this option, albeit their responses indicate that they received no apology. Obviously, they just have not recognized this option or accidentally marked the wrong answer.

Cohen’s d is calculated by \( d=\left( {{{\overline{x}}_{{_{{_1}}}}}-\left. {{{\overline{x}}_{{_{{_2}}}}}} \right)} \right./{\sigma_{{_{\mathrm{pooled}}}}} \), with \( {{\overline{x}}_{{_{{_1}}}}} \) denoting the mean value of the dependent variable in group 1, \( {{\overline{x}}_{{_2}}} \) denoting the mean value of the dependent variable in group 2, and σ _pooled denoting the pooled standard deviation of the two groups.

A cautionary note for the effect size comparison between apology and compensation seems warranted. The overall effect of compensation is an assessment across failure types. Under the assumption that resource exchange principles hold true for compensation as well, it seems likely that the effect of compensation should be weaker for process failures (d < 1.02) and stronger for outcome failures (d > 1.02). Hence, an apology has possibly more impact for process failures. And for outcome failures the difference in effect sizes between an apology and compensation may be even larger in favor of compensation.

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Titel: The nature of an apology: An experimental study on how to apologize after a service failure
verfasst von: Holger Roschk
Susanne Kaiser
Publikationsdatum: 01.09.2013
Verlag: Springer US
Erschienen in: Marketing Letters / Ausgabe 3/2013
Print ISSN: 0923-0645
Elektronische ISSN: 1573-059X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-012-9218-x

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