The negative effects of failed service recoveries

Research has shown that more than half of attempted recovery efforts fail, producing a ‘double deviation’ effect. Surprisingly, these double deviation effects have received little attention in marketing literature. This paper examines what happens after these critical encounters, which behavior or set of behaviors the customers are prone to follow and how customers’ perceptions of the firm’s recovery efforts influence these behaviors. For the analysis of choice of the type of response (complaining, exit, complaining and exit, and no-switching), we estimate multinomial Logit models with random coefficients (RCL). The results of our study show that magnitude of service failure, explanations, apologies, perceived justice, angry and frustration felt by the customer, and satisfaction with service recovery have a significant effect on customers’ choice of the type of response. Implications from the findings are offered.

Professionals’ Perceptions of Support Resources for Battered Immigrant Women Chronicle of an Anticipated Failure

The aim of this study was to explore the experience of service providers in Spain regarding their daily professional encounters with battered immigrant women and their perception of this group’s help-seeking process and the eventual abandonment of the same. Twenty-nine in-depth interviews and four focus group discussions were conducted with a total of 43 professionals involved in providing support to battered immigrant women. We interviewed social workers, psychologists, intercultural mediators, judges, lawyers, and public health professionals from Spain. Through qualitative content analysis, four categories emerged: (a) frustration with the victim’s decision to abandon the help-seeking process, (b) ambivalent positions regarding differences between immigrant and Spanish women, (c) difficulties in the migratory process that may hinder the help-seeking process, and (d) criticisms regarding the inefficiency of existing resources. The four categories were cross-cut by an overarching theme: helping immigrant women not to abandon the help-seeking process as a chronicle of anticipated failure. The main reasons that emerged for abandoning the help-seeking process involved structural factors such as economic dependence, loss of social support after leaving their country of origin, and limited knowledge about available resources. The professionals perceived their encounters with battered immigrant women to be frustrating and unproductive because they felt that they had few resources to back them up. They felt that despite the existence of public policies targeting intimate partner violence (IPV) and immigration in Spain, the resources dedicated to tackling gender-based violence were insufficient to meet battered immigrant women’s needs. Professionals should be trained both in the problem of IPV and in providing support to the immigrant population.