The Effect of service recovery on repurchase intentions: A sense of sincerity as a mediator

Abstract

無中文摘要This research is conducted by way of three experiments to examine the effect of service recovery on repurchase intentions,where a sense of sincerity plays the role of mediator. We found that although noted as such in prior research on service recovery, effective recovery doesn’t necessarily lead to a paradoxical scene. That is to say, service recovery performed with a sense of sincerity is a sure means to efficiently enhance repurchase intentions. This paradoxical scene of service recovery is not triggered by a negative attitude and negative behavior, which is opposite to the measurement of a sense of sincerity. Prior research focuses on firms’ perspective of service recovery, ignoring the customers’ perspective. In this study we add the customers’ perspective of a sense of sincerity to fill the gap in the prior research. Study 1 tested the moderator effect of a sense of sincerity and showed that service recovery with a sense of sincerity can lead to higher repurchase intentions than service recovery performed without a sense of sincerity. Study 2 tested the mediation effect of a sense of sincerity and showed that a sense of sincerity stems from service recovery, and can lead to repurchase intentions. Study 3 showed that two kinds of service failures with fit and non-fit service recovery, while serving with different degrees of sincerity, have different levels of repurchase intention.