The role of collective angst during and after a service failure
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the role of collective angst, the concern about the future viability of one’s group, during service failure and recovery.
Design/methodology/approach
To test this objective the authors utilize an experiment to examine how Kuwaitis react to service failures when the front-line employee is a foreigner.
Findings
The results indicate that collective angst is associated with greater anger following a service failure. The authors also find that collective angst moderates the impact of cultural distance on anger and recommendation intentions following a service-failure recovery attempt. More specifically, cultural distance leads to greater anger and lower intentions to recommend a service establishment for consumers that experience greater collective angst.
Originality/value
The research provides the first attempt at examining how local consumers react to foreigner service providers, by examining how concern about the future vitality of one’s national group, in other words collective angst, affects such reactions.
Keywords
Citation
A. Maher, A. and Sobh, R. (2014), "The role of collective angst during and after a service failure", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 28 No. 3, pp. 223-232. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-10-2012-0203
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited