Title: Service failures and recovery: the cultural perspective

Authors: Anupam Krishna; G.S. Dangayach; Rakesh Jain

Addresses: Department of Management Studies, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur 302017, Rajasthan, India ' Department of Management Studies, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur 302017, Rajasthan, India ' Department of Management Studies, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur 302017, Rajasthan, India

Abstract: In the current age, the minimisation of service failure and providing recovery has become competitive advantage in service industries. This paper aims to give insights into the socio-economic factors which influence the overall personality of an individual. This paper is empirical and involves data from 150 respondents from India. The sampling unit is employee of healthcare, banking and personal care services sectors. The data collection instrument is a structured and non-disguised questionnaire. The questionnaires have been filled through personal interviews. This study finds five factors such as age, gender, culture, income and education status which individually and in combination contribute to consumer behaviour. This study finds that the culture is the most influencing element for customer satisfaction and complaining behaviour. It further looked into the recovery strategy employed by service sectors and the how the service recovery paradox can be achieved by analysing consumers perception towards the recovery strategies. This paper can be helpful in designing policies and procedures to gain higher satisfaction, trust and loyalty from customer. This paper is valuable as very little has been done in the Indian context.

Keywords: customer service management; customer satisfaction; consumer behaviour; service recovery paradox; service failure; healthcare services; banking services; personal care services; socio-economics; India; recovery strategy; age; gender; culture; income; education.

DOI: 10.1504/IJICBM.2013.053107

International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 2013 Vol.6 No.3, pp.351 - 361

Published online: 30 Nov 2013 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article