The impact of switching costs on customer complaint behavior and service recovery evaluation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of three different dimensions of switching costs on customer dissatisfaction response styles as well as on the evaluation of service recovery. Design/methodology/approach Study 1 is a scenario-based experiment and Study 2 uses a critical incident technique combined with survey-based measures of switching costs, dissatisfaction responses and perceived complaint handling. Findings The results of these studies highlight the need to consider the different effects of switching costs. Not only do different switching costs lead to varying customer dissatisfaction responses, they also have differential moderator effects on the interrelationships between customer-perceived recovery justice and service recovery satisfaction. Research limitations/implications Service failure severity was an influential control variable. Future studies should investigate how the type, context and severity of service failure influence customers' complaint behavior. Furthermore, participants had trouble differentiating between their relations toward their service provider in general and one particular employee. Hence, further research should explore the relationship between customers and frontline employees. Practical implications The authors encourage managers to take a closer look at the switching cost dimensions of their service industry. This may lead practitioners to promote differentiated strategies for complaint stimulation and complaint handling. Originality/value This is the first study to simultaneously explore all three dimensions of switching costs when examining their impact on customers' dissatisfaction response styles as well as the moderating effects in the recovery process. In doing so, this study reveals some hitherto uncovered effects.