The joint effects of service failure mode, recovery effort, and gender on customers' post-recovery satisfaction

An ever increasing number of customers choose to interact with service firms via technology (e.g., online or using self-service technologies). Despite this growing trend, research on technology-based service failures is scarce. To bridge that gap, the present investigation examined the role of failure mode (SST versus face-to-face encounter), recovery effort, and gender on customers' service recovery perceptions. Results from an experimental study suggest that offering compensation to male customers is more effective in enhancing post-recovery satisfaction with human rather than SST failures. For female customers, failure type failed to influence their post-recovery satisfaction. Moreover, offering compensation alone was not as effective among female participants; an apology was necessary to boost satisfaction above neutral levels. Managerial implications of these findings are discussed.