The relative impact of gratitude and transactional satisfaction on post-complaint consumer response

Françoise Simon (), Vesselina Tossan () and Chantal Guesquière ()

Marketing Letters, 2015, vol. 26, issue 2, 153-164

Abstract: Consumer research has shown that satisfaction with complaint handling strongly favours word-of-mouth but affects repurchasing to a lesser extent. To better understand post-complaint consumer response, we propose and test a model in which both gratitude and transactional satisfaction are assumed to be critical mediators of the effects of recovery investments on performance outcomes. Our results show a contrasting pattern of results for each mediator. Whereas gratitude strongly influences repurchase intent but does not explain word-of-mouth intent, transactional satisfaction, with its effect on repurchase intent being fully mediated by the latter construct, strongly contributes to word-of-mouth intent. Drawing on the analysis of pre-existing brand attitude as a moderator, our findings also suggests that the mediating roles of gratitude and satisfaction rely on different psychological mechanisms. The implications of these findings are significant for service recovery researchers and managers. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Keywords: Service recovery; Gratitude; Satisfaction; Purchase intent; Word-of-mouth intent; Pre-existing brand attitude (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11002-013-9271-0

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