 The double-edged sword: The positive and negative effects of switching costs on customer exit and revengeNarjes Haj-Salem and Jean-Charles Chebat Journal of Business Research, 2014, vol. 67, issue 6, 1106-1113 Abstract: What happens when customers have to deal with switching costs after a service failure and a poor recovery? This study seeks to address this question by proposing and testing an integrative model that incorporates customers' negative emotions as mediators between switching costs and behavioral outcomes (i.e., loyalty and revenge). The model distinguishes positive from negative switching costs, and inward from outward negative emotions. Analysis of survey data from 280 real customers who actually experienced a service failure and poor recovery with a major telecommunications firm reveals that customers react to switching costs strongly, emotionally, and sub-optimally. In contrast to most findings in the service literature, the results indicate that negative switching costs generate both exit and desire for revenge. Paradoxically, positive switching costs generate both loyalty and an even higher level of desire for revenge. These findings have important implications for the service industry. Keywords: Switching costs; Inward and outward negative emotions; Loyalty; Revenge; Service failure and recovery; Appraisal Theory of Emotions (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:67:y:2014:i:6:p:1106-1113 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.05.050 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier |
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