Service failure, recovery and improvement: the case of a Chinese restaurant

Zheng Cao, David Robb and Qiang Lu

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2008, vol. 4, issue 2, 218-242

Abstract: When service organisations experience situations of service failure, they respond with a service recovery effort, attempting to convert a disgruntled customer into a satisfied one and increase the likelihood of repurchase. An effective service recovery system has become a competitive advantage to most service organisations. However, many service organisations have failed to exploit the opportunities for process improvement afforded by service recovery. Exploiting a case study methodology with multiple perspectives and data sources in a typical Chinese restaurant, this paper provides a more holistic view of service recovery. We demonstrate that opportunity costs affect service provision and that customer input should be obtained for process improvements. We provide a framework illustrating a systematic approach to process improvement.

Keywords: service failure; service recovery; process improvement; Chinese restaurants; opportunity costs; customer input. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijsoma:v:4:y:2008:i:2:p:218-242

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