The attenuation effects of time and “sensemaking” surveys on customer revenge

Yany Grégoire (), Mansur Khamitov (), François A. Carrillat () and Mina Rohani ()
Additional contact information
Yany Grégoire: HEC Montréal
Mansur Khamitov: Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
François A. Carrillat: Griffith University
Mina Rohani: HEC Montréal

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2025, vol. 53, issue 1, No 9, 172-196

Abstract: Abstract The attenuation of revenge-related responses after a major service failure is not simply caused by the passage of time—as is assumed in prior work. Instead, we propose that the effect of time is enhanced by the completion of multiple surveys that allow customers to constructively make sense of their service failures. We document this sensemaking-based attenuation effect by conducting four longitudinal experiments; each of them includes a series of three to four surveys completed over four to eight weeks. Doing so, we make three key contributions. First, all studies show that customers having the opportunities to complete a series of sensemaking-inducing surveys report fewer revenge-related responses than participants completing a single survey (i.e., a control group) for the same period. Second, we document the process at play by manipulating the contents of surveys (i.e., “cognitions and emotions” vs. “only cognitions” vs. “only emotions”) and by showing the mediation roles played by sensemaking and benevolent trusting beliefs. Third, we identify quality of pre-failure relationship as a boundary condition whereby the attenuation is stronger when relationship quality is weaker. Finally, we explain how sensemaking can be prompted by marketers to appease their customers.

Keywords: Longitudinal models; Field studies; Service failure-recovery; Relationship quality; Complaint; Customer revenge; Double deviation; Sensemaking; Benevolent trusting beliefs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11747-024-01046-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:joamsc:v:53:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s11747-024-01046-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer ... gement/journal/11747

DOI: 10.1007/s11747-024-01046-5

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science is currently edited by John Hulland, Anne Hoekman and Mark Houston

More articles in Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().