Curvilinear relationship between customer engagement and responses to service failures

Abstract

Drawing on the activation theory and the Exit-Voice-Loyalty-Neglect model, this study examines how the level of customer engagement affects the four different types of customer responses to a service failure in the mobile application context. In addition, we investigate the moderating role of relationship quality in those relationships. This study used data from a self-administrated online survey of 345 South Korean customers who had experienced a mobile application service failure. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was applied to our conceptual model. The results revealed a U-shape relationship between customer engagement and destructive responses (i.e. exit and neglect), as well as an inverted U-shape relationship between customer engagement and constructive responses (i.e. loyalty and voice). Furthermore, a greater relationship quality reinforces the relationship between customer engagement and responses to service failures, except for loyalty. This study addresses the inconsistent research findings of customer engagement by suggesting the curvilinear relationship between customer engagement and response to service failure. Additionally, it provides new insights for marketers or managers to develop marketing strategies to operate mobile applications efficiently.

借助激活理论和退出-发言-忠诚-忽视模型，本研究考察了客户参与度对应用程序中服务失败的四种客户反应的影响。此外，我们还研究了关系质量在这些关系中的调节作用。本研究使用了345名韩国客户的在线调查数据，这些客户都曾经经历过应用程序服务失败。对我们的概念模型应用了偏最小平方法的结构方程模型及模型建议。结果发现，客户参与度与破坏性反应（即退出和忽视）之间存在一种U型关系，而客户参与度与建设性反应（即忠诚和发言）之间存在倒U型关系。此外，除了忠诚，更好的关系质量加强了客户参与度和服务失败反应之间的关系。本研究提出了客户参与度与服务失败反应之间的曲线关系，从而说明了客户参与度研究结果不一致的问题。此外，本研究为营销人员或管理者提供了有关开展有效应用程序营销策略的新见解。