Customer opportunistic complaints management: A critical incident approach

    Authors

    H. Ro;J. Wong

    Comments

    Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Int. J. Hosp. Manag.

    Keywords

    Opportunistic complaint; Complaining behavior; Unethical consumer; behavior; Critical incident technique; SERVICE ENCOUNTERS; BEHAVIOR; CONSUMERS; SATISFACTION; EMPOWERMENT; DISPOSITION; FAILURE; LOYALTY; PEOPLE; MODEL; Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism

    Abstract

    Although customer complaints are valued in the hospitality industry in order to create service recovery opportunities and improve service quality, there are occasions when customers knowingly and incorrectly report service failures or make illegitimate complaints. The purpose of this study is to investigate how service employees handle opportunistic customer complaints in service encounters. By using the critical incident technique, we classify 346 incidents from hotel and restaurant services based on complaint source, evidence, compensation, handling, follow-up, and customer return. Managerial implications for these challenging situations are discussed and suggestions are made for improvement. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    International Journal of Hospitality Management

    Volume

    31

    Issue/Number

    2

    Publication Date

    1-1-2012

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    419

    Last Page

    427

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000300467900014

    ISSN

    0278-4319

    Share

    COinS