A Study On The Satisfaction-based Customer Complaint Model

It is ideal to deliver perfect products and services to customers, yet failures areinevitable. Enterprises should grasp the second chance to regain their customers'satisfaction, if having not done things right for the first time. The issue of customercomplaint has become a hot topic for both marketing practitioners and scholars.Based upon related theories and characteristics of Chinese market and Chinesecustomers, this study constructs a satisfaction-based customer complaint model.Employing structural equation model, this study analyzes data of 998 customers inmanufacturing sector to test the rationality, stability and variation of the proposedconceptual model. Then, it validates the conceptual model by data of 251 customersin service sector. Finally it discusses the relationship between structural variables, andemploys ANOVA to compare the differences across industries and customer types.The main findings of this study include: Initial satisfaction has a positive effecton complaint expectation;Complaint expectation has a positive effect on distributivejustice and procedural justice;Distributive justice has a greater positive effect oncomplaint satisfaction than procedural justice;Complaint satisfaction has a greaterpositive effect on the second-time satisfaction than initial satisfaction;Satisfactionhas positive effect on word-of-mouth and re-purchase intention;the effect of initialsatisfaction for female customers is greater than for male customers and the effect ofcomplaint satisfaction for male customers is greater than for female customers;Therating for service sector is worse than for manufacturing sector, among which cellularphone industry is worse than refrigerator, air conditioner and washer industries;Female, older, less-educated and low-income customers tend to rate higher.Based on the findings of this study, we think that the enterprises should stickwith the principle of justice, take various measures to deal with customer complaintsproperly, and as a result improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.