The Research Of Customer Satisfaction With Service Recovery Based On The Theory Of Perceived Equity And Expectancy-Disconfirmation

In recent years, service industry has a rapid development. The key to improve the competitiveness of enterprises is providing high quality service to enhance customer satisfaction. However, due to the nature of service (intangible, heterogeneous, perishable), it is impossible to ensure 100% error-free service. Studies have shown that service failure do not necessarily lead to customer defection, successful recovery will help the enterprises recreate customer satisfaction and loyalty, positive word of mouth, and improve the corporate image. Because of the significant meaning in making effective service recovery strategy, the research of customer satisfaction with service recovery becomes a key point in service marketing.There have been various frameworks developed to explain customer satisfaction, including the Perceived Equity Theory, the Expectancy-Disconfirmation Theory, the Attribution Theory, and the Value-Percept Theory. The current study found that integrating perceived equity and Expectancy-Disconfirmation may provide a richer picture of customer satisfaction. However, until recently, the research in this field has been limited. The purpose of this paper is, first, to develop the research of China mobile-customer satisfaction with recovery on the theory of perceived equity and Expectancy-Disconfirmation, and, second, to reveal the impact of perceptions of justice on satisfaction on the basis of classifying the customer according to mobile brand. This paper discussed the relationship among customers' perceptions of all three dimensions of justice—distributive, procedural, and interactional, expectations of service recovery, perceived quality of service recovery, disconfirmation and the satisfaction with service recovery.At first, this paper tested the reliability and validity of the questionnaire data using exploratory factor analysis method, then built a structural equation model to verify the hypothesis. The empirical results showed that customers' perceptions of all three dimensions of justice and expectations of service recovery have a significant impact on satisfaction with service recovery; the impact of disconfirmation and perceived quality of service recovery on satisfaction are not significant; perceived quality of service recovery is positively related with perceptions of justice. According to mobile brand, customers were classified three types——Go Tone,Easyown,Mzone. The analysis of the three groups demonstrated that, for Go Tone, the impact of interactional justice on satisfaction is greatest, procedural justice is greater, distributive justice is not significant. For Easyown, the impact of distributive justice on satisfaction is greatest, procedural justice is greater, interactional justice is not significant. For Mzone, the impact of distributive justice and interactional justice on satisfaction is equally great, procedural justice is not significant.The conclusions might be helpful for service-providing business to make successful service recovery. Compensation is not enough, fas,flexible and fair solution, friendly attitude and a sincere apology are essential; Meanwhile, the enterprise should make the strategy respectively according to the customer type, especially for China Mobile. This not only can improve the service quality, but also can reduce unnecessary costs input, in that case the enterprise can make a rapid development with such competitive service environment.