To read this content please select one of the options below:

Face, fate and brand equity: service recovery justice and satisfaction

Joseph Lok-Man Lee (College of Professional and Continuing Education, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong)
Noel Yee-Man Siu (Department of Marketing, School of Business, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, Hong Kong)
Tracy Jun-Feng Zhang (Department of Marketing, School of Business, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, Hong Kong)

Journal of Consumer Marketing

ISSN: 0736-3761

Article publication date: 15 September 2020

Issue publication date: 13 October 2020

701

Abstract

Purpose

Can we always expect that service recovery justice leads to satisfaction? Literature has shown that a number of moderating factors impact the recovery justice-satisfaction link in different cultures. However, there is a dearth of research that has indicated the key cultural variables that play a moderating role. This study aims to attempt to fill the research gap by investigating the moderating role of concern for face, belief in fate and brand equity in the relationship between perceived justice and satisfaction in Chinese culture during service recovery.

Design/methodology/approach

The hypothesized relationships are tested using data from interviews with 600 persons who have recently complained about their telecommunications services. Structural equation modeling is applied in analyzing their responses.

Findings

Concern for face is found to strengthen the relationship between interactional justice perceptions and satisfaction, but to weaken the relationship between distributive justice perceptions and satisfaction. Belief in fate weakens the link between perceptions of interactional justice and satisfaction. Brand equity positively moderates the relationship between perceptions of interactional justice and satisfaction, but it negatively moderates the relationship between perceptions of distributive justice and satisfaction.

Practical implications

The cultural variables, namely, face, fate and brand equity, are found to serve as a moderating role in the relationship between recovery justice dimensions and satisfaction. They are more salient when it is related to social element. Face and brand equity, as interpersonal constructs, aggravate the impact of interactional justice on satisfaction. Fate, as non-social factor, weakens the impact of interactional justice on satisfaction. It is argued that managers should provide staff training in product knowledge and customer service as a preventive measure against damage to the brand. Regular customer satisfaction research and benchmarking exercises should be conducted to understand how customers perceive interactional justice.

Originality/value

This has been the first research to examine the impact of concern for face, belief in fate and brand equity in the relationship between justice perceptions and post-recovery satisfaction during service recovery.

Keywords

Citation

Lee, J.L.-M., Siu, N.Y.-M. and Zhang, T.J.-F. (2020), "Face, fate and brand equity: service recovery justice and satisfaction", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 37 No. 7, pp. 843-854. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-01-2019-3037

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles