Influence of emotions displayed by employees during service recovery
Purpose – While research evidences how customers’ emotions can influence their consumer experience, understanding of how employees’ displayed emotions affect the customer service experience is more limited. Drawing on affect transfer theory, the authors test for the mediating role of attitude toward...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Emerald Publishing
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Spanish Journal of Marketing-ESIC |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/SJME-07-2021-0146/full/pdf?title=influence-of-emotions-displayed-by-employees-during-service-recovery |
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| author | María Sicilia M. Carmen Caro-Jiménez Estela Fernández-Sabiote |
| author_facet | María Sicilia M. Carmen Caro-Jiménez Estela Fernández-Sabiote |
| author_sort | María Sicilia |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Purpose – While research evidences how customers’ emotions can influence their consumer experience, understanding of how employees’ displayed emotions affect the customer service experience is more limited. Drawing on affect transfer theory, the authors test for the mediating role of attitude towards the employee, which is proposed to mediate the effect of employees’ displayed emotion on customers’ satisfaction with recovery. As service recovery entails a critical service experience in which emotions can easily rise, this paper aims to highlight the pivotal role of employee-displayed emotions during service recovery. Methodology – A scenario-based experiment in the context of an airline service failure recovery (3 × 2 between-subjects design) manipulates frontline employees’ emotions (anger vs happiness vs no specific emotion) and the quality of the solution (bad vs good). Findings – Employees’ displayed emotions directly affect attitude towards the employee and indirectly affect service recovery satisfaction. Moreover, attitude towards the employee is affected more by the employee’s displayed emotion when the solution offered is bad compared to good. Practical implications – Employees’ emotions displayed during service recovery can enhance or damage service recovery strategies. Employees should control for negative emotions in the case of service failure, especially when unable to provide a good solution. Originality – Emotions displayed by employees can influence the customer’s service recovery evaluations. There is an interesting interaction between the quality of the solution and employees’ displayed emotions. Additionally, the mantra of “service with a smile” may not be valid in the case of service recovery: rather, employees should avoid displaying negative emotions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T13:27:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f7da4462a98543f593850139abf88bdb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2444-9695 2444-9709 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T13:27:51Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | Emerald Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Spanish Journal of Marketing-ESIC |
| spelling | doaj.art-f7da4462a98543f593850139abf88bdb2022-12-22T03:31:17ZengEmerald PublishingSpanish Journal of Marketing-ESIC2444-96952444-97092021-12-0125339240810.1108/SJME-07-2021-0146676840Influence of emotions displayed by employees during service recoveryMaría Sicilia0M. Carmen Caro-Jiménez1Estela Fernández-Sabiote2University of Murcia, Murcia, SpainUniversity of Murcia, Murcia, SpainUniversity of Murcia, Murcia, SpainPurpose – While research evidences how customers’ emotions can influence their consumer experience, understanding of how employees’ displayed emotions affect the customer service experience is more limited. Drawing on affect transfer theory, the authors test for the mediating role of attitude towards the employee, which is proposed to mediate the effect of employees’ displayed emotion on customers’ satisfaction with recovery. As service recovery entails a critical service experience in which emotions can easily rise, this paper aims to highlight the pivotal role of employee-displayed emotions during service recovery. Methodology – A scenario-based experiment in the context of an airline service failure recovery (3 × 2 between-subjects design) manipulates frontline employees’ emotions (anger vs happiness vs no specific emotion) and the quality of the solution (bad vs good). Findings – Employees’ displayed emotions directly affect attitude towards the employee and indirectly affect service recovery satisfaction. Moreover, attitude towards the employee is affected more by the employee’s displayed emotion when the solution offered is bad compared to good. Practical implications – Employees’ emotions displayed during service recovery can enhance or damage service recovery strategies. Employees should control for negative emotions in the case of service failure, especially when unable to provide a good solution. Originality – Emotions displayed by employees can influence the customer’s service recovery evaluations. There is an interesting interaction between the quality of the solution and employees’ displayed emotions. Additionally, the mantra of “service with a smile” may not be valid in the case of service recovery: rather, employees should avoid displaying negative emotions.https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/SJME-07-2021-0146/full/pdf?title=influence-of-emotions-displayed-by-employees-during-service-recoveryemployeehappinessangeremotionsservice recoveryaffect transfersatisfactionattitudes |
| spellingShingle | María Sicilia M. Carmen Caro-Jiménez Estela Fernández-Sabiote Influence of emotions displayed by employees during service recovery Spanish Journal of Marketing-ESIC employee happiness anger emotions service recovery affect transfer satisfaction attitudes |
| title | Influence of emotions displayed by employees during service recovery |
| title_full | Influence of emotions displayed by employees during service recovery |
| title_fullStr | Influence of emotions displayed by employees during service recovery |
| title_full_unstemmed | Influence of emotions displayed by employees during service recovery |
| title_short | Influence of emotions displayed by employees during service recovery |
| title_sort | influence of emotions displayed by employees during service recovery |
| topic | employee happiness anger emotions service recovery affect transfer satisfaction attitudes |
| url | https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/SJME-07-2021-0146/full/pdf?title=influence-of-emotions-displayed-by-employees-during-service-recovery |
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