Coalitions and Their Negative Consequences: An Examination in Service Failure-Recovery Situations

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Marketing
• Consumer Behavior

Background:

• Customer experiences are inherently social, leading to complex dynamics during service failures.
• Existing research has not fully explored the impact of third-party involvement in customer complaints.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze coalitions formed in customer complaint situations and their consequences.
• To investigate the impact of third actors on online conversation tone and recovery effort effectiveness.

Main Methods:

• A field study of consumer complaints on social media.
• Two experimental studies examining complainer perceptions and satisfaction.

Main Results:

• Coalitions occurred in 32% of social media complaints, shifting conversation tone from neutral to negative.
• Both third actor-complainer and third actor-service employee coalitions negatively affected conversation tone, with the former having a larger impact.
• Complainers felt betrayed when a third actor sided with the service employee, impacting satisfaction with recovery efforts.

Conclusions:

• Coalition dynamics significantly impair the effectiveness of firm responses to customer complaints.
• Understanding coalition effects is crucial for developing effective service recovery strategies.
• Managerial insights are provided on managing coalition impacts and optimizing response effectiveness.