IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v75y2023ics0969698923002242.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Role of downward versus upward social comparison in service recovery: Testing a mediated moderation model with two empirical studies

Author

Listed:
  • Chen, Ke
  • Wu, Zhan
  • Sharma, Piyush

Abstract

This paper extends prior research into the role of social comparison in service recovery by investigating the role of both downward and upward social comparison. Social comparison theory and attribution theory are applied to explore the differences in how upward and downward inter-customer comparison affects post-recovery satisfaction and word-of-mouth intentions. The mediating role of distributive justice perceptions and the moderating effects of the attribution of inter-customer differences in service recovery and customers’ justice sensitivity are also examined. Two online scenario-based experimental studies show that downward social comparison leads to greater satisfaction and lower negative word-of-mouth intentions. In addition, distributive justice mediates the relationship. Finally, attribution of difference in inter-customer influence and individual-level justice sensitivity moderate these effects. Besides its conceptual contributions, the findings from this paper may help managers design more effective service recovery strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Ke & Wu, Zhan & Sharma, Piyush, 2023. "Role of downward versus upward social comparison in service recovery: Testing a mediated moderation model with two empirical studies," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:75:y:2023:i:c:s0969698923002242
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2023.103477
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698923002242
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2023.103477?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Babin, Barry J. & Zhuang, Weiling & Borges, Adilson, 2021. "Managing service recovery experience: Effects of the forgiveness for older consumers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    2. Talwar, Manish & Talwar, Shalini & Kaur, Puneet & Islam, A.K.M. Najmul & Dhir, Amandeep, 2021. "Positive and negative word of mouth (WOM) are not necessarily opposites: A reappraisal using the dual factor theory," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    3. Khantimirov, Denis & Karande, Kiran, 2018. "Complaint as a persuasion attempt: Front line employees’ perceptions of complaint legitimacy," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 68-76.
    4. Chen, Ke & Chen, Jianxun & Zhan, Wu & Sharma, Piyush, 2020. "When in Rome! Complaint contagion effect in multi-actor service ecosystems," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 628-641.
    5. Lind, E. Allan & Kray, Laura & Thompson, Leigh, 1998. "The Social Construction of Injustice: Fairness Judgments in Response to Own and Others' Unfair Treatment by Authorities, , ," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 1-22, July.
    6. Honora, Andreawan & Chih, Wen-Hai & Wang, Kai-Yu, 2022. "Managing social media recovery: The important role of service recovery transparency in retaining customers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    7. Ho, Ting Hin & Tojib, Dewi & Khajehzadeh, Saman, 2017. "Speaking up against service unfairness: The role of negative meta-perceptions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 12-19.
    8. Nguyen, Bang & Klaus, Philipp “Philâ€, 2013. "Retail fairness: Exploring consumer perceptions of fairness towards retailers’ marketing tactics," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 311-324.
    9. Gohary, Ali & Hamzelu, Bahman & Alizadeh, Hamid, 2016. "Please explain why it happened! How perceived justice and customer involvement affect post co-recovery evaluations: A study of Iranian online shoppers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 127-142.
    10. Rokonuzzaman, Md & Iyer, Pramod & Harun, Ahasan, 2021. "Return policy, No joke: An investigation into the impact of a retailer's return policy on consumers' decision making," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    11. McLelland, Melinda A. & Foster, Jamye, 2015. "Reactions of the jilted consumer," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 53-60.
    12. Choi, Sunmee & Mattila, Anna S., 2008. "Perceived controllability and service expectations: Influences on customer reactions following service failure," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 24-30, January.
    13. Sun, Ying & Leng, Ke & Xiong, Haitao, 2022. "Research on the influencing factors of consumers’ green purchase behavior in the post-pandemic era," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    14. Arne K. Albrecht & Gianfranco Walsh & Simon Brach & Dwayne D. Gremler & Erica Herpen, 2017. "The influence of service employees and other customers on customer unfriendliness: a social norms perspective," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(6), pages 827-847, November.
    15. Tae-Yeol Kim & Jeffrey Edwards & Debra Shapiro, 2015. "Social Comparison and Distributive Justice: East Asia Differences," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(2), pages 401-414, December.
    16. Pillai, Kishore Gopalakrishna & Nair, Smitha R., 2021. "The effect of social comparison orientation on luxury purchase intentions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 89-100.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chen, Jing & Yu, Bo & Chen, Bintong & Liu, Zhuojun, 2023. "Lenient vs. stringent returns policies in the presence of fraudulent returns: The role of customers’ fairness perceptions," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    2. Bahri-Ammari, Nedra & Bilgihan, Anil, 2017. "The effects of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice on customer retention: An empirical investigation in the mobile telecom industry in Tunisia," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 89-100.
    3. Michael K. Brady & Todd Arnold, 2017. "Organizational service strategy," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(6), pages 785-788, November.
    4. Huang, Wen-Hsien & Shen, George C. & Liang, Che-Ling, 2019. "The effect of threshold free shipping policies on online shoppers' willingness to pay for shipping," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 105-112.
    5. Schaefers, Tobias & Leban, Marina & Vogt, Florian, 2022. "On-demand features: Consumer reactions to tangibility and pricing structure," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 751-761.
    6. Wenyan Zhou & Oliver Hinz & Alexander Benlian, 2018. "The impact of the package opening process on product returns," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 11(2), pages 279-308, September.
    7. Elizabeth Eve Umphress & Giuseppe (Joe) Labianca & Daniel J. Brass & Edward (Eli) Kass & Lotte Scholten, 2003. "The Role of Instrumental and Expressive Social Ties in Employees' Perceptions of Organizational Justice," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(6), pages 738-753, December.
    8. Al-Adwan, Ahmad Samed & Al-Debei, Mutaz M. & Dwivedi, Yogesh K., 2022. "E-commerce in high uncertainty avoidance cultures: The driving forces of repurchase and word-of-mouth intentions," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    9. Enis Yakut & Ayse Gul Bayraktaroglu, 2021. "Consumer reactions to product recalls: the effects of intentionality, reputation, and public apology on purchase intentions," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 91(4), pages 527-564, May.
    10. Tangirala, Subrahmaniam & Alge, Bradley J., 2006. "Reactions to unfair events in computer-mediated groups: A test of uncertainty management theory," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 1-20, May.
    11. Cropanzano, Russell & Paddock, Layne & Rupp, Deborah E. & Bagger, Jessica & Baldwin, Amanda, 2008. "How regulatory focus impacts the process-by-outcome interaction for perceived fairness and emotions," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 105(1), pages 36-51, January.
    12. Honora, Andreawan & Chih, Wen-Hai & Wang, Kai-Yu, 2022. "Managing social media recovery: The important role of service recovery transparency in retaining customers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    13. Nikbin, Davoud & Ismail, Ishak & Marimuthu, Malliga, 2012. "The impact of causal attributions on customer satisfaction and switching intention: Empirical evidence from the airline industry," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 37-39.
    14. Mittal, Divya & Agrawal, Shiv Ratan, 2016. "Price transparency reflects assurance and reliability," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 43-51.
    15. Chen, Ke & Chen, Jianxun & Zhan, Wu & Sharma, Piyush, 2020. "When in Rome! Complaint contagion effect in multi-actor service ecosystems," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 628-641.
    16. Xin Liao & Dongming Wu & Qianqian Zhang & Ge Han, 2021. "How to Improve Users’ Loyalty to Smart Health Devices? The Perspective of Compatibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-17, September.
    17. Purohit, Sonal & Paul, Justin & Mishra, Rikee, 2021. "Rethinking the bottom of the pyramid: Towards a new marketing mix," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    18. Feng, Wenting & Yang, Morgan X. & Yu, Irina Y., 2023. "From devil to angel: How being envied for luxury brand social media word of mouth discourages counterfeit purchases," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    19. Maureen L. Ambrose & Darryl B. Rice & David M. Mayer, 2021. "Justice Climate and Workgroup Outcomes: The Role of Coworker Fair Behavior and Workgroup Structure," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(1), pages 79-99, August.
    20. Koc, Erdogan & Hatipoglu, Sercan & Kivrak, Oguzhan & Celik, Cemal & Koc, Kaan, 2023. "Houston, we have a problem!: The use of ChatGPT in responding to customer complaints," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:75:y:2023:i:c:s0969698923002242. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.