IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/mgtdec/v46y2025i2p1405-1419.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Service Guarantee Decision of Online Service Providers and Market Implications

Author

Listed:
  • Aijun Lu
  • Fuzan Chen
  • Harris Wu

Abstract

Online services face quality uncertainties. To address user concerns, Online Service Providers (OSPs) sometimes provide service guarantees, compensating users if quality falls below a predefined threshold. This paper analyzes how OSPs use service guarantees to navigate market competition and enhance revenue through game theory and queuing theory models. Key findings include the following: offering guarantees enable OSPs to increase prices; in monopolistic markets, guarantees are offered only if the service guarantee strength is sufficient, whereas in competitive markets, decisions depend on relative strengths and competitor actions. Surprisingly, slower response times under service guarantees can boost profits, especially when resource costs are high.

Suggested Citation

  • Aijun Lu & Fuzan Chen & Harris Wu, 2025. "Service Guarantee Decision of Online Service Providers and Market Implications," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(2), pages 1405-1419, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:mgtdec:v:46:y:2025:i:2:p:1405-1419
    DOI: 10.1002/mde.4441
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/mde.4441
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/mde.4441?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Taleizadeh, Ata Allah & Hadadpour, Shirin & Cárdenas-Barrón, Leopoldo Eduardo & Shaikh, Ali Akbar, 2017. "Warranty and price optimization in a competitive duopoly supply chain with parallel importation," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 76-88.
    2. Bo Li & Subodha Kumar, 2018. "Should You Kill or Embrace Your Competitor: Cloud Service and Competition Strategy," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 27(5), pages 822-838, May.
    3. Zhu, Xiaoyan & Jiao, Can & Yuan, Tao, 2019. "Optimal decisions on product reliability, sales and promotion under nonrenewable warranties," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    4. Michael Spence, 1977. "Consumer Misperceptions, Product Failure and Producer Liability," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 44(3), pages 561-572.
    5. Darghouth, M.N. & Ait-kadi, D. & Chelbi, A., 2017. "Joint optimization of design, warranty and price for products sold with maintenance service contracts," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 197-208.
    6. Fang, Chih-Chiang, 2020. "Optimal price and warranty decision for durable products in a competitive duopoly market," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    7. Ruxian Wang & Chenxu Ke & Shiliang Cui, 2022. "Product Price, Quality, and Service Decisions Under Consumer Choice Models," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 24(1), pages 430-447, January.
    8. Qian Ma & Biying Shou & Jianwei Huang & Tamer Başar, 2021. "Monopoly Pricing with Participation‐Dependent Social Learning About Quality of Service," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(11), pages 4004-4022, November.
    9. Hossein Morshedlou & Mohammad Reza Meybodi, 2018. "Insurance for Improving User Satisfaction Level," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 60(6), pages 513-524, December.
    10. Boulding, William & Kirmani, Amna, 1993. "A Consumer-Side Experimental Examination of Signaling Theory: Do Consumers Perceive Warranties as Signals of Quality?," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(1), pages 111-123, June.
    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. Ata Allah Taleizadeh & Fatemeh Aboutorabian & Rojin Moradi & Ilkyeong Moon & Navid Mohamadi, 2023. "Pricing, warranty, and shelf space decisions for the supply chain with non-symmetric market and warranty-period dependent demand," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 1-31, December.
    2. Hooti, Fatemeh & Ahmadi, Jafar & Longobardi, Maria, 2020. "Optimal extended warranty length with limited number of repairs in the warranty period," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    3. Dror Etzion & Aviad Pe'er, 2014. "Mixed signals: A dynamic analysis of warranty provision in the automotive industry, 1960–2008," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(11), pages 1605-1625, November.
    4. Desmet, Pierre & Le Nagard, Emmanuelle & Vinzi, Vincenzo Esposito, 2012. "Refund depth effects on the impact of price-beating guarantees," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(5), pages 603-608.
    5. Padmanabhan, V, 1995. "Usage Heterogeneity and Extended Warranties," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(1), pages 33-53, Spring.
    6. Desai Preyas S & Padmanabhan Paddy, 2004. "Durable Good, Extended Warranty and Channel Coordination," Review of Marketing Science, De Gruyter, vol. 2(1), pages 1-25, January.
    7. Lu, Zhen & Shang, Jennifer, 2019. "Warranty mechanism for pre-owned tech products: Collaboration between E-tailers and online warranty provider," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 119-131.
    8. Hinloopen, Jeroen & Zhou, Liting, 2019. "Insuring product markets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 5-8.
    9. Bo Jiang & Xubing Zhang, 2011. "How Does a Retailer's Service Plan Affect a Manufacturer's Warranty?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(4), pages 727-740, April.
    10. Fang, Chih-Chiang, 2020. "Optimal price and warranty decision for durable products in a competitive duopoly market," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    11. Lei, Yong & Liu, Qian & Shum, Stephen, 2017. "Warranty pricing with consumer learning," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 263(2), pages 596-610.
    12. Lijun Shang & Yongjun Du & Cang Wu & Chengye Ma, 2022. "A Bivariate Optimal Random Replacement Model for the Warranted Product with Job Cycles," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(13), pages 1-16, June.
    13. Munten, Pauline & Vanhamme, Joëlle, 2023. "To reduce waste, have it repaired! The quality signaling effect of product repairability," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    14. Kim, Bowon & Park, Sangsun, 2008. "Optimal pricing, EOL (end of life) warranty, and spare parts manufacturing strategy amid product transition," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 188(3), pages 723-745, August.
    15. Li, Ting & He, Shuguang & Zhao, Xiujie & Liu, Bin, 2023. "Warranty service contracts design for deteriorating products with maintenance duration commitments," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    16. Liu, Zhuojun & Diallo, Claver & Chen, Jing & Zhang, Michael, 2020. "Optimal pricing and production strategies for new and remanufactured products under a non-renewing free replacement warranty," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    17. Huang, Hongfu & Liu, Feng & Zhang, Peng, 2021. "To outsource or not to outsource? Warranty service provision strategies considering competition, costs and reliability," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    18. J. K. Pappalardo, 2022. "Economics of Consumer Protection: Contributions and Challenges in Estimating Consumer Injury and Evaluating Consumer Protection Policy," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 201-238, June.
    19. Rod Mccoll & Yann Truong & Antonella La Rocca, 2019. "Service guarantees as a base for positioning in B2B," Post-Print hal-02326105, HAL.
    20. Suwelack, Thomas & Hogreve, Jens & Hoyer, Wayne D., 2011. "Understanding Money-Back Guarantees: Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Outcomes," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 87(4), pages 462-478.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:mgtdec:v:46:y:2025:i:2:p:1405-1419. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/7976 .

    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.