The Consequences of Service Encounter Failure in Shopping Centers: A Study with Visually Impaired Consumers

Abstract

The advent of the Brazilian Law on the Inclusion of People with Disabilities, in 2015, has brought a series of implications for marketing researchers, since it concerns the rights to include people with disabilities in public and private consumption spaces, such as shopping malls. Despite the growth of these consumer spaces in Brazil, several failures in service encounters are frequent, especially when consumers are visually impaired. Therefore, this study aims to understand the consequences of service encounters failures in shopping malls for the consumer with visual disabilities. To reach this goal, we used a qualitative approach of phenomenological nature. Data were collected through direct and naturalistic observations and conduct of nine face-to-face interviews with visually impaired consumers. Through content analysis of the results, we concluded that there is a diversity of failures occurred in service encounters, such as excessive piety of sellers to consumers, contempt and the sudden change in the service script. For this reason, the consequences of service encounter failure were from the verbal confrontation and the withdrawal of the transaction to the word-of-mouth and negative expressions of frustration in virtual social networks. This article also presents managerial and academic contributions for marketing researchers.