Is there no integrity or competence? Effects of co-production of service recovery according to type of failure

Abstract

Objective: Service failures are common and, therefore, several studies investigate service recovery tactics. A recently investigated tactic which requires further studies is the co-production of recovery (i.e., consumer participation). This study investigates the effects of co-production of service recovery after situations involving integrity and competence failures.
Method: Experimental study with 131 participants, with factorial design 2 (co-production: with; without) x 2 (type of failure: integrity, competence).Originality: Recent studies adopt co-production as a service recovery strategy after a failure. However, it is not known whether the type of failure (integrity or competence) influences the co-production effects of service recovery.
Results: Consumers who co-produce service recovery after an integrity failure experience more anger than consumers who do not co-produce. In addition, consumers who co-produce recovery after an integrity failure have less intention to return and are less likely to have a positive word-of-mouth than those who do not co-produce after a competence failure.
Theoretical contributions: This study expands knowledge regarding co-production in service recovery by addressing its effects on consumer behavior according to the type of failure, which is something that has not been studied before.
Managerial contributions: This study shows that co-production in service recovery works best to recover competence rather than integrity failures. That is, companies should only invite the consumer to co-produce if failure is caused by lack of competence, not integrity.