Purpose – While a layman's theory supports the view that “a smile goes a long way,” the authors argue that “not all smiles are created equal” in the sense that the server's smiles need to be genuine and authentic, in particular when the customer has a relationship with the server. The...

Purpose – Often, service failures are witnessed by other customers, but little is known about how consumers react to service recovery aimed at other customers. Using the deontic theory of justice, this paper aims to examine consumers' reactions to justice directed toward other customers....