Offers a personal commentary disagreeing with those who imply that dissatisfaction is simply the opposite of satisfaction. Examines the concept of the dissatisfied customer, concluding that there is no direct correspondence between satisfaction and dissatisfaction, and that the features of...

Introduces a framework for integrating the operations management and marketing approaches within a service operation. Focuses on customer satisfaction with waiting time, with the aim of providing improved satisfaction for a given level of resources. Provides an application of this methodology by...

States how marketers have been traditionally advised to allow unhappy customers to voice their opinions freely, offering apologies. Suggests that theories of procedural fairness such as equity theory can provide understanding of the effectiveness of such complaint‐handling strategies. Argues...

Introduces a new guarantee type termed “combined guarantee”, which combines the wide scope of the full satisfaction guarantee with the specific performance standards of the attribute‐specific guarantee. Should the consumer be dissatisfied with any element of the service, the full...

Firms measure the importance of an attribute’s performance in determining overall satisfaction to allocate resources to optimize profitability. However, most firms assume that an attribute’s importance in determining overall satisfaction is temporally invariant. We report results from two...

In the 1990s and into the twenty‐first century, there has been a growing interest in understanding the development of service relationships. Trust and satisfaction have been highly recognized in the literature as effective elements for establishing successful relationships. However, little is...

The emergence of the Internet and its communication capabilities has given rise to a number of complaint sites that function as central forums for consumers to share their bad experiences with other consumers. Companies are reacting by adopting anti‐domain sites in an attempt to prevent the...

Looks at unmet customer expectations in service delivery associated with service encounter problems. Problematic service encounters are compared to those which were problem free. Four services were evaluated by customers – legal consultation, hair stylist, film processing and retail store....

Purpose – Delighting customers by pleasant surprises is a common strategy, yet the potential downside of such a strategy (i.e. raising customer expectations) has received scant attention. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of explanations as a solution to control customers '...