Balaji 2017

European Journal of Marketing
Customers’ emotion regulation strategies in service failure encounters

M S Balaji, Sanjit Kumar Roy, Ali Quazi,
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To cite this document:
M S Balaji, Sanjit Kumar Roy, Ali Quazi, (2017) "Customers’ emotion regulation strategies in service failure encounters",
European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 51 Issue: 5/6,pp. -, doi: 10.1108/EJM-03-2015-0169
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CUSTOMERS’ EMOTION REGULATION STRATEGIES IN SERVICE
FAILURE ENCOUNTERS
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study is twofold. The first is to determine the role of emotions
in customer evaluations of service failure. The second is to examine how customers’ emotion
regulation influences their behavioural responses (e.g. negative word-of-mouth and
repurchase intentions).
Design/methodology/approach: A scenario-based survey was used to elicit responses in a
hospitality setting. Structural equation modeling and hierarchical regression analysis were
used to test the proposed hypotheses.
Findings: Results show that both positive and negative emotions mediate the relationship
between perceived injustice and customer satisfaction. The emotion regulation of customers
through suppression and reappraisal influences the effects of satisfaction on both negative
word-of-mouth and repurchase intentions.
Practical implications: This study advances service managers’ understanding of customer
experience during service failure by demonstrating how emotion regulation influences
customer response behaviours. With a better understanding of customers’ emotion regulation
strategies managers and frontline employees can more effectively develop and execute
recovery strategies which adapt to customer emotions while eliciting more satisfying
outcomes.
Originality: This research is one of the first to examine the moderating role of customers’
emotion regulation strategies in determining their behavioural responses. Conducted in the
hospitality services context, this study provides support for relationships among perceived
injustice, customer emotions, emotion regulation, customer satisfaction, negative word-of-
mouth, and repurchase intentions.
1
Keywords: Emotion regulation, reappraisal, suppression, emotions, perceived justice,
satisfaction, service failure, negative word-of-mouth.
Article Classification: Research paper

2
CUSTOMERS’ EMOTION REGULATION STRATEGIES IN SERVICE FAILURE
ENCOUNTERS
Introduction
Service providers strive to deliver positive service encounters in order to enhance
customer satisfaction and develop customer loyalty. However, due to the complexity of
services and service delivery process, service failures appear to be inevitable leading to
customer dissatisfaction and unfavourable behavioural outcomes (Reynolds and Harris, 2009;
Tsarenko and Strizhakova, 2013). The extant literature suggests that customers tend to
experience a range of emotions after encountering service failure (Namkung and Jang, 2010;
Tombs, Russell-Bennett and Ashkanasy, 2014). Customers may attempt to manage or
regulate the emotional responses elicited by stressful encounters (Gabbott, Tsarenko, and
Mok, 2011; Tsarenko and Strizhakova, 2013). However, previous research has seldom
addressed the role of customer emotions and emotion regulation in the service failure context
(Schoefer and Diamantopoulos, 2008; Varela-Neira, Vázquez-Casielles, and Iglesias-
Argüelles, 2008). Understanding customers’ emotional reactions and the regulation of these
emotions is important to help service managers develop effective recovery strategies or
practices. This study addresses this gap in the literature by exploring the role of customers’
emotional reactions and emotion regulation in predicting behavioural responses following a
service failure encounter.
A substantial amount of service failure research has shown that customer emotions create
an evaluation bias (Dolan, 2002), often leading to customer dissatisfaction and undesirable
behavioural outcomes (Bhandari, Tsarenko, and Polonsky, 2007; Joireman, Grégoire, and
Tripp, 2016). However, there is increasingly an understanding that customers use a wide
variety of strategies to regulate and control their emotions evoked during service encounters
(Chebat and Slusarczyk, 2005; Gabbott, Tsarenko, and Mok, 2011; Sengupta, Balaji, and
3
Krishnan, 2015). For instance, Gross (1998) suggests that people can regulate their emotional
reactions through reappraisal and suppression in order to achieve their goals. Medler-Liraz
and Yagil (2013) show that customers use deep-acting and surface-acting emotion regulation
strategies to regulate the emotional responses evoked during the service employees’
ingratiation. Emotion regulation determines which emotions customers have, when they have
them, and how they express them (Gross, 1999; Gross and Thompson, 2007). Thus,
customers’ emotion regulation strategies would influence the post-failure behavioural

responses. While many studies have examined the role of emotion regulation displayed by
service employees in their interaction with customers (Grandey, Dickter, and Sin, 2004;
Hülsheger et al., 2013), to the best of our knowledge there has been limited research into
customers’ emotion regulation and its influence on subsequent behaviour. This is surprising,
as service interactions are dyadic and reciprocal. Like service employees, customers would
also need to regulate their emotions during service interactions. Thus, this study attempts to
broaden the service marketing literature by exploring the role of customers’ emotion
regulation strategies in managing customer emotions and shaping post-failure behavioural
outcomes.
This study contributes to the literature on service failure and services marketing in several
ways. First, we extend research and theory on emotional regulation strategies by examining
these from the customer perspective. This is based on the assumption that customers are more
likely to regulate the emotions evoked in a service failure encounter as part of an implicit
process or motivation (Gyurak, Gross, and Etkin, 2011; Medler-Liraz and Yagil, 2013) rather
than as a display of rule. Second, we propose that customer emotions play a crucial role in
determining customer satisfaction and behavioural responses in a service failure encounter.
Finally, we examine the role of emotion regulation strategies on customers’ behavioural
responses. More specifically, we examine the moderating role of suppression and reappraisal
4
emotion regulation strategies on the effects of customer satisfaction in terms of conciliatory
behaviour of repurchase intentions and retaliatory behaviour of negative word-of-mouth
intentions in a service failure encounter.
The rest of the article is organized as follows. In the second section, we present our
theoretical background, literature review, research hypotheses, and the research model. Next,
we present the research methodology and data analysis techniques used. Thereafter, we detail
the theoretical and managerial implications and limitations of our findings, followed by
future research directions.
Theoretical background and literature review
Customer emotions in service failure
The literature on service failure has frequently used the emotion-based mechanism to link
perceived (in)justice and behavioural outcomes. For example, Schoefer and Diamantopoulos
(2008) show that perceived justice induces positive and negative emotions in customers,
which in turn determines negative word-of-mouth communication, third-party action, and
repurchase intentions. Similarly, Ozgen and Kurt (2012) demonstrate that pre-recovery
emotions from service failure impact both recovery evaluation and post-recovery emotions.
The perception of injustice or unfairness is likely to evoke emotions, as customers often view
service failures as a threat to their self-identity and a violation of social and moral norms
(Grégoire and Fisher, 2008; Nikbin and Hyun, 2014; Zhu and Zolkiewski, 2015).
Consequently, emotional reactions elicited by service failure encounter are likely to lead to a
customer desire to respond to the injustice (Schoefer, 2010).
The posited role of emotions in service failure encounter is also consistent with the affect
theory of social exchange (Lawler and Thye, 1999). The affect theory considers emotions to
be an integral part of the exchange process, proposing that social interactions are driven by
5
customer emotions. According to Lawler and Yoon (1996), social exchange outcomes are
construed as having emotional effects and depending on the nature of social exchange,
customers experience emotional reactions. Thus, when service interactions successfully occur,
customers experience positive emotions and respond positively in the relationship.
Conversely, when service failure occurs, customers are likely to experience negative
emotions, leading to unfavourable reactions towards service providers. Thus, it is conceivable
that perceived injustice experienced by customers in a service encounter may result in an

emotional reaction which subsequently impacts their behavioural responses.
Emotion regulation
According to Webb, Miles and Sheeran (2012, p. 775), emotion regulation refers to the
“set of automatic and controlled processes involved in the initiation, maintenance, and
modification of the occurrence, intensity, and duration of feeling states.” Gross (1998) argues
that emotion regulation is ubiquitous and regular feature of everyday life. Indeed, individuals
regulating their emotions are so common that we often take this for granted. In real-life
situations, individuals often engage in emotion regulation when they feel the need to change
the emotional responses they experience. In other words, emotion regulation involves
monitoring and changing of emotion dynamics (Gross and Thompson, 2007). It can dampen,
intensify, or maintain emotions. In doing so, individuals may respond appropriately to
environmental demands (Campbell-Sills and Barlow, 2007). The emotion regulation process
is distinct from the emotion generation process (Gross and Barrett, 2011). It occurs either
through an explicit process which is instructed and effortful (e.g. service employees’ emotion
regulation) or as implicit process which is uninstructed and effortless, such as habitual or
emotional conflict adaption (e.g. customers’ emotion regulation) (Gyurak, Gross, and Etkin,
2011).
6
Although emotion regulation research has been borrowed from stress and coping research,
the two mechanisms are considered distinct. Coping predominantly deals with circumstances
that tax an individual’s resources (Sengupta, Balaji, and Krishnan, 2015). Emotion regulation
also includes processes that may or may not strain an individual’s resources (Gross and
Thompson, 2007). For instance, emotion regulation may encompass a process which leads to
maintaining or enhancing positive emotions not traditionally included in the coping process
(Gross, 1998). Furthermore, coping includes non-emotional actions and goals (Scheier,
Weintraub, and Carver, 1986), while emotion regulation emphasizes emotion expression and
display through regulation of positive and negative emotions. Finally, the unit of analysis in
coping is typically calculated in hours, days, or months, rather than seconds or minutes in
emotion regulation (Gross, 1999).
Gross (1998) suggests that individuals can regulate their emotions through either
suppression or reappraisal. When customers use reappraisal emotion regulation, they are
likely to reevaluate and positively construe the stressful encounter by putting it into a
perspective. This perspective taking or positive focus alters the cognition and modifies
behaviours through internal change (Grandey, Dickter, and Sin, 2004). Reappraisal occurs
early in the evaluation process and intervenes before the customer’s responses are fully
developed. Thus, customers who regulate their emotional reactions through reappraisal are
likely to show a genuine display of emotions. Reappraisal is also referred to as ‘deep-acting’,
as it involves changing one’s underlying emotions to match required emotional display
(modifying inner feelings). Suppression involves regulation of the expression of emotions,
even though inner feelings may remain unchanged (Gross, 1999). It is referred to as ‘surface-
acting’, as individuals modify their behaviour by suppressing and faking the expression and
display of emotions not actually experienced (modifying facial expression) (Grandey, 2000).
7
In other words, individuals display emotions without changing their inner emotional states.
Suppression comes later in the evaluation process, modifying the behavioural outcomes.
Gross and John (2003) contend that reappraisal and suppression are not mutually exclusive
and may have different consequences. For example, when individuals use reappraisal, they
feel free to share and express both their positive and negative emotions with others.
Reappraisal is associated with closer relationships and greater social closeness and support.
Suppression, on the other hand, reduces the sharing and expression of emotions with others
and is associated with reduced rapport, disrupted communication, and avoidant attachments
(Gross, 1998; Matsumoto, Yoo, and Nakagawa, 2008). This indicates that regulation of
emotions in the form of suppression or reappraisal may influence customers’ behavioural
responses following service failure.
Research model
Figure 1 presents the research model proposed and tested in this study. Based on the
justice theory (Thibaut and Walker, 1975) and emotion regulation theory (Gross, 1999),
hypotheses related to perceived injustice, positive emotions, negative emotions, customer
satisfaction, suppression emotion regulation, reappraisal emotion regulation, negative word-
of-mouth intentions, and purchase intentions are proposed and explained below.
[Insert Figure 1 about here]
Perceived injustice and customer satisfaction
Perceived injustice refers to the extent to which the service encounter is seen by customers
as unacceptable, unjust, or unfair. Many researchers have examined the relationship between
perceived injustice and customer satisfaction (Weun, Beatty and Jones, 2004; Chuang et al.,
2012; Balaji and Sarkar, 2013; Keiningham et al., 2014). These studies report that when
service failure occurs customers are likely to feel let down and this results in negative
8
disconfirmation (Nikbin, Marimuthu, and Hyun, 2016). Customers evaluate a service failure
encounter as stressful and perceive a loss of equity in terms of time, cost, and feelings
(Sengupta, Balaji, and Krishnan, 2015). They may feel disregarded and perceive betrayal as
service failure violates the psychological contract and trust they have with the service
provider (Weun et al., 2004). This violation of trust affects the norms of customer-company
relationship, leading to reduced satisfaction levels among customers (Grégoire and Fisher,
2008). Thus, greater the injustice customers perceive, the greater the likelihood that they are
dissatisfied with the service encounter. Moreover, justice theory (Thibaut and Walker, 1975)
suggests that perceived fairness during the service encounter affects customers’ evaluation of
service providers (Chebat and Slusarczyk, 2005). Thus, we propose that:
H1: Perceived injustice will have a negative impact on customer satisfaction.
The mediating role of customer emotions
Consumption emotions are episodic and valence affective reactions that occur in response
to a situation or encounter (Scherer, 2005). The cognitive appraisal theory of emotions (Smith
and Lazarus, 1993) suggests that customers’ assessment of the situation activates specific
emotions. As justice is considered as an evaluative judgment, customers’ emotional reactions
are likely to depend on the perception of justice or fairness in the service encounter.
Since service failure encounters are negative valence events, the majority of prior studies
consider only negative emotions in understanding customer response behaviours (Mattila and
Ro, 2008; Gelbrich, 2010; Joireman, Grégoire, and Tripp, 2016). However, it is argued that
positive emotions and negative emotions related to the service encounter may co-exist in a
mutually independent state (Chebat and Slusarczyk, 2005). Positive and negative emotions
are two largely independent states that can occur concurrently (Westbrook, 1987; Babin et al.,
1998). In other words, feeling of negative emotion during service failure may not preclude
9
the occurrence of positive emotions. Rather, when a service encounter is perceived to be
unfair or unjust, negative emotions may be exacerbated and positive emotions may be
diminished. Likewise, when a service encounter is successful or perceived as just, positive
emotions may be enhanced while negative emotions may be reduced.
Mikula, Scherer and Athenstaedt (1998) empirically demonstrate that perceived injustice
is related to a variety of positive and negative emotions. Namkung and Jang (2010) show
that perceived price fairness has positive effect and negative effect on positive emotions and
negative emotions respectively. Similarly, Su and Hsu (2013) show that service fairness
directly impact both positive and negative emotions. In general, prior studies suggests that
perceived justice is a driver of customer emotions ranging from positive emotions, such as
pleasantness and joy, to negative emotions such as anger and frustration. Therefore, in this
study we propose that perceived injustice influences both positive and negative emotions.
The relationship between customer emotions and satisfaction is well-documented in the
literature. In the service failure context, Schoefer (2010) finds that both positive and negative
emotions have a main effect on satisfaction. Similarly, Kuo and Wu (2012) show that positive
and negative emotions influence recovery satisfaction. More recently, Strizhakova, Tsarenko
and Ruth (2012) demonstrate that angry customers ruminate about the service failure and this
rumination process leads to unfavourable evaluation of the service provider. Griskevicius,
Tybur, and Van den Bergh (2010) show that positive emotions draw attention to the self,
enhance product desirability, and trigger the desire to engage in pro-social behaviours.
The affect control theory (Homans, 1974) predicts that the justice-related emotions affect
customer satisfaction and choice of action. According to this theory, individuals are expected
to maintain affective meanings or states based on the underlying social situations. This leads
them to align their behavioural responses. Thus, we predict that customers’ behavioural
responses are determined by the emotions evoked and experienced in the service failure
10
encounter. In other words, both positive and negative emotions are expected to mediate the
relationship between perceived injustice and customer satisfaction. Some empirical evidence
indicates that the linkage between perceived injustice and customer satisfaction is mediated
by positive and negative emotions. For instance, Phillips and Baumgartner (2002)
demonstrate that the positive and negative emotions elicited by the product performance
(stimuli) impact satisfaction. Varela-Neira, Vázquez-Casielles and Iglesias-Argüelles (2010)
observe that negative emotions mediate the relationship between service failure and customer
satisfaction. Strizhakova, Tsarenko and Ruth (2012) find that angry customers ruminate about
service failure and that this process of rumination leads to unfavourable outcomes such as
dissatisfaction. Thus, we advance the following hypothesis:
H2: Positive emotion mediates the relationship between perceived injustice and customer
satisfaction.
H3: Negative emotion mediates the relationship between perceived injustice and customer
satisfaction.
The mediating role of customer satisfaction
Extant literature indicates that higher levels of customer satisfaction results in greater
repurchase intentions and word-of-mouth recommendations. Wirtz and Mattila (2004)
demonstrate that when service recovery is effective, recovery satisfaction mediates the
relationship between perceived justice dimensions and behavioural outcomes of repurchase
intentions and negative word-of-mouth intentions. In another study, Lin, Wang, and Chang
(2011) show that customers’ exhibit greater repurchase intentions and decreased negative
word-of-mouth after a service failure is effectively remedied than when the service failure
has not occurred. Thus, when customers perceive justice or fairness in the service encounter,
they are likely to both continue purchasing and spread positive word-of-mouth about the
11
service provider (Chitturi, Raghunathan, and Mahajan, 2008). Conversely, perceived injustice
in a service encounter is likely to result in perceived betrayal and customer dissatisfaction
(Lee, Pan, and Tsai, 2013). This leads to lower repurchase intentions and greater negative
word-of-mouth intentions (Kim, Kim, & Kim, 2009). Thus, we advance the following
hypotheses:
H4: Customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between perceived injustice and
repurchase intentions.
H5: Customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between perceived injustice and
negative word-of-mouth intentions.
The moderating role of emotion regulation
As emotion regulation influences how customers manage and express emotions (Gross,
1998; Gross and John, 2003), it may be related to customers’ post-failure behavioural
responses. The theory of emotional dissonance (Abraham, 1999), which discusses the
dissonance between experienced emotion and display emotion, sheds light on the relationship
between emotion regulation and customers’ behavioural responses. As displaying emotions
has a place in social functions, customers hold a set of expectations about expressing
emotions in a social exchange (Miao, 2014). However, when customers regulate their
emotions evoked in a service failure encounter, emotional dissonance occurs because of the
discrepancy in the displayed and felt emotions (Totterdell and Holman, 2003). Such
emotional dissonance causes discomfort or strain and has been found to have a harmful effect
on service providers (Philips, Tsu Wee Tan and Julian, 2006; Haj-Salem and Chebat, 2014).
Limited research evidence exists to support the moderating effects of emotion regulation
on customers’ behavioural responses. However, organisational behaviour research provide
some empirical support for the effects of suppression and reappraisal emotion regulation
12
strategies on employees’ behavioural responses. For instance, Côté and Morgan (2002) find
that suppression of negative emotions decreases job satisfaction and reappraisal leads to
amplification of positive emotions and greater satisfaction. Similarly, Judge, Woolf, and
Hurst (2009) show that suppression is related to negative affect state and emotional
exhaustion. On the contrary, reappraisal is positively associated with positive affective state
and greater satisfaction, as this minimizes the dissonance between experienced and expressed
emotions. More recently, Scott and Barnes (2011) demonstrate that employees’ affective
states improved when they engage in reappraisal than suppression emotion regulation. These
studies describe and analyze the differential effect of suppression and reappraisal emotional
regulation strategies on employees’ behavioural responses.
Based on the previous literature, we propose that customers’ emotion regulation strategies
influence the behavioural responses following a service failure encounter. When customers
engage in suppression to regulate their emotions they will have difficulty to focus on
proactive behaviours, as they may perceive a breach of psychological contract (Bal, Chiaburu,
and Diaz, 2011). Moreover, suppression temporarily reduces the negative affect state and
does not completely eliminate them. Thus, the source of negative emotion still remains,
which may be problematic in the long-run (Sheppes and Meiran, 2008). This creates a
possible vicious cycle of deviant behaviours such as being hostile, seeking revenge, or
spreading negative word-of-mouth (Joormann and Gotlib, 2010). Based on the above
discussion, it is proposed that when customers try to regulate the emotional reactions using
suppression, they strive to inhibit their negative emotions and reduce the expression of the
emotions. However, as the emotions felt are not completely eliminated, customers may try to
express their negative emotions indirectly in the form of negative word-of-mouth
communication. In addition, suppression creates emotional dissonance and increases the
perceived stress experienced by customers. This leads to greater depression and lower
13
conciliatory behaviours, including repurchase intention (Tsarenko and Strizhakova, 2013).
Thus, we advance the following hypotheses:
H6: Suppression will negatively moderate the effect of customer satisfaction on repurchase
intentions.
H7: Suppression will negatively moderate the effect of customer satisfaction on negative
word-of-mouth intentions.
In contrast, when customers use reappraisal, they seek to find meaning in encounters they
experience. Such individuals are more likely to use cognitive changes to better deal with the
breach in psychological contract. Gross and John (2003) indicate that cognitive changes make
individuals more optimistic about the situation and creates favourable attitude by reducing the
negative affective states. This reduces negative perceptions related to the situation and
increases the proactive behaviours such as repurchase intentions (Bal, Chiaburu and Diaz,
2011). Yi and Gong (2008) find that positive affect among satisfied customer led to increased
citizenship behaviours. In other words, when customers engage in the reappraisal of emotion
regulation, they reconstruct the situation. This leads to greater proactive behaviours such as
repurchase intentions and lower negative word-of-mouth intentions. Based on the above
arguments, we propose the following hypotheses:
H8: Reappraisal will positively moderate the effect of customer satisfaction on repurchase
intentions.
H9: Reappraisal will positively moderate the effect of customer satisfaction on negative
word-of-mouth intentions.
14
Methodology
Sample and procedure
Graduate students enrolled in a marketing course at a large private university in Malaysia
assisted in collecting responses from people who had taken a vacation in the last 12 months.
The chain referral sampling approach as suggested by Brady, Voorhees and Brusco (2012)
was adopted for this study. Trained students contacted several respondents, including
neighbors, friends, and others to complete the survey. Students received credits for
participation in the study. A total of 305 usable responses were obtained. A vast majority of
respondents (66 percent) were between 21-35 years of age. The sample consisted of 46
percent females and 54 percent males.
A scenario-based survey was used to elicit responses from study participants. The
participants were instructed to read a service failure scenario and respond to the questions
that follow. Such a scenario-based survey is consistent with other studies on service failure
(Yuksel, Kilinc, and Yuksel, 2006; Andreassen and Streukens, 2012) and offers several
advantages, including creating a realistic situation, eliminates the difficulty in noticing the
service failure encounter, minimizes the memory bias, and overcomes the ethical concerns
related to deliberate recall of negative experiences (Dabholkar and Spaid, 2012). The
following service failure scenario was used to obtain responses from the participants:
Imagine the following situation. You have decided to spend a short vacation and have
booked a hotel from an online travel booking site. This is your first time booking
through this online booking site. You choose this hotel as it offers many features
including health club, swimming pool, quality restaurants, and a reputation for giving
special attention to its guests. When you arrive at the hotel you are not satisfied with the
services as hotel is of lower quality than promised in the online travel booking site.
15
A pretest was carried out with a pilot sample of thirty-five university students to ensure
that the scenario represented a service failure encounter. As a large majority of respondents
agreed that the scenario is realistic, it was administered to the participating sample
respondents.
Measurement of variables
The scales used to measure the main constructs of the study were adapted from previous
research and are listed in Table 1. Perceived injustice was measured using a three-item Likert
scale adopted from Oliver and Swan (1989). To assess both positive and negative emotions,
participants completed the Dewitt, Nguyen and Marshall’s (2008) nine-item Likert scale.
This scale consists of four items for assessing positive emotions and five items for assessing
negative emotions. Emotion regulation measured along the two dimensions of suppression
and reappraisal consisted of 10 items adapted from Gross and John (2003). Satisfaction was
measured on a three-item Likert scale adopted from McCollough, Berry, and Yadav (2000).
Repurchase intentions was measured on a three item semantic differential scale taken from
Jones and Suh (2000). Finally, negative word-of-mouth intentions were measured using a
three-item Likert scale adapted from Schoefer and Diamantopoulos (2008). The Likert type
scales were measured on a 7-point scaled anchored by ‘1’ strong disagree and ‘7’ strong
agree.
The realism of the scenario was measured with a single item “how realistic is the scenario
described in the questionnaire?” (1 = very unrealistic and 10 = very realistic). Comprehension
of the scenario was measured with the item “the scenario described is easy to comprehend” (1
= strongly disagree and 10 = strongly agree).
16
Data analysis
Data analysis was carried out using structural equation modeling technique with AMOS
20.0. Following Anderson and Gerbing’s (1988) recommendation, a two-step approach was
used in the study. In the first step, measurement model was used to assess the validity and
reliability of the scales. In the second step, the structural model was used to test the
hypotheses proposed. To test the moderating role of emotion regulation, hierarchical
regression analysis was carried out. For completeness, we ran a competing model to provide
conceptual and statistical support for the proposed research model.
Common method variance
Common method variance (CMV), which refers to “variance that is attributable to the
measurement model rather than the construct of interest” (Podsakoff et al., 2003), may exist
as both independent and dependent variables and is measured with same survey method.
Following the guidelines provided by Podsakoff et al. (2003), CMV was addressed in this
study at both the design and data analysis stages. In the study design stage, the survey
questionnaire was reviewed by experts in the services marketing area. The survey items were
counterbalanced in terms of order and few-reverse coded items were included in the survey
questionnaire. The respondents were assured of anonymity. The administrators emphasized
that there were no right or wrong answers and asked respondents to answer the survey
questions as honestly as possible. Moreover, two different scale formats (Likert and semantic
differential) were used to control for the potential impact of CMV.
In the data analysis stage, two statistical approaches were used to control for CMV. In a
Harman’s single factor test, all 31 items were loaded onto a single latent factor, which
provided a model with poor fit statistics (χ2 = 5057.09; df = 434; χ2/df = 11.652; CFI = 0.217;
IFI = 0.221 TLI = 0.161; RMSEA = 0.187). In the common method factor approach, we used
respondents’ social networking sites use intensity as a marker variable. The inclusion of the
17
marker variable did not significantly increase the variance of any variable. These results
suggest that common method variance is not a major concern in this study.
Results
Measurement model
The mean scores for realism (Ms = 7.50, SD = 1.19) and comprehensibility (Ms = 7.59,
SD = 1.28) were high indicating that the service failure scenario represented a realistic
situation. Moreover, responses included in the questionnaire related to hotel experience and
prior online purchase experience provided further validity for the realism of the service
failure scenario.
The eight-factor measurement model, consisting of perceived injustice; positive emotions;
negative emotions; satisfaction; negative word-of-mouth intentions; repurchase intentions;
suppression; and reappraisal emotion regulation had a satisfactory overall model fit (χ2 =
686.39; df = 402; χ2/df = 1.71; CFI = 0.952; IFI = 0.953; TLI = 0.945; RMSEA = 0.048).
Table I presents the results of the measurement model. All items loaded significantly on their
respective constructs and the item loadings with the overall model fit statistics suggest
acceptable unidimensionality and convergent validity of the measures (Bagozzi, Yi, and
Phillips, 1991). The average variable extracted (AVE) for each construct was greater than the
recommended threshold level of 0.5 (Fornell and Larcker, 1981), thus providing further
support for the convergent validity of the measures. Each construct’s composite reliability
was greater than the threshold level of 0.7, as recommended by Hair, Ringle, and Sarstedt
(2011) Moreover, the Cronbach’s alphas indicate satisfactory reliability of the constructs
(Nunnally, 1978).
[Insert Table I about here]
18
Following Fornell and Larcker (1981), discriminant validity was assessed by examining if
the correlations between the constructs were smaller than the square root of the AVEs of each
construct. As shown in Table II, the square root AVEs of each construct was greater than the
correlation it shares with other constructs. This supports the discriminant validity of the
measures. After establishing the psychometric properties of the measures, the hypothesized
relationships were examined using structural equation modeling and hierarchical regression
analysis.
[Insert Table II about here]
Structural model
The structural model showed a good fit to the data with all fit indices deemed acceptable
(χ2 = 323.66; df = 181; χ2/df = 1.81; CFI = 0.966; IFI = 0.967; TLI = 0.961; RMSEA = 0.051).
Table III presents the estimated path coefficients of the structural model.
[Insert Table III about here]
The results show that all seven paths proposed in the structural model were significant.
Perceived injustice was found to have a negative impact on customer satisfaction (β = -0.22, t
= -3.17, p < 0.01). This provides support for H1 that perceived injustice in a service encounter
is negatively related to customer satisfaction. Furthermore, perceived injustice has negative
effect on positive emotions (β = -0.25, t = -3.99, p < 0.01) and positive effect on negative
emotion (β = 0.40, t = 6.09, p < 0.01). Regarding the effects of customer emotions, both
positive emotions (β = 0.15, t = 2.50, p < 0.05) and negative emotions (β = -0.16, t = -2.32, p
< 0.05) directly impacts customer satisfaction. Finally, satisfaction has a direct positive
influence on repurchase intentions (β = 0.37, t = 5.97, p < 0.01) and a direct negative
influence on negative word-of-mouth intentions (β = -0.18, t = -2.91, p < 0.01).
19
Mediation effects of customer emotions and satisfaction
To test the mediation effects, Preacher and Hayes’s (2008) PROCESS approach was
carried out with 5000 bootstrapping resamples and a bias-corrected 95% confidence interval
(CI). If the confidence interval contains no zeros, then the indirect effect is considered to be
non-significant. Table IV presents the results of the mediating effects of positive emotions,
negative emotions, and customer satisfaction.
[Insert Table IV about here]

As shown in Table IV, for the mediating effects of customer emotions, perceived injustice
has a significant total effect on customer satisfaction (β = -0.26, t = -5.25, p < 0.01). When
introducing positive emotions as a mediator, the direct effect of perceived injustice on
satisfaction decreases (β = -0.23, t = -4.52, p < 0.01), while the indirect effect of perceived
injustice on customer satisfaction via positive motion achieves a point estimate of -0.03.
Since the confidence interval contains no zero (lower CI = -0.06, upper CI = -0.01), the
indirect effect is significant. Thus, positive emotion mediates the influence of perceived
injustice on customer satisfaction, supporting H2. H3 was supported, as the indirect effect of
perceived injustice on customer satisfaction via negative emotion has a point estimate of
-0.05 and the confidence interval has no zeros (lower CI = -0.07, upper CI = -0.01). Thus,
customer emotions were found to mediate the influence of perceived injustice on customer
satisfaction. Regarding the mediating effects of customer satisfaction, Table IV shows that
point estimates for the indirect effect of perceived injustice on repurchase intentions is -0.04.
Since the confidence intervals does not have zeros (lower CI = -0.08, upper CI = -0.01), H4 is
supported, as customer satisfaction mediates the effects of perceived injustice on repurchase
intentions. However, H5 was not supported as the confidence intervals for the indirect effect
of purchase intentions on negative word-of-mouth contains zero (lower CI = -0.01, upper CI
= 0.04).
20
Moderating effects of suppression and reappraisal emotion regulation
We conducted hierarchical regression analysis as suggested by Aiken and West (1991) to
test the moderating role of suppression and reappraisal emotion regulation on the linkages
among satisfaction, repurchase intentions, and negative word-of-mouth intentions. The
variables are mean-centered, while interaction terms are created by multiplying the mean-
centered variables (Aiken and West, 1991). Table V presents the summary of the moderated
regression analysis. In model 1 (M1), the main effects are estimated. In model 2 (M2) the
interaction term was added to the model.
[Insert Table V about here]
H6 was not supported, as suppression does not moderate the relationship between customer
satisfaction and repurchase intentions (interaction term β = -0.08, p = 0.15). However,
suppression was found to moderate the effect of satisfaction on negative word-of-mouth
intentions (interaction term β = -0.13, p < 0.05). The slope analysis shows that at high levels
of suppression, lower customer satisfaction leads to greater negative word-of-mouth
intentions, while no significant difference was observed at lower levels of suppression. This
provides support for H7. Figure II presents the interaction effect of suppression emotion
regulation.
[Insert Figure II about here]
H8 was supported, as reappraisal positively moderates the effect of customer satisfaction
on repurchase intentions (interaction term β = 0.11, p < 0.01). The slope analysis shows that
at greater levels of reappraisal, greater customer satisfaction leads to greater repurchase
intentions, while no significant difference can be observed at lower levels of reappraisal in
the satisfaction and repurchase intentions relationship. Figure III presents the interaction
results. H9 was not supported, as reappraisal does not moderate the effect of customer
21
satisfaction on negative word-of-mouth intentions (interaction term β = 0.10, p = 0.08). Table
VI summarizes the results of the hypotheses testing.
[Insert Figure III about here]
[Insert Table VI about here]

Discussion and Implications
Recognizing service encounters as an important phenomenon affecting customer
behaviour in the marketplace (Smith and Bolton, 2002; Varela-Neira, Vázquez-Casielles, and
Iglesias-Argüelles, 2008), a number of prior studies have analyzed the various facets of
service evaluation issues and found that customers’ emotional response evoked in service
failures will determine their subsequent behaviours. However, no studies have known to have
tested how customers’ emotion regulation strategies affect the assessment of the service
failure and the nature and level of post-failure behavioural outcomes. In addressing this
research lacuna, the present study explores the role of customers’ emotion regulation in
service failure encounters. The main goal of this study is to propose and empirically test an
integrated model to examine the role of emotions and emotion regulation in influencing the
customer satisfaction and behavioural outcomes of negative word-of-mouth intentions and
repurchase intentions following service failure.
The findings of the study both support and contribute to the literature. Consistent with the
existing literature, this study examines the relationship between perceived injustice,
satisfaction, negative word-of-mouth, and repurchase intentions (Schoefer and
Diamantopoulos, 2008; Nikbin and Hyun, 2014). However, the present study uses customers’
emotional responses and emotion regulation to extend and expand upon understanding the
22
relationship between these constructs. The findings demonstrate that service failure
encounters elicit both positive and negative emotional reactions that affect customers’
satisfaction with the service provider. The satisfaction levels in turn impact the conciliatory
and retaliatory behaviours of repurchase intentions and negative word-of-mouth respectively.
Consistent with the emotion regulation process (Gross, 1998), we found that customers’
ability to regulate their emotions affect the behavioural responses. More specifically, while
suppression leads to greater negative word-of-mouth at low satisfaction levels, reappraisal

influences repurchase intentions of satisfied customers in service failure encounters.
Theoretical contributions
The findings of the study contribute to the services marketing literature on customer
responses to service failure encounters. While prior studies have focused on service failure
outcomes such as satisfaction (Ha and Jang, 2009), word-of-mouth intentions (Nikbin and
Hyun, 2014), and repurchase intentions (Beldona and Namasivayam, 2006), this study
examines the role of customer emotions in evaluation of service failure. Emotions are
spontaneous and affective reactions (with specific valence of either positive or negative) that
occur in response to one’s perception of the situation. Few studies have examined customer
emotions in terms of service recovery strategies i.e. post-recovery emotions (DeWitt, Nguyen,
and Marshall, 2008; Ozgen and Kurt, 2012). However, there are emotions that customers
experience immediately after a service failure encounter i.e. post-failure emotions. The
present study demonstrates that post-failure emotions i.e. positive emotions and negative
emotions mediate the influence of perceived injustice on customer satisfaction. This study
contributes to the expanding literature highlighting the important mediating role of emotions
in customer response to service failures (Du, Fan, and Feng, 2014; Kim and Park, 2016).
To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first studies in the services marketing
domain to examine the moderating role of emotion regulation on customer responses to
23
service failure. Given that customers experience post-failure emotions, this study shows that
emotion regulation or the way customers manage and regulate their emotions is a significant
predictor of customers’ conciliatory and retaliatory behaviours. Specifically, the study shows
that customers regulate the emotional responses they experience following a service failure
through suppression or reappraisal emotion regulation mechanisms. The present study
empirically demonstrates that when customers adopt suppression, this results in greater
negative word-of-mouth intentions among the dissatisfied customers. This suggests that
customers are likely to suppress their emotions temporarily following the service failure.
However, as the negative affect state is not completely eliminated, customers are likely to
engage in deviant and retaliatory behaviours such as negative word-of-mouth rather than
complaining directly to the service provider. Similarly, we found that when customers
regulate their emotions using reappraisal which results in greater repurchase intentions.
Reappraisal allows customers to re-construe the service failure encounter with positive
meaning thereby increasing the likelihood to repurchase from the service provider.
Managerial Implications
Our findings have important implications for managers. On a general level, the findings
demonstrate that emotional responses evoked in a service failure encounter determine
customers’ behavioural outcomes. Hence, service providers should be aware of how service
failure encounters elicit various emotional responses. Since a poor recovery experience might
magnify customers’ negative emotions and motivate them to engage in retaliatory behaviours,
service providers should take sufficient care to design and deliver service recovery strategies
that minimize customer dissatisfaction and ensure customer retention. Furthermore, recovery
strategies aimed at enhancing positive emotions (pleased) of customers can help service
providers enhance conciliatory behaviours. For example, employee training focusing on
communicating empathy in sincere manner, developing active listening skills, designing
24
conflict resolution methods, and showing service interaction behaviours such as rapport
building and coping can lead to development of greater customer positive emotions in service
failure situations (Macintosh, 2009).
The findings of this study indicate that while customers experience positive and negative
emotions in a service failure encounter, their subsequent response behaviours depend on how
they manage and regulate these emotions The present study advances service managers’
understanding of service failure evaluation by showing how customers’ emotion regulation

impacts satisfaction and post-failure behavioural outcomes. A more specific practical
implication of this research is the design of an effective and professional training program for
employees for effective handling of service failure encounters. A training program needs to
be designed to equip employees with the requisite skills to manage various service failure
situations. The training should be directed to customer equity, and display positive emotions
to target customers’ emotional needs and enhance their conciliatory responses during crises.
Service managers can promote positive emotional cycle in service interactions for dealing
effectively with customer emotions. The service employees can also be trained to detect the
customer emotions experienced in a service failure encounter. Recent studies indicate that
service employees can use remote sensing technique and facial expression recognition to
predict customer emotion expression and response (Cohn and Kanade, 2007). Predicting
customer emotions can help managers carry out service recovery strategies which adapt to
customer emotions and elicit more satisfying outcomes.
Limitations and future research directions
The present study investigates the role of emotion regulation in affecting the customers’
behavioural responses following a service failure encounter. This study contributes to the
existing body of knowledge on emotional and behavioural responses in a service failure while
acknowledging that the limitations of the study provide avenues for future research. This
25
study employed a scenario-based survey approach to minimize the memory bias associated
with recalling service failure encounter. While a scenario-based approach might provide good
internal validity, it may also lack external validity (Martin, Ponder, and Lueg, 2009). Thus,
future research studies may use a multimethod approach to address the validity concerns.
Second, the present study has used a purposive sample due to a lack of a sampling frame for
the target population of interest. Future research studies could employ probability-sampling
methods for better representation of the population. Third, while the present study provides
empirical support for the role of customers’ emotion regulation strategies in affecting the
post-failure behavioural outcomes, future research studies could examine when customers
engage in reappraisal and suppression strategies in managing their emotions in service failure.
This is of significant interest as it may help managers develop appropriate service recovery
strategies.
Vázquez-Casielles, del Río-Lanza, and Díaz-Martín (2007) propose that as customers seek
to understand the reasons for service failure, attribution of controllability and stability results
in negative emotions. Thus, future research studies should explore the role of attribution in
customers’ emotion regulation strategies. Understanding this would provide managers a
better understanding of the various emotion regulation strategies customers might use in
managing with the service failure encounter. Lastly, the present study considers only post-
failure retaliatory and conciliatory responses. As emotions play an important role in customer
perception of trust and relationship quality (DeWitt et al., 2008), examination of emotion
regulation in post-recovery setting can provide a better understanding of, and insights into,
the role of emotion regulation in affecting behavioural outcomes such as positive word-of-
mouth and brand equity.
26
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About the authors
Dr. M S Balaji is Assistant Professor of Marketing at Nottingham University Business

School China. His research interests include Services Marketing, Relationship Marketing and
Social Media. He has published in Journal of Business Research, Information & Management,
Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Strategic Marketing, International Journal of
Hospitality Management, Service Business, International Journal of Bank Marketing and
Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics. He was a Visiting Research Scholar at
Whitman School of Management, Syracuse University, USA.
Dr. Sanjit Kumar Roy is Assistant Professor of Marketing, The University of Western
Australia, Perth, Australia. His research interests include Services Marketing and Consumer-
Brand Relationships. He has Guest Edited a special issue on India for International Journal
of Bank Marketing. He has also co-edited Services Marketing Cases in Emerging Markets
and Marketing Cases for Emerging Markets. He has published in a wide range of journals
including European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of
Marketing Management, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Strategic Marketing,
Journal of Brand Management, among others. He was a Visiting Research Scholar at Bentley
University, USA and Visiting Research Fellow at Middlesex University, UK.
Ali Quazi is Professor of Marketing at the University of Canberra, Australia. Professor Quazi
is a fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute, the Academy of World Business, Marketing
and Management Development and a Certified Practicing Marketer (CPM). His research
interests are in the areas of cross cultural marketing, services/relationship marketing,
corporate social responsibility, and innovation management. His work has been cited in the
36
Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility. His articles have appeared in leading
internal journals including the European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing
Management, Supply Chain Management; An International Journal, Journal of
Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, Journal of Environment Management
and Journal of Business Ethics.
37
Reappraisal
Emotion
Regulation
H8-9
H2 Negative word-
Positive of-mouth
Emotions Intentions
H5
Perceived Customer
injustice H1 Satisfaction
H4
Negative
Repurchase
Emotions
Intentions
H3
H6-7
Suppression
Emotion
Regulation
Note: Dotted line denotes indirect effect and bold line denotes moderating effect.
Figure I. Research model and hypotheses.

Negative Word-of-Mouth Intentions
2 Low
Suppression
1.5
High
Suppression
1
0.45
0.5
-0.03
0
-0.12
-0.5 -0.30
-1
-1.5
-2
Low Customer Satisfaction High Customer Satisfaction
Figure II. Moderation of suppression on satisfaction and negative word-of-mouth

intentions
2
Low
1.5 Reappraisal
High
Repurchase Intentions
1 0.66 Reappraisal
0.5
-0.09
0
-0.5 -0.24
-0.34
-1
-1.5
-2
Low Customer Satisfaction High Customer Satisfaction
Figure III. Moderation of reappraisal on satisfaction and repurchase intentions

Tables
Table I. Measurement model results

Construct and items λ t-values α CR AVE
Perceived injustice (PI)
PI1: Treated unfairly 0.90 N/A
PI2: Treated wrongly 0.88 20.43 0.91 0.92 0.79
PI3: Fairly dealtR 0.88 21.04
Positive emotions (PE)
PE1: Enjoyed 0.86 19.24
PE2: Joy 0.85 20.31
0.91 0.92 0.74
PE3: Pleasure 0.89 N/A
PE4: Happiness 0.84 18.51
Negative emotions (NE)
NE1: Enraged 0.70 N/A

NE2: Incensed 0.73 13.62
NE3: Furious 0.87 12.86 0.87 0.87 0.56
NE4: Irate 0.76 11.74
NE5: Distressed 0.68 10.54
Satisfaction (SA)
SA1: Overall, the service experience was
0.81 N/A
satisfying
SA2: The service experience didn’t meet my 0.90 0.90 0.76
0.91 18.32
needsR
SA3: Overall satisfied with the service experience 0.89 18.02
Negative word-of-mouth (NW)
NW1: It is likely that I will tell others about the
negative service I received from the online travel 0.99 N/A
booking site
NW2: It is likely that I will warn friends and
0.86 0.87 0.70
relatives not to buy from this online travel 0.74 14.76
booking site
NW3: It is likely that I complain to friends and
0.75 14.95
relatives about this online travel booking site.
Repurchase intentions (RI)
Probability that they would use the online travel
booking site in the future
RI1: Unlikely/likely 0.90 N/A
RI2: Improbable/probable 0.92 23.50 0.91 0.92 0.79
RI3: Impossible/possible 0.85 20.67
Emotion Regulation
Reappraisal (RE)
RE1: I control my emotions by changing the way
0.70 N/A
I think about the situation I’m in
RE2: When I want to feel less negative emotion, I
0.74 12.00
change the way I’m thinking about the situation
0.88 0.88 0.56
RE3: When I want to feel more positive emotion,
0.84 13.11
I change the way I’m thinking about the situation.
RE4: When I want to feel more positive emotion
0.74 11.60
(such as joy or amusement), I change what I’m
thinking about.
RE5: When I want to feel less negative emotion
(such as sadness or anger), I change what I’m 0.73 11.84
thinking about
RE6: When I’m faced with a stressful situation, I
make myself think about it in a way that helps me 0.73 11.91
stay calm.
Suppression (SU)
SU1: I control my emotions by not expressing
0.80 N/A
them.
SU2: When I am feeling negative emotions, I
0.88 17.23
make sure not to express them 0.88 0.88 0.65
SU3: I keep my emotions to myself 0.87 16.92
SU4: When I am feeling positive emotions, I am
0.67 12.14
careful not to express them

Measurement model fit statistics: χ2 = 686.39; df = 402; χ2/df = 1.71; CFI = 0.952; IFI =
0.953; TLI = 0.945; RMSEA = 0.048
Note: R – Reverse coded.
Table II. Measurement model descriptive statistics: Convergent and discriminant
validity
Variable Mean SD PI PE NE SA NW RI RE SU
PI 4.71 1.57 0.89
PE 3.15 1.34 -0.22 0.86
NE 4.32 1.30 0.36 -0.25 0.75
SA 3.31 1.41 -0.29 0.22 -0.24 0.83
NW 4.12 1.66 0.12 0.01 0.16 -0.12 0.84
RI 2.54 1.36 -0.19 0.20 -0.19 0.20 -0.04 0.89
RE 4.00 1.44 -0.15 0.13 -0.14 0.17 -0.04 0.23 0.75
SU 4.02 1.49 0.03 0.01 -0.06 -0.01 0.05 -0.12 -0.17 0.81
Note: Correlations more than 0.12 are significant at p < 0.05. Shaded diagonal elements are
the square root of AVE for each construct. The discriminant validity of a construct is
established when the square root of the AVE of each construct is much larger than the
correlation of the specific construct with any of the other constructs in the model.
Table III. Structural equation model: Path coefficients
Relationships Estimate t p
Perceived injustice → positive emotions -0.25 -3.99 <0.01
Perceived injustice → negative emotions 0.40 6.09 <0.01
Positive emotions → satisfaction 0.15 2.50 <0.05
Negative emotions → satisfaction -0.16 -2.32 <0.05
Perceived injustice → satisfaction -0.22 -3.17 <0.01
Satisfaction → negative word-of-mouth -0.18 -2.91 <0.01
Satisfaction → repurchase intentions 0.37 5.97 <0.01
Measurement model fit statistics: χ2 = 323.66; df = 181; χ2/df = 1.81; CFI = 0.966; IFI =
0.967; TLI = 0.961; RMSEA = 0.051
Table IV. Mediation effect tests
Mediating effect of Positive Emotions (H2)
Total effect of PI on Direct effect of PI Indirect effect of PI on Bias corrected bootstrap
SA. on SA. SA. 95%-confidence interval
Point
β t-value β t-value Lower Upper
estimate
-0.26 ** -5.25 -0.23** -4.52 PE -0.03 -0.06 -0.01
Mediating effect of Negative Emotions (H3)

Point
estimate
-0.26** -5.25 -0.21** -3.99 NE -0.05 -0.07 -0.01
Mediating effect of Customer Satisfaction (H4)

RI. on RI. RI. 95%-confidence interval
Point
estimate
-0.16** -3.32 -0.12* -2.43 SA -0.04 -0.08 -0.01
Mediating effect of Customer Satisfaction (H5)

NW. on NW. NW. 95%-confidence interval
Point
β t-value Β t-value Lower Upper
estimate
0.13** 2.14 0.10 1.61 SA 0.02 -0.01 0.04
Note: PI: perceived injustice; PE: positive emotions; NE: Negative emotions; SA:
satisfaction; RI: repurchase intentions; and NW: negative word-of-mouth intentions.
*p<0.05, **p<0.01. Bootstrapping 95% confidence interval based on 5000 bootstrap samples
Table V. Summary of the moderated regression analyses
Repurchase intentions Negative word-of-mouth
M1-β M2-β M1-β M2-β M1-β M2-β M1-β M2-β
Main effects
Satisfaction
0.20** 0.20** 0.17** 0.16** -0.12* -0.10 -0.12* -0.12*
(SA)
Suppression
-0.12* -0.11 0.05 0.04
(SU)
Reappraisal
0.21** 0.21** -0.02 -0.02
(RE)
Interaction
term
SA x SU -0.08 -0.13*
SA x RE 0.11* 0.10
R2 0.05 0.06 0.08 0.09 0.02 0.03 0.01 0.03

Model F 8.57** 6.42** 13.4** 10.3** 2.59 3.52* 2.22 2.53
Note: β – standardized regression coefficient, * p<0.05, ** p<0.01
Table VI. Summary of the results of hypothesis testing
Hypotheses Results
H1: Perceived injustice will have a negative impact on customer
Supported
satisfaction
H2: Positive emotion mediates the relationship between perceived injustice
Supported
and customer satisfaction
H3: Negative emotion mediates the relationship between perceived
Supported
injustice and customer satisfaction
H4: Customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between perceived
Supported
injustice and repurchase intentions
H5: Customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between perceived
Not supported
injustice and negative word-of-mouth intentions
H6: Suppression emotion regulation will negatively moderate the effect of

Not supported
customer satisfaction on repurchase intentions.
H7: Suppression emotion regulation will negatively moderate the effect of
Supported
customer satisfaction on negative word-of-mouth intentions.
H8: Reappraisal will positively moderate the effect of customer
Supported
satisfaction on repurchase intentions.
H9: Reappraisal will positively moderate the effect of customer
Not supported
satisfaction on negative word-of-mouth intentions.

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European Journal of Marketing

Customers’ emotion regulation strategies in service failure encounters

*Related content and download information correct at time of download.

regulation influences their behavioural responses (e.g. negative word-of-mouth and

Design/methodology/approach: A scenario-based survey was used to elicit responses in a

used to test the proposed hypotheses.

word-of-mouth and repurchase intentions.

Practical implications: This study advances service managers’ understanding of customer

experience during service failure by demonstrating how emotion regulation influences

customer response behaviours. With a better understanding of customers’ emotion regulation

emotion regulation strategies in determining their behavioural responses. Conducted in the

injustice, customer emotions, emotion regulation, customer satisfaction, negative word-of-

mouth, and repurchase intentions.

satisfaction, service failure, negative word-of-mouth.

Article Classification: Research paper

Service providers strive to deliver positive service encounters in order to enhance

Tombs, Russell-Bennett and Ashkanasy, 2014). Customers may attempt to manage or

(Schoefer and Diamantopoulos, 2008; Varela-Neira, Vázquez-Casielles, and Iglesias-

emotions is important to help service managers develop effective recovery strategies or

emotional reactions and emotion regulation in predicting behavioural responses following a

service failure encounter.

customers’ emotion regulation strategies would influence the post-failure behavioural

regulation strategies in managing customer emotions and shaping post-failure behavioural

determining customer satisfaction and behavioural responses in a service failure encounter.

Finally, we examine the role of emotion regulation strategies on customers’ behavioural

behaviour of repurchase intentions and retaliatory behaviour of negative word-of-mouth

intentions in a service failure encounter.

future research directions.

Theoretical background and literature review

Customer emotions in service failure

which in turn determines negative word-of-mouth communication, third-party action, and

customer desire to respond to the injustice (Schoefer, 2010).

customers experience positive emotions and respond positively in the relationship.

emotions, leading to unfavourable reactions towards service providers. Thus, it is conceivable

that perceived injustice experienced by customers in a service encounter may result in an

emotional reaction which subsequently impacts their behavioural responses.

intensify, or maintain emotions. In doing so, individuals may respond appropriately to

regulation) or as implicit process which is uninstructed and effortless, such as habitual or

emotion regulation (Gross, 1999).

likely to show a genuine display of emotions. Reappraisal is also referred to as ‘deep-acting’,

as it involves changing one’s underlying emotions to match required emotional display

(modifying inner feelings). Suppression involves regulation of the expression of emotions,

emotions in the form of suppression or reappraisal may influence customers’ behavioural

responses following service failure.

hypotheses related to perceived injustice, positive emotions, negative emotions, customer

satisfaction, suppression emotion regulation, reappraisal emotion regulation, negative word-

[Insert Figure 1 about here]

Perceived injustice and customer satisfaction

service providers (Chebat and Slusarczyk, 2005). Thus, we propose that:

H1: Perceived injustice will have a negative impact on customer satisfaction.

The mediating role of customer emotions

emotions. As justice is considered as an evaluative judgment, customers’ emotional reactions

diminished. Likewise, when a service encounter is successful or perceived as just, positive

emotions may be enhanced while negative emotions may be reduced.

The relationship between customer emotions and satisfaction is well-documented in the

rumination process leads to unfavourable evaluation of the service provider. Griskevicius,

(stimuli) impact satisfaction. Varela-Neira, Vázquez-Casielles and Iglesias-Argüelles (2010)

dissatisfaction. Thus, we advance the following hypothesis:

The mediating role of customer satisfaction

repurchase intentions and word-of-mouth recommendations. Wirtz and Mattila (2004)

relationship between perceived justice dimensions and behavioural outcomes of repurchase

in a service encounter is likely to result in perceived betrayal and customer dissatisfaction

negative word-of-mouth intentions.

The moderating role of emotion regulation