Limitations and Future Research

While the results of this study help broaden the understanding of customer responses to service recovery strategies, certain limitations are of note. First, to maximize internal validity, hypothetical and written scenarios rather than an actual consumption experience were used as stimuli. Second, manipulation of compensation level, the ratio of outcome to input of an exchange, used in the scenario might limit the research results. The compensation level used in this study were 50% to total cost for high and 3–4% for low condition. Although the findings of this study indicated that both types of satisfactions and repurchase intention of a recovery which was not customized with high compensation level, are as high as a recovery which was customized with low compensation level, it would argue that different compensation level manipulation might not give the same results. Future research should re-examine these results with a broad range of compensation levels.

Third, manipulations were limited to a single type of tangible compensation and to a single form of customization in this study. Other compensation methods, such as vouchers, or other types of customization, such as option customization and interpersonal adaptive behavior, might produce different results. This too should be examined in future research.

Fourth, the highly homogeneous demography of the participants would limit the generalizability of the results. Sixty percent of participants were students. Customer evaluations of different occupations might also be different, since the recovery aspect customers focus during the process of evaluating recovery might differ for different occupations. Further research should have larger sample groups which included business and community individuals. Furthermore, 66.9% of participants were under 25 years old. It would be argued that the results might not be applicable to older customers, since customers of different ages would have different transaction experiences. Further research should investigate whether older participants demonstrates similar customer evaluations of recovery.

Last, the research setting involved an e-tailer and a single service category. Future research on other service categories and different channels, retailer and e-tailer, is needed to investigate whether the same results are obtained. Finally, this study only measure two dimensions of recovery evaluation. Other variables, such as word-of-mouth, loyalty, and willingness to pay, are also important to recovery evaluations. This should also be examined in the future.

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Appendix A Scenarios

Scenario A (High compensation level and recovery customization)

You are a detective novel fan. One day, you ordered two books, “Detective Cole,” (about NT$300~400) on Q-pei international online bookstore. You were told that you would receive the books you ordered in three days originally, yet you didn’t receive the books after ten days.

Hence, you called Q-pei online bookstore to respond the problem, and the sales clerk apologized first. Then, the sale clerk responded that they would deal with this problem quickly and asked you to wait for few days.

After two days, you received “Detective Cole” you ordered. What’s more, you found that one more book was sent by the bookstore (see the reduced picture as below) and a letter was enclosed herewith.

“Dear Sir, we’re so sorry to make you wait for a long time. We found that you have interests in collecting the series of detective novels by looking into your past transaction records. Among the series of “Detective Roosevelt”, you’ve collected the previous 13 volumes. Here we especially send you the volume 14 of “Detective Roosevelt” (about NT$200~250) which is going to be published in the day after tomorrow as the compensation to make you read the latest plot sooner than other people. We are looking forward your visit next time.”

Scenario B (High compensation level and no recovery customization)

You are a detective novel fan. One day, you ordered two books, “Detective Cole,” (about NT$300~400) on Q-pei international online bookstore. You were told that you would receive the books you ordered in three days originally, yet you didn’t receive the books after ten days.

Hence, you called Q-pei online bookstore to respond the problem, and the sales clerk apologized first. Then, the sale clerk responded that they would deal with this problem quickly and asked you to wait for few days.

After two days, you received “Detective Cole” you ordered. What’s more, you found that one more book was sent by the bookstore (see the reduced picture as below) and a letter was enclosed herewith.

“Dear Sir, we’re so sorry to make you wait for a long time. This is the volume 5 of

“Taiwan Look” travel & food book (about NT$200~250) which is going to be published in the day after tomorrow. In the hit parade of travel & food books, Taiwan Look always has the top 5 good performance and is recommended by many experts in travel and delicacy. There is much information about Taiwan famous scenic spots and food in Taiwan Look. Here we especially send it to you as the compensation to make you read the latest news sooner than other people. We are looking forward your visit next time.”

Scenario C (Low compensation level and recovery customization)

You are a detective novel fan. One day, you ordered two books, “Detective Cole,” (about NT$300~400) on Q-pei international online bookstore. You were told that you would receive the books you ordered in three days originally, yet you didn’t receive the books after ten days.

Hence, you called Q-pei online bookstore to respond the problem, and the sales clerk apologized first. Then, the sale clerk responded that they would deal with this problem quickly and asked you to wait for few days.

After two days, you received “Detective Cole” you ordered. What’s more, you found that one more bookmarker set was sent by the bookstore (see the reduced picture as below) and a letter was enclosed herewith.

“Dear Sir, we’re so sorry to make you wait for a long time. We found that you have interests in collecting the series of “Detective Roosevelt” novels by looking into your past transaction records. Here we especially pick 2 bookmarkers for you as the compensation.

These are the affiliated products of Detective Roosevelt novel. They will not only make your collection more complete, but also make you enjoy the mysterious feelings of detective world during reading. We are looking forward your visit next time.”

Scenario D (Low compensation level and no recovery customization)

You are a detective novel fan. One day, you ordered two books, “Detective Cole,” (about NT$300~400) on Q-pei international online bookstore. You were told that you would receive the books you ordered in three days originally, yet you didn’t receive the books after ten days.

Hence, you called Q-pei online bookstore to respond the problem, and the sales clerk apologized first. Then, the sale clerk responded that they would deal with this problem quickly and asked you to wait for few days.

After two days, you received “Detective Cole” you ordered. What’s more, you found that one more bookmarker set was sent by the bookstore (see the reduced picture as below) and a letter was enclosed herewith.

“Dear Sir, we’re so sorry to make you wait for a long time. These 2 plastic bookmarkers print the advertisements of Q-pei online bookstore are the compensation for you. These are the advertisement bookmarkers that we used to do propaganda. They remind you that we provide 24hr book-ordering service during reading. No matter where you are, you can find Q-pei online bookstore just type the web site. We are looking forward your visit next time.”

Appendix B Questionnaires (Taking Scenario A for example)

問卷 問卷 問卷 問卷

您好：

非常感謝您撥冗回答以下問題，您的回答對我們的研究將有極大的幫助。

本研究目的在於了解在服務失敗之後補償會如何影響消費者的評價。我們會 請您先讀一小段情境故事，再請您針對故事情境回答問題。本問卷採不記名方式，

所有資料僅供學術研究之用，絕不對外公開，請您安心作答。衷心感謝您的合作！

敬祝 健康快樂、萬事如意

國立交通大學管理科學研究所 指導教授：張家齊 博士 學生： 趙培真 敬上

這份問卷共有四個部分。在第一部分裡，您會先讀一段有關服務失敗以及服務 補救的情境故事，在閱讀情境故事時，想像自己就是故事中的主角。接著在第二、

三部分中，我們將會詢問您一些跟情境故事相關的問題，請您以故事主角的立場去 回答這些問題。最後在第四部分中，請您留下您的個人資訊。謝謝您！

為防您不了解「何謂客製化」，在此提供簡單的客製化定義給您參考

客製化定義 客製化定義 客製化定義

客製化定義：：：廠商根據消費者的個人資料、喜好或狀況提供相關商品，以滿足消費：

者個人的獨特需求。

第一部分 第一部分

第一部分第一部分—情境故事情境故事情境故事，情境故事，，在這個部分裡，在這個部分裡在這個部分裡，在這個部分裡，，您會先讀一段有關服務失敗以及服務補救，您會先讀一段有關服務失敗以及服務補救您會先讀一段有關服務失敗以及服務補救您會先讀一段有關服務失敗以及服務補救 的情境故事

的情境故事 的情境故事

的情境故事，，，在閱讀情境故事時，在閱讀情境故事時在閱讀情境故事時，在閱讀情境故事時，，請想像自己就是故事中的主角，請想像自己就是故事中的主角請想像自己就是故事中的主角。請想像自己就是故事中的主角。。。由於之後的問由於之後的問由於之後的問由於之後的問 題將與此故事情境相關

題將與此故事情境相關 題將與此故事情境相關

題將與此故事情境相關，，，煩請仔細閱讀，煩請仔細閱讀煩請仔細閱讀。煩請仔細閱讀。。 。

您是一個偵探小說迷，這天您在巧培(Q-pei)國際知名網路書店訂購了 2 本

『柯爾(Cole)偵探小說』（總金額約 NT$300~400），本來書店表示 3 天內您就可收 到書籍，但過了 10 天您還沒收到書，於是您打電話向巧培(Qpei)網路書店反應此 事，而店員則向您表示抱歉並請您再多等幾天，他們會盡快處理。

過 2 天後您收到訂購的柯爾偵探小說，發現書店多送了一本書（如下圖）並 附上一封信，信件內容如下：

「親愛的先生（小姐）您好，很抱歉讓您等這麼久，我們查閱您過去的購買查閱您過去的購買查閱您過去的購買查閱您過去的購買

「親愛的先生（小姐）您好，很抱歉讓您等這麼久，我們查閱您過去的購買查閱您過去的購買查閱您過去的購買查閱您過去的購買