Sangam: A Confluence of Knowledge Streams

Too good to be true? Boundary conditions to the use of downward social comparisons in service recovery

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dc.creator Antonetti, Paolo
dc.creator Crisafulli, Benedetta
dc.creator Maklan, Stan
dc.date 2018-08-31T14:58:43Z
dc.date 2018-08-31T14:58:43Z
dc.date 2018-08-20
dc.date.accessioned 2022-05-25T16:38:13Z
dc.date.available 2022-05-25T16:38:13Z
dc.identifier Paolo Antonetti, Benedetta Crisafulli and Stan Maklan. Too good to be true? Boundary conditions to the use of downward social comparisons in service recovery. Journal of Service Research, Volume 21, Issue 4, 2018, pp. 438-455.
dc.identifier 1094-6705
dc.identifier https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670518793534
dc.identifier http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/13451
dc.identifier 21004131
dc.identifier.uri http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/CUHPOERS/182308
dc.description Evidence shows that downward social comparisons (DSCs), messages delivered by frontline employees describing how service experiences turned out even worse for others, can reduce customers’ anger following a service failure. This study contributes to the literature on DSCs and service recovery by highlighting pitfalls associated with the use of these messages in service recovery and showing the conditions necessary for their effectiveness. Building on persuasion knowledge theory, we show that customers draw manipulative inferences about DSCs because of the perceived bias associated with the source of the message and the implicit derogation of a competitor that DSCs entail. To reduce inferences of manipulative intentions, frontline employees should both accompany DSC messages with intense apologies and use self-derogation to reduce the perception that they are criticizing another firm. Past claims on the generalized effectiveness of DSCs need to be revised. Managers should craft social comparison messages carefully to avoid negative reactions from customers. Our research indicates that once adapted to address these concerns, DSCs can be an effective recovery strategy among individuals with a strong need for social comparison information.
dc.language en
dc.publisher SAGE
dc.rights Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
dc.rights http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
dc.subject service recovery
dc.subject service failure
dc.subject downward social comparisons
dc.subject manipulative intentions
dc.subject persuasion
dc.title Too good to be true? Boundary conditions to the use of downward social comparisons in service recovery
dc.type Article


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