Examine the cognitive and affective antecedents to service recovery satisfaction: A field study of delayed airline passengers

Purpose – Drawing on consumer behavior and service marketing literature, the aim of this paper is to empirically examine how customers' justice judgment and consumption emotions affect customer relationships and their post consumption behaviors in a service recovery context. Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modeling (SEM) was adopted to test the conceptual model, using a sample of nearly 600 delayed airline passengers. Findings – Perceived justice and consumption emotions are important elements affecting customers' evaluation of service recovery. The three dimensions of service recovery justice and customers' positive and negative emotions have direct or indirect influence on customers' satisfaction with service recovery (SSR), customer trust, and their repurchase intentions and word-of-mouth recommendations. Theoretical and managerial implications were drawn based on the findings. Originality/value – The current study sought to extend the existing literature by not only analyzing the effects of perceived justice and consumption emotions on satisfaction with service recovery (SSR), but also investigating how customer SSR would influence their sense of trust for the company and their behavioral intentions. In addition, many prior studies adopted experimental methods and post survey methods. Those methods have various validity problems. This study attempted to overcome those problems by using on-the-spot investigation methods to study customers' evaluation of service recovery in real service failure situations. © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited