ESTIMATING THE PROBABILITY OF SERVICE RECOVERY STRATEGIES IN FRANCHISE FAST FOOD RESTAURANT

Abstract

This paper sets out to determine the probability from a customer’s viewpoint, of which service recovery activities will most probably be carried out by front liners in Franchise Fast Food Restaurants (FFFR). The study utilized a Juster scale based questionnaire survey format. Data was then analyzed using means and factor analysis. Means analysis indicated that customers did not expect front liners to offer free food but there was a good possibility that they would receive an apology. More than half of the service recovery strategies studied lay below the 50/50 probability. Factor analysis indicated three views of customers on service recover strategies, which are termed as ‘Immediate’, ‘Works’ and ‘Words’. Customers believe that there is a good possibility for ‘Words’ service recovery activity, fairly good possibility of ‘Immediate’ service recovery and fair possibility of ‘Works’ service recovery activity. The study was limited to respondents in Kuching and customers of FFFR. Nevertheless the finding has important implications to management and academia. A practical application from this study would be the use of ‘Immediate’ and ‘Words’ service recovery strategies to improve customer’s perception of a company after service failure. The use of ‘Works’ would delight them, as it is not expected.