Service recovery efforts' influence on consumers' desire to reciprocate and forgiveness: the mediating role of perceived justice

Purpose – This paper investigated the impact of firms’ service recovery efforts on consumers’ desire to reciprocate and forgiveness in the hospitality industry of Pakistan. Additionally, this study examined the mediating role of perceived justice between service recovery efforts and their outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – Using snowball sampling technique, an online survey was administered and 259 responses were collected from casual-dining restaurant customers. A partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) were used to examine the hypotheses. Findings – The results indicate that perceived justice significantly mediates the effect of service recovery efforts on the consumers’ desire to reciprocate and forgiveness. Moreover, high (vs. low) service recovery efforts lead to high consumer forgiveness. Practical implications – The study provides insights for managers on how optimal recovery efforts predict consumers’ positive responses and minimize the effect of service failure in South Asian consumers. Originality/value – This research is among the early endeavors to examine consumers’ desire to reciprocate in service recovery context. Also, this is the first study to validate the impact of service recovery efforts on consumers’ desire to reciprocate and consumer forgiveness in a South Asian country. Keywords Desire to reciprocate, Perceived justice, Consumer forgiveness, Service recovery efforts, Casual-dining restaurants Paper type Research paper