Abstract

The aim of this article. Consumer researchers have become increasingly interested in the study of coping. Despite the importance of coping strategies in service failure context, there isn’t any considerable research in Iran to identify coping behaviors. This article contributes to this novel paradigm by investigating structural theories of coping with service failure using a hierarchical structure. The purpose of present article was to identify and classify the coping strategies of Iranian people in the higher order and lower order factors in encountering to service failure. The results of the analysis. In this study nine dimensions, explaining the coping strategies with service failures, have been identified. The nine identified factors were labeled based on previous studies  including; social support, avoidance, negative word of mouth, complain to service provider, third party complain, fatalism coping, self-controlling, emotional venting and denial coping. Reliability was evaluated on internal consistency by calculating Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient. The resulting coefficients were higher than 0,7 for all factors. After the extraction of lower order factors, Varimax rotation was used and was extracted three factors which were labeled as “active coping”, “expressive coping” and “denial / avoiding coping” based on literature review and previous research. The findings have allowed us to largely confirm the results obtained by previous studies, but using a sample of Iranian consumers. Specially, the factors found in this study were very similar to three dimensional model found in Duhachek and Tsarenko & Strizhakva. Therefore, can be concluded that there were several similarities between Iranian and other countries in coping behaviors. This fact contributed to the validation of this coping strategies framework showing its application to different contexts. So, a contribution of this study was to acknowledge this as an instrument to be used in other future research. Another contribution was identifying a new dimension, we labeled “Fatalism coping”. It seems it could be a strategy consistent with eastern cultures and Iranian rationales. Wears, most of research about coping strategies were conducted in the western context. In spite of the salient role of coping strategies in service failure context, the robust research which illuminate the coping concept are limited. In this regard, this research was done for the first time in Iran, in order to explore a hierarchical coping behaviors. Conclusions and directions of further researches. The findings have allowed us to largely confirm the results obtained by previous studies, but using a sample of Iranian consumers. Specially, the factors found in this study were very similar to three dimensional model found in Duhachek and Tsarenko & Strizhakva. Therefore, can be concluded that there were several similarities between Iranian and other countries in coping strategies. This fact contributes to the validation of this coping strategies framework showing its application to different contexts. So, a contribution of this study was to acknowledge this as an instrument to be used in other future research. Another contribution was identifying a new dimension, we labeled “Fatalism coping”. It seems it could be a strategy consistent with eastern and Iranian cultures It will well-noted to mention that, most of research about coping strategies were conducted in western context. This study has several limitations; which offer avenues for future research. First, findings should be confirmed through a different sample in order to increase generalizability. Especially since this research introduce a new dimension as labeled “fatalism coping”, it is strongly recommended to future researchers. Second, these findings are limited in external validity by the convenience sample. Future studies should be expanded to consider random sampling method. This research developed a hierarchical coping scale in hospitality business, so, future researchers can try to approve it in another context. Moreover, we exposed our participants to a service failure scenario, it is recommended to future researchers to test the model in a recall-based surveys.

Keywords: customer complaint behaviors, coping strategies, service failure, hospitality, consumer behavior

JEL Classification: L81, M31, O31.

Cite as: Charsetad, P., Vazifeh Doost H. & Nikoomaram, H. (2016). Identifying the hierarchical structure of customer complaint behaviors on the example of Iranian hotels. Marketing and Management of Innovations, 4, 134-142. https://doi.org/10.21272/mmi.2016.4-11

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

References

1. Kim, T., Kim, W.G., & Kim, H.B. (2009). The effects of perceived justice on recovery satisfaction, trust, word-of-mouth, and revisit intention in upscale hotels, Tourism managrement, 30, 51-62 [in English].
2. Lazarus, R.S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, Araisal, and Coping. New York: Springer [in English].
3. Nyer, P.U. (1997). A study of the relationships between cognitive araisals and consumption emotions, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 25 (4), 296-304 [in English].
4. Yi, S., & Baumgartner, H. (2004). Coping With Negative Emotions in Purchase-Related Situations, Journal of Economic Psychology, 14 (3), 303-317 [in English].
5. Mattila, A.S., & Wirtz, J. (2004). Consumer complaining to firms: the determinants of channel choice, Journal of Services Marketing, 18 (2), 147-155 [in English].
6. Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R.S. (1980). An analysis of coping in a middle-aged community sample. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 21, 219-239 [in English].
7. Lazarus, R.S. (1996). The role of coping in the emotions and how coping changes over the life course. In C. Magai & S. H. McFadden (Eds.). Handbook of emotion, adult development, and aging. San Diego, CA [in English].
8. Skinner, E., Edge, K., Altman, J., & Sherwood, H. (2003). Searching for the Structure of Coping: A Re Review and Critique of Category Systems for Classifying Ways of Coping, Psychological Bulletin, 129 (2), 216-229 [in English].
9. Duhachek, A. (2005). Coping: a multidimensional, hierarchical framework of responses to stressful consumption episodes, Journal of Consumer Research, 32, 41-53 [in English]. 
10. Duhachek, A., & Iacobucci, D. (2005). Consumer personality and coping: Testing rival theories of process. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15, 52-63 [in English].
11. Duhachek, A., & Oakley, J.L. (2007). Maing the Hierarchical Structure of Coping: Unifying Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 17 (3), 218-233 [in English].
12. Kim, M.G., Wang, Ch., & Mattila, A.S. (2010). The relationship between consumer complaining behavior and service recovery. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 22 (7), 975-991 [in English].
13. Day, R.L., & Landon, E.L.(1977). Toward a Theory of Consumer Complaining Behavior, in Woodside, A.G., Sheth, J.N. and Bennett, P.D. (Eds). Consumer and Industrial Buying Behavior, North-Holland, New York, NY [in English].
14. Day, R.L., Grabicke, K., Schaetzle, T., & Staubach, F. (1981). The hidden agenda of consumer complaining. Journal of Retailing, 57 (3), 86-106 [in English].
15. Singh, J. (1988). Consumer complaint intentions and behavior: definitional and taxonomical issues. Journal of Marketing, 52 (1), 93-107 [in English].
16. Zeelenberg, M., & Pieters, R. (2004). Beyond valence in customer dissatisfaction: a review and new findings on behavioral responses to regret and disappointment in failed services. Journal of Business Research, 57 (4), 445-455 [in English].
17. Tsarenko, Y., & Strizhakova, Y. (2013). Coping with service failures The role of emotional intelligence, self-efficacy and intention to complain. European Journal of Marketing, 47 (1/2), 71-92 [in English].
18. Tuzovic, S., Simpson, M.C., Kuelwieser, V.G., & Finsterwalder, J. (2014). From “free” to fee: acceptability of airline ancillary fees and the effects on customer behavior. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 21, 98-107 [in English].
19. Gre’goire, Y., Tri, T.M., & Legoux, R. (2009). When customers’ love turns into lasting hate: the effects of relationship strength and time on customer revenge and avoidance. Journal of Marketing, 73(6), 18-32 [in English].
20. McCollough, M.A., Berry, L.L., & Yadav, M.S. (2000). aAn empirical investigation of customer satisfaction after service failure and recovery. Journal of Service Research, 3 (2), 121-137 [in English].
21. Goussinsky, R. (2012). Coping with customer aggression. Journal of Service Management, 23(2), 170-196 [in English].
22. Curwen, L.G., & Park, J. (2014). When the shoe doesn’t fit: female consumers’ negative emotions. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 18 (3), 338-356 [in English].