The effect of regulatory focus and delay type on consumers’ reactions to delay

Previous research investigating the effect of delay type has generated mixed results. To reconcile such findings, this study maps two competing theories, the field theory and the expectancy model, on to regulatory focus, and it examines the joint effects of regulatory focus and delay type on consumers’ reactions to a service delay. We argue that the field theory is more suitable for predicting promotion-focused consumers’ responses, whereas the expectancy model is more appropriate for explaining prevention-focused customers’ responses. The results lend support to our arguments and suggest that promotion-focused consumers generate more intense negative emotions and lower service quality evaluations after a pre-process delay than after an in-process delay. On the contrary, prevention-focused consumers exhibit more intense negative emotions and lower service quality evaluations after an in-process delay than after a pre-process delay.