The influence of guarantees, active requests to voice and failure severity on customer complaint behavior

Anecdotal evidence suggests that service guarantees and requests by service workers to complain encourage customers to voice following failure, while holding negative word of mouth and exit at bay. However, empirical support for these tactics is limited. To address this deficiency, we conducted an experiment examining the influence of these devices on customer complaint behavior (CCB) across restaurant failures of varying severity. Findings suggest that offering a guarantee, regardless of it being unconditional or combined, encourages voice. Failure severity had the strongest influence on CCB, and it interacted with both active request and guarantee type in influencing exit. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed.

► The effect of guarantees and requests to voice on consumer complaining is tested.
► Restaurant failures of varying severity provide the context for our experiment.
► Offering a guarantee, either unconditional or combined, encourages voice.
► Severity interacts with request and guarantee type respectively to influence exit.
► Failure severity has the strongest influence on consumer complaining.