The purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons why customers often cannot or do not exit a negative service encounter (lock-in) and to discuss how this affects their well-being and coping responses. This contributes to the research on how negative service encounters emerge and evolve and how such encounters impact customer well-being and subsequent responses.,An inductive, exploratory approach was used. Interviews with 20 service customers yielded over 90 detailed lock-in experiences across 25 different services. A multi-step, iterative coding process was used with a mixture of coding techniques that stem from a grounded theory approach.,Four categories of factors that caused customers to endure a negative event were identified (physical lock-in, dependency on the service, social lock-in and psychological lock-in). Customers either experienced inner turmoil (if they perceived having the option to stay or leave) or felt captive; both impacted their well-being and coping strategies in different ways. Three characteristics of negative events that caused lock-in to persist over time were identified.,This is a qualitative study that aims to identify factors behind customer lock-in, reduced well-being and coping strategies across different types of service encounters. Future research may build on these themes to investigate lock-in during specific service encounters in greater depth.,This research provides insights regarding how service providers can anticipate lock-in situations. In addition, the findings point to several ways in which frontline employees can assist customers with the coping process, during lock-in.,Customer lock-in during a service encounter is a common, yet unexplored phenomenon. This research contributes to a better understanding of why customers endure negative events and how such perceptions are reflected in their experiences and behaviors.

中文翻译：

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被困在服务遭遇中

本文的目的是探讨客户经常不能或不退出负面服务遭遇（锁定）的原因，并讨论这如何影响他们的幸福感和应对能力。这有助于研究消极服务遭遇的产生和发展，以及这种遭遇如何影响客户的福祉和后续响应。采用归纳性探索性方法。与20位服务客户的访谈产生了跨越25种不同服务的90多种详细的锁定体验。使用了多步迭代编码过程，并结合了基于扎根理论方法的多种编码技术。确定了导致客户忍受负面事件的四类因素（物理锁定，对服务的依赖性，社会锁定和心理锁定）。客户要么经历了内部动荡（如果他们认为可以选择留下或离开），要么就被俘虏了；两者都以不同方式影响了他们的幸福感和应对策略。确定了导致锁定持续一段时间的负面事件的三个​​特征。这是一项定性研究，旨在确定客户锁定，减少不同类型服务遭遇中的幸福感和应对策略背后的因素。未来的研究可能会基于这些主题来更深入地调查特定服务遇到期间的锁定。此研究提供了有关服务提供商如何预期锁定情况的见解。此外，调查结果还指出一线员工在锁定期间可以通过多种方式协助客户应对过程。服务遇到期间的客户锁定是一种常见的但尚未探索的现象。这项研究有助于更好地了解客户为什么会承受负面事件，以及这种看法如何反映在他们的体验和行为中。