ABSTRACT This study investigates consumers’ attitudinal and behavioral outcomes after service failure encounters with companies with which they have previously established good relationships. It indicates that conformity with or violation of relationship norms guides consumers’ decision making, and that their subsequent attitudinal and behavioral outcomes further depend on the severity of the service failure. Through a 2 (relationship norm types: exchange vs. communal) × 2 (service failure severity: minor vs. major) between-subjects experiment, the study shows that when the prior relationship norms are exchange-based, consumers demonstrate similar attitudes toward the minor and major failures. However, when these relationship norms are communally-based, consumers respond relatively positively in the minor failure situation, but they display more negative attitudes in the major failure situation. This study contributes to public relations literature regarding the role of company-consumer relationships in service failure situations.

中文翻译：

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研究关系规范和服务失败严重性对消费者响应的共同影响

摘要这项研究调查了消费者与先前建立良好关系的公司在服务失败后的态度和行为结果。它表明符合或违反关系规范将指导消费者的决策，而他们随后的态度和行为结果将进一步取决于服务失败的严重性。通过2个（关系规范类型：交换与公共）×2（服务失败严重性：次要与主要）受试者之间的实验，该研究表明，当先前的关系规范基于交换时，消费者表现出相似的态度。次要和重大故障。但是，如果这些关系规范是基于社区的，则消费者在较小的失败情况下会做出相对积极的反应，但是他们在重大失败情况下表现出更多的消极态度。这项研究为有关公司-消费者关系在服务失败情况下的作用的公共关系文献提供了帮助。