The first principle in service delivery is to do it right the first time. However, the occurrence of problem is inevitable during service exchange especially in the restaurant industry. Due to the highly competitive environment of restaurant business, it is vital to understand how disgruntled customers could be saved by performing service recovery as it was recognized as one of the strategies in maintaining long term relationship. Built on justice theory, the current study examines the three dimensions of service recovery (distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactional justice) on recovery satisfaction and brand evangelism. This study enhances current literature by integrating the extension of word-of-mouth (brand evangelism) in the context of service recovery. A total of 338 usable data gathered from customers who encountered service failure and recovery were analyzed by employing Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) approach. The findings indicate positive relationship between all three dimensions of service recovery and recovery satisfaction. Recovery satisfaction was also found to have positive effect on brand evangelism. Further analysis reveals the significant mediating role of recovery satisfaction on the relationship between service recovery and brand evangelism.
Keywords: Service recovery, Recovery satisfaction, Brand evangelism, Restaurant, PLS-SEM.