Keywords

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In recent years, the service recovery paradox (SRP) has emerged as a significant effect in services marketing research (Matos, Henrique and Rossi 2007). It has been claimed that superior service recovery can make angry and frustrated customers more satisfied than they would have been had they never experienced service failure. Previous research (e.g., Lin et al. 2011; McCollough 2009; Sabharwal et al. 2010; Sajtos et al. 2010) supports, in general, the notion of significant relationships between SRP and a number of key antecedents and outcomes. However, empirical research that examines the inter-relationships between SRP and its key antecedents and consequences is limited and/or provides conflicting results. The aim of this study is to provide a deeper understanding of the inter-relationships between the service recovery paradox and its key antecedents and outcomes. It proposes and tests a conceptual framework that simultaneously examines the interrelationships between SRP, severity of service failure, recovery performance and recovery expectations and between SRP, repurchase, word-of-mouth and trusting intentions. In addition, to enhance the generalizability of the results, results are assessed across two service categories (airlines and hotels). This study aims to contribute theoretically to SRP research by providing better insights into the mechanism of the service recovery paradox, and managerially by helping service managers assess the effectiveness of various SRP antecedents and outcomes.