Measuring the Impacts of Organizational
Responses: Case of Northern Cyprus Hotels
Erdogan Haktan Ekiz
Huseyin Arasli
Today, businesses are operating in a global economy, markets are char-
acterized by hypercompetition and businesses must adapt themselves
to the empowered consumer. Companies need to focus on customer
needs and wants, quality and customer retention through correcting
mistakes. This study aims to measure the effects of apology, redress, ex-
planation, attentiveness and promptness on complainant satisfaction,
repurchase intentions and word of mouth communication through the
use of a sample of Turkish customers, accommodated in three, four,
and five star hotels in Northern Cyprus. Implications for managers,
limitations, and implications for future research are presented in the
following sections of the study.
Key Words: customer complaints, organizational responses,
satisfaction, repurchase intension, word of mouth communication,
Northern Cyprus hotel industry
jEL Classification: L83, M31
Introduction
In era of intense competition, service organizations attempt to differen-
tiate themselves from their competitors. By providing exceptional ser-
vices that will benefit its target market, service organizations are likely
to achieve differentiation (Kotler, Bowen, and Makens 1999). However,
mistakes and failures are frequent occurrences in service businesses
(Babakus et al. 2003). Therefore, service firms seek effective solutions
in order to minimize the number of mistakes and failures in the service
encounter. When the failures occur customers are likely to complain.
Possible remedies to service failures and customer complaints are based
on effective service recoveries (Boshoff 1999).
Erdogan Haktan Ekiz is a PhD student at the School of Hotel and
Tourism Management, Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Dr Huseyin Arasli is an Associate Professor at the School of Tourism
and Hospitality Management, Eastern Mediterranean University,
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Managing Global Transitions 5 (3): 271-287
Service recovery is a specific activity in which a company engages
to address a customer complaint regarding a perceived service failure
(Spreng, Harrell, and Mackoy 1995). A review of the services marketing
literature indicates that the attributes or dimensions of service recov-
ery have been associated with justice principles, customer satisfaction,
and post-purchase customer behaviors (Smith, Bolton, and Wagner 1999;
Yavas et al. 2003; Mattila 2001; Tax, Brown, and Chandrashekaran 1998).
By providing equitable and quick responses to customer complaints, ser-
vice organizations aim to achieve a pool of satisfied customers and in-
crease the level of repeat patronage.
Although there may be other indicators of service recovery such as
facilitation and work efforts (Davidow 2000; Tax, Brown, and Chan-
drashekaran 1998), a synthesis of the literature reveals that organiza-
tional responses to complaints or dimensions of effective service recovery
are based on apology, redress, explanation, attentiveness, and prompt-
ness (Smith, Bolton, and Wagner 1999; Boshoff 1999; Yavas et al. 2003).
Research demonstrates that the aforementioned dimensions are related
to: complainant satisfaction, repurchase intentions and word of mouth
(wom) communication (e. g. Karatepe and Ekiz 2004; Davidow 2000;
Yavas et al. 2003; Boshoff 1999; Mattila 2001).
In light of the existing discussion, this study aims to measure orga-
nizational responses to complaints in Northern Cyprus hotels serving
Turkish customers. Specifically, the current study investigates the effects
of apology, explanation, redress, attentiveness, and promptness on com-
plainant satisfaction, repurchase intentions, wom communication and
the effect of satisfaction on repurchase intentions in three, four, and five
star hotels in Northern Cyprus.
This study, investigating these issues, is useful for at least two reasons.
First, a growing body of research shows that the issue of service recovery
is at the development stage in tourism and hospitality literature (Becker
2000), little is known about the effects of organizational responses to
customer complaints on satisfaction and repurchase intentions (Davi-
dow 2000; Yavas et al. 2003; Ekiz 2003), and there is a paucity of empir-
ical research in this area. Second, as well as contributing to the existing
body of knowledge, this study has important implications at both micro
and macro levels. The tourism and hospitality industry is the lifeblood
of Northern Cyprus economy, having a significant portion in the overall
Gross National Product (State Planning Organization 2003). However,
there are specific customer complaints such as late check-in and check-
out transactions, physical environment, and attitudes of hotel staff in
the hotel industry (Karatepe and Avci 2002; Ekiz 2003; Yavas et al. 2003).
These issues are of great interest to both public officials and hotel man-
agers in tourism and hospitality industry.
The present study provides a review of the literature concerning ser-
vice failure, customer complaints, and service recovery. By examining
a number of research findings, a brief explanation is provided of ser-
vice failure, customer complaint and service recovery as well as organi-
zational responses to these service failures. Then, the conceptual model
and study hypotheses are proposed based on a number of research find-
ings. This is followed by the presentation of the methodology, discussion
of the results, and implications of the study.
Literature Review
A number of problems take place in service encounters due to the inher-
ent variability feature of services. Although service organizations attempt
to take precautions in order to minimize specific problems in service en-
counters, they are unlikely to prevent incidents such as the occasional
late flight, burned steak, or missed delivery (Hart, Heskett, and Sasser
1990). In the related literature, these problems are named as 'service fail-
ures'. Service failure is defined as a service performance that falls below a
customer's expectations (Hoffman and Bateson 1997).
When service failures take place, customers are likely to complain
about these incidents. Complaining can be defined as a formal expres-
sion of dissatisfaction with many aspect of a service experience (Lovelock
and Wright 1999). Garrett, Meyers, and Camey (1991, 66) have provided
a very extensive definition of consumer complaints as 'an action taken by
an individual which involves communicating something negative regard-
ing a product or service, either to the firm manufacturing or marketing
that product or service, or to some third-party organizational entity'.
Service recovery is a well-accepted term for what service companies
attempt to offset the customers' negative reaction to the service failures.
It includes all the actions that should be taken by companies in order to
move a customer from a state of disappointment to a state of satisfac-
tion (Bell and Ridge 1992). Service recovery, or putting right what has
gone wrong, is crucially important (Bailey 1994). One reason for this is
that it costs several times as much to create a new customer as it does to
keep and satisfy and existing one (Lovelock 2000; Kotler 2003). The other
reason is that customer satisfaction and loyalty is much greater after a
problem has occurred and been put right than it was before the prob-
lem occurred (Bailey 1994). What can be understood from these points
is that customers are aware of the fact that up to a certain level mistakes
can happen, but they demand timely, fair, courteous, clear, efficient, and
interactive solutions.
The organizational responses analyzed in this study can briefly be ex-
plained as follows. Apology is a psychological exchange, what is offered
in exchange for the inconvenience or problem which the customers face.
Boshoff and Leong (1998) report that apologizing for the inconvenience,
as a first step towards re-establishing the equilibrium, plays an impor-
tant role in customer satisfaction with a firm's service recovery effort.
Explanation basically refers to information given by the service provider
about why the problem occurred. Appropriate provision of explanation
reduces the recipient's perceptions of injustice and, in turn, affects recip-
ient satisfaction and loyalty (Dunning and Pecotich 2000). Redress refers
to the 'fair settlement or fix' of the problems that arise between the com-
pany and the customer (Diener and Greyser 1978). Blodgett, Wakefield,
and Barnes (1995) stated that customers who receive a fair settlement,
are satisfied and more likely to show re-patronage. Attentiveness is the
interaction and communication between the company staff and the com-
plainant. Davidow (2000) argues that this interaction is the key construct
and can enhance or detract from complainant satisfaction, repurchase
intention and negative wom. Promptness represents the fairness of the
organization in responding to the customer complaints in a timely man-
ner. Kincade, Redwine, and Hancock (1992) reported that the speed of
the response is very important in affecting consumers' satisfaction and
repurchase behaviors.
In his critical review, Yi (1990) proposes that there are three types of
definitions of satisfaction as an outcome or as a process. These defini-
tions include: 'the buyer's cognitive state of being adequately or inade-
quately rewarded for the sacrifices he has undergone'; 'an emotional re-
sponse to the experiences associated with particular products or services
purchased, provided by retail outlets, or even molar patterns of behav-
ior such as shopping and buyer behavior, as well as the overall market-
place'; and 'the summary psychological state resulting when the emotion
surrounding disconfirmed expectations is coupled with the consumer's
prior feelings about the consumptions change' (Yi 1990, 69).
Post-purchase behavior is defined as 'a series of steps in which con-
sumers compare their expectations to perceived reality, experience con-
Explanation
H3+
figure 1 Conceptual model
f Repurchase \
V intention )
Complainant
satisfaction
sequent satisfaction/dissatisfaction, and then act in a way influenced by
that satisfaction and dissatisfaction' (Gilly and Gelb 1982, 323). When
customers praise the firm and express preference for the company over
others, it means that they are likely to increase the volume of their pur-
chases and disseminate a positive word of mouth communication, or the
opposite (Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman 1985; Konecnik and Ruzzier
2006). Based on the preceding discussion, the following model and hy-
pothesis are proposed:
H1 A sincere apology will have a significant positive effect on customer
satisfaction.
H2 Promptness will have a significant positive effect on complainant sat-
isfaction.
H3 Explanation will have a significant positive influence on complainant
satisfaction.
H4 Attentiveness will have a significant positive influence on com-
plainant satisfaction.
H5 Redress will have a significant positive effect on complainant satis-
faction.
h6 Complainant satisfaction will exert a significant positive influence
on repurchase intention.
H7 Complainant satisfaction will exert a significant negative influence
on negative wom intention.
h8 Repurchase intentions will exert a significant negative influence on
negative wom intention.
Methodology
The current section consists of the methods used in collecting data and
related statistical analyses. The results of reliability coefficients and Pear-
son product-moment correlations as well as the results of descriptive
statistics are presented for study. Psychometric properties of the scale are
assessed through corrected item-total correlations and Pearson product-
moment correlations. In addition to these analyses, confirmatory factor
analysis is used to evaluate the psychometric properties of the scales for
main study. Path analysis using lisrel 8.54 (Joreskog and Sorbom 1996)
is used so as to test the hypothesized relationships.
measures
The current study employs the scales developed by Davidow (2000) and
used by Yavas et al. (2003) Ekiz (2003) and Karatepe and Ekiz (2004) in
order to operationalize the model depicted in figure 1. Furthermore, this
study uses five items from Davidow (2000) to measure the repurchase
intentions and negative wo m intentions. The questionnaire items were
orginally prepared in English and then translated into Turkish by using
back-translation method (McGorry 2000). Results of the pilot study sug-
gest that there is no compelling reason to modify or delete any items in
the questionnaire.
sample
The sample for this study included customers who were accommodated
in three, four, and five star hotels in January and March, 2005. A judg-
mental sampling approach was undertaken for data collection. Research
team collected data from customers who had complaints and reported
them to the organization during their stay in three, four, and five star
hotels. In addition, questionnaires were personally distributed to ho-
tel customers, and they were given assurance for confidentiality. Ho-
tel customers were requested to fill out the questionnaires in a self-
administered manner. Of the 500 questionnaires distributed, 394 usable
questionnaires were retrieved with a response rate of 78.8%.
The majority of the respondents (62.7%) were male. More than sixty-
seven percent of the respondents were between the ages of 38 and 57.
More than seventy-three percent of the respondents had college edu-
cation and fifteen percent of the respondents had secondary and high
school education. Additionally, more than fifty-four percent of the re-
spondents reported the purpose of visit as vacation. Twenty-eight per-
cent of the respondents reported that their motive for visiting Northern
Cyprus is gambling.
PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES
In assessing the psychometric properties of the instrument, issues of re-
liability, dimensionality, convergent and discriminant validity are con-
sidered. In order to provide support for the issue of convergent validity,
corrected item-total correlations were computed. The inter-item corre-
lations being equal to or exceeding 0.32 provided support for the conver-
gent validity of the scale (Tabachnick and Fidell 1996). Reliability coeffi-
cients were also computed for each study variable. Overall Alpha coeffi-
cient score was found to be 0.92 at the aggregate level, see table 1. These
findings show that each coefficient exceeds the cut-off value of 0.70 as
recommended by Nunnally (1978), as were the cases with those of Davi-
dow (2000), Yavas et al. (2003) and Karatepe and Ekiz (2004).
A series of stringent tests were undertaken for the issues of convergent
and discriminant validity, and dimensionality. Specifically, confirmatory
factor analysis was employed to provide support for the issues of dimen-
sionality, convergent and discriminant validity of the instrument. Table 1
indicates a reasonable fit of the eight-factor model to the data on the basis
of a number of fit statistics. As also demonstrated in table 1, the major-
ity of the factor loadings are above 0.75, and all t-values are significant.
Overall, these results provide support for the dimensionality, convergent
and discriminant validity of the scale (Anderson and Gerbing 1988). The
results of fit statistics of this study are almost the same, when compared
with those of Davidow (2000), Ekiz (2003) and Karatepe and Ekiz (2004).
Additional assessment was undertaken using composite scores. Specifi-
cally, composite scores for each study variable were calculated by aver-
aging scores across items representing that dimension. All correlations
among the study variables were significant at the 0.01 level. The correla-
tions among the study variables range from 0.42 (attentiveness and neg-
ative wom) to 0.71 (complainant satisfaction and repurchase intention).
Means and standard deviations of dimensions composite scores are also
calculated. Overall, these results provide additional support for the dis-
criminant validity of the scale.
tests of research hypotheses
The hypothesized relationships were tested using path analysis (Joreskog
and Sorbom 1996). The first group hypotheses refer the effects of organi-
table 1 Scale items, reliabilities and confirmatory factor analysis results
Scale items
(1) (2) a
Apology (apo)
I received a sincere 'I am sorry' from the hotel
The hotel gave me a genuine apology
I did not receive any form of apology from the hotel (r)
0.76
0.84
0.72
0.81
0.74
0.86
have been (r)
0.84
34.61
32.26
27.11
0.79
Promptness (prompt)
It took longer than necessary to react to my complaint (r)
They were very slow in responding to the problem (r)
The complaint was not taken care of as quickly as it could
23.16
17.55
28.40
Explanation (exp)	0.81
The hotel did not give me any explanation at all (r)	0.71 24.37
I did not believe the hotel explanation of why the problem	0.83	21.89
occurred (r)
The hotel explanation of the problem was not very convincing	(r) 0.84	16.58
Attentiveness (att)	0.76
The representative ofthe hotel treated me with respect	0.76	14.18
The representative of the hotel paid attention to my concerns	0.78	20.73
The representative ofthe hotel was quite pleasant to deal with	0.88	22.46
Redress (red)	0.78
After receiving the hotel response, I am in the same shape
or better than I was before the complaint
The hotel response left me in a similar or improved position
to where I was before the problem
The outcome that I received from the hotel returned me to
a situation equal to or greater than before the complaint
0.82 33.41
0.74 30.92
0.81 26.10
Continued on the next page
zational responses (apology, promptness, explanation, attentiveness and
redress) on complainant satisfaction. The second group hypothesis re-
lates the effect of complainant satisfaction to repurchase intention. The
last group hypotheses show the effect of complainant satisfaction and
repurchase intention on negative wom intention.
The empirical results demonstrate that all hypothesized relationships
were supported. Consistent with the prior studies (Davidow 2000; Ekiz
2003; Yavas et al. 2003; Karatepe and Ekiz 2004) apology, promptness,
explanation, attentiveness and redress have been found to be positively
related to the complainants' satisfaction. Thus, the hypotheses 1, 2, 3, 4,
Continued from the previous page
Scale items
(1) (2)
Complainant satisfaction (csat)
My satisfaction with the hotel has increased
My impression of this hotel has improved
I now have a more positive attitude toward this hotel
0.87
0.89 19.87
0.91 27.01
0.87 31.62
Repurchase intentions (ri)
Consider this hotel your first choice to reaccommodate
Accommodate more in this hotel in the future
Fit indices
Chi-square/df	3.12
gfi (goodness of fit index) 0.91
agfi (adjusted goodness	0.89
offit index)
0.89
0.92 34.98
0.90 29.24
Negative wom intention (nwom)	0.92
I do not say positive things about this hotel	0.93	16.81
I do not recommend this hotel to those who are interested	0.87	18.74
in my advice
I do not encourage my friends/relatives to stay in this hotel	0.89	24.19
nnfi (non-normed fit index)	0.90
cfi (comparative fit index)	0.94
RMR (root mean square	0.042
residual)
notes Column headings are as follows: (1) standardized loadings; (2) t-values. Each
item is measured on a five-point Likert scale. All loadings are significant at 0.001 level or
better. (r) indicates a reverse coded item.
a
and 5 are accepted. A careful examination of table 2 reveals that com-
plainant satisfaction has a significant positive effect on repurchase in-
tention. Thus, hypothesis 6 is accepted. Table 2 also shows that negative
woM is negatively affected by the complainant satisfaction and repur-
chase intention. Hence, hypotheses 7 and 8 are accepted.
Reexamination of table 2 shows that service recovery attributes jointly
explain 61% of the variance in complainant satisfaction. Complainant
satisfaction alone explains 40% of the variance in repurchase intention.
Finally, complainant satisfaction and repurchase intention explain 47%
of the variance in negative wom.
Discussion
The current study has aimed to investigate the affecting relationships
among the organizational responses, complainant satisfaction, repur-
chase and negative wom intentions. Specifically, the study aimed to
investigate the effects of apology, promptness, explanation, attentive-
table 2 Path analysis results
Type of impact	(1)	(2)	(3)
Impact on complainant satisfaction
H1: apo ^ csat	0.14	8.41	0.0001
H2: prompt ^ csat	0.12	6.72	0.0001
H3: exp ^ csat	0.11	7.61	0.0001
H4: att ^ csat	0.28	10.54	0.0001
H5: red ^ csat	0.42	14.73	0.0001
Explained variance (R2) = 0.61
Impact on repurchase intention
h6: csat ^ Ri	0.42 9.19 0.0001
Explained variance (R2) = 0.40
Impact on negative wom intention
H7: csat ^ nwom	0.36 10.88 0.0001
h8: ri ^ nwom	0.21 9.06 0.0001
Explained variance (R2) = 0.47
notes Column headings are as follows: (1) standard parameter estimates (ml); (2)
t-values; (3) significance.
ness, and redress on complainant satisfaction. Moreover, effects of com-
plainant satisfaction on both repurchase and negative wom intentions
are measured by using Turkish customers in the Northern Cyprus hotel
industry.
Empirical findings reveal that the established scales provided sound
psychometric properties. Broadly speaking, the instrument has been
found to have convergent and discriminant validity as well as accept-
able reliability coefficients.
As for the hypothesized relationships, all hypotheses are confirmed by
the empirical data. More specifically, path analysis results demonstrate
that apology depicts a significant positive relationship with complainant
satisfaction. Although apology is not significantly related to satisfaction
in other empirical studies (e. g. Davidow 2000; Ekiz 2003; Yavas et al.
2003; Goodwin and Ross 1989), the results report a significant positive
relationship between these two constructs.
Path analysis results also reveal that promptness exerts a significant
positive effect on satisfaction. This means that speedy response is a key
to a successful complaint management and the prompt service recovery
leads to an increase in complainant satisfaction (Boshoff 1999). While
this finding is not supported by Yavas et al. (2003), it is consistent with
that of Davidow (2000) and Ekiz (2003).
Empirical evidence indicates that explanation portrays significant
positive relationships with complainant satisfaction. When hotel rep-
resentatives provide complainants with reasonable information about
why the problem has occurred and what will be done to resolve that
problem, complainants will at least understand that the hotel is aware of
the problem and doing its best to solve it. This finding is consistent with
those of Davidow (2000), Ekiz (2003) and Karatepe and Ekiz (2004).
In addition, path analysis results provide support for the significant
positive relationship between attentiveness and complainant satisfaction.
This finding implies that complainants expect hotel representatives to
provide sincere care and treat guests with respect. This finding is also
consistent with those of Goodwin and Ross (1989), Ekiz (2003), Yavas et
al. (2003), and Karatepe and Ekiz (2004).
Path analysis results demonstrate that redress has a significant positive
influence on complainant satisfaction. This outcome is consistent with
those of Boshoff (1999) and Mattila (2001). When a comparison of the
effects of organizational responses to complaints on satisfaction is made,
redress is found to have the highest significant positive effect on satisfac-
tion (ß = 0.42, t = 14.73). Attentiveness is reported to be the most influ-
ential response on satisfaction in other empirical inquiries like Davidow
(2000) and Yavas et al. (2003). In another study Karatepe and Ekiz (2004)
found the most influential response on satisfaction as effort. This study
found redress as the most influential response on complainant satisfac-
tion.
When the other hypothesized relationships are examined, evidence re-
veals that complainant satisfaction exerts a significant positive effect on
repurchase intentions and negative effect on negative wom, as predicted.
Consistent with other studies (Cronin and Taylor 1992; Davidow 2000;
Ekiz 2003), the higher the level of complainant or customer satisfaction,
the higher will be the intention to revisit the same hotel and the lower
will be the intention to spread negative wom.
Finally, path analysis results revealed that there is a negative relation-
ship between repurchase and negative word of mouth intentions. Con-
sistent with other studies (Ekiz et al. 2005; Cronin and Taylor 1992), the
higher the level of intention to revisit the same hotel - repurchase inten-
tion -, the lower is the intention to spread negative wom.
It should here be noted that the effect of apology on satisfaction is not
as high as the effects of redress, attentiveness, and explanation. Although
apology is said to be the first step for acknowledging the complaint, it
should be accompanied by other actions such as redress, attentiveness,
or explanation. Providing an apology for complaint resolution is not al-
ways a remedy, in most cases it should be accompanied by compensation
(Mattila 2001).
In addition, the individual effects of explanation and attentiveness on
satisfaction are higher than the individual effects of apology and prompt-
ness on satisfaction. Providing apology and being prompt in responding
to the complaint or problem is of course important, but dealing with
the problem in a courteous way and providing reasonable explanations
about why the problem has occurred is more important (Yavas et al.
2003).	By doing so, it might be possible for hotels to increase the satisfac-
tion levels and repurchase intentions of complainants. As an important
note, findings provide support for the generalizations of the previous
study results (Davidow 2000; Ekiz 2003; Mattila 2001; Karatepe and Ekiz
2004).
managerial implications
The findings have important implications for managers and public of-
ficials in the Northern Cyprus hotel industry. It should be noted that
Northern Cyprus hotels suffer from a number of complaints (Karatepe
and Avci 2002; Ekiz 2003; Karatepe and Ekiz 2004). At the micro level,
hotel managers should firstly be committed to delivery of superior ser-
vice quality and effective complaint management. The lack of top man-
agement commitment to effective complaint management leads front-
line employees to unsuccessful service recovery efforts. Hotel managers
should also satisfy their employees, since job satisfaction leads to cus-
tomer satisfaction and loyalty (Rust et al. 1996).
In addition, hotel managers need to establish proper complaint pro-
cedures so that their customers know how and where to complain. Since
most of the Turkish customers are reluctant to report complaints (Ekiz
2003; Yavas, Bilgin, and Shemwell 1997), hotel managers should encour-
age their customers to voice their complaints or problems.
Establishing appropriate complaint mechanisms is not adequate to
manage the service recovery process. As cogently discussed by Yavas et
al. (2003) and Ekiz (2003), hotel managers should hire suitable frontline
employees who have interpersonal skills. Filling out vacant posts with in-
appropriate individuals can contribute to hotels' short-term profitability
levels.
Babakus et al. (2003) suggest that the simultaneous application of
training, empowerment, and rewards leads to an increase in frontline
employee commitment and service recovery performance. Therefore,
hotels need to organize training sessions based on the critical importance
of complaint management and the crucial role of frontline employees in
the service encounter. This is also supported by Arasli (2002), stating that
hotels aiming to bring total quality management philosophy to their or-
ganizations should provide scientifically based training programs. When
frontline employees are empowered, they will be capable of providing
their apologies with a tangible token of atonement. Successful service
organizations such as the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company empower its em-
ployees to respond to complaints and/or service failures immediately and
to keep the existing customers for a long time (George and Weimerskirch
1994).
As mentioned above, study results provide a number of implications
for public policy makers in the Northern Cyprus hotel industry. As sug-
gested by Omerzel (2006), public policy makers should provide long-run
solutions for the co-opertion between involved stakeholders, in this case
hoteliers. Specifically, at the macro level, public officials can encourage
hotel organizations to deliver exceptional quality to their customers. For
this purpose, state-funded training and education programs can be trig-
gered in the industry. Since the tourism and hospitality industry plays a
critical role in the overall economic situation of the country, public offi-
cials should introduce strict standards for the delivery of superior qual-
ity to customers. Creating an industry-wide service quality culture and
creating a pool of loyal customers depends heavily on the continuous
cooperation between state organizations and hotel organizations in the
industry.
Moreover, state organizations may encourage western management
talent in the Northern Cyprus hotel industry. Western management tal-
ent may equip the industry with modern management and marketing
approaches for the delivery of superior service quality and achievement
of high profitability levels.
limitations and avenues for future research
It should be underscored that there are several limitations to the cur-
rent study. First, this study employed a judgmental sampling approach.
Future studies should use a probability sampling approach in order to
support the current study findings. Second, the selection of a single in-
dustry may lead to questions regarding generalizations of the study find-
ings. However, research indicates that the selection of a single industry
eliminates problems that may emerge from industry differences (Hart-
line and Ferrell 1996). Third, this study used apology, promptness, expla-
nation, attentiveness, and redress as the organizational responses to cus-
tomer complaints. The inclusion of other constructs in the model such as
empowerment (Boshoff 1999), facilitation (Davidow 2000), and process
control (Tax, Brown, and Chandrashekaran 1998) would provide further
insights to understand their effects on complainant satisfaction and re-
purchase intentions. Fourth, this study has not examined the magnitude
and type of failure. Future studies should also investigate the effects of
organizational responses to complaints on satisfaction in low failure and
high failure situations and/or in outcome and process failure situations
(Smith, Bolton, and Wagner 1999). Until further studies are conducted,
the present study findings and the strategies based on them should re-
main tentative. As a closing note, replication studies with larger sample
size elsewhere would be fruitful for further generalizations of the study
findings.
Conclusion
It is widely accepted that service organizations should consider the criti-
cal roles of complaint management and effective service recovery efforts
in strict competitive environments. Since their effective efforts result in
increases in complainant satisfaction, loyalty, and profitability levels, ser-
vice organizations consider these efforts as crucial determinants for their
survival.
With this realization, the current study set out to investigate the effects
of apology, promptness, explanation, attentiveness, and redress on com-
plainant satisfaction and repurchase intentions, and the effect of satisfac-
tion on repurchase intentions. Findings reveal that all hypothesized rela-
tionships were supported by the empirical data. Broadly speaking, apol-
ogy, promptness, explanation, attentiveness, and redress have significant
positive effects on complainant satisfaction. Additionally, redress appears
to be the most influential organizational response on satisfaction. How-
ever, explanation is the only organizational response that has been found
to be a significant predictor of repurchase intentions. Study results also
indicate that complainant satisfaction exerts a significant positive effect
on repurchase intentions. Finally, this study has provided useful implica-
tions for both hotel managers and public officials in the Northern Cyprus
hotel industry.
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