Is the dream over? A study of the theory of customer delight in complaints against travel agencies

Pereira Filho, Evadio; Añez, Miguel Eduardo Moreno

Evadio Pereira FilhoE-mail: evadio.filho@gmail.com

research design

literature review

data collection

data analysis

discussion

Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal, RN, Brazil

Evadio Pereira Filho He is a PhD student in Administration at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), he has a Master’s degree in Administration from the Potiguar University (UnP) and a Bachelor’s degree in Production engineering from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). His research interests include consumer behavior, service management, quality management, operations management, and ergonomics.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3340-1233

Miguel Eduardo Moreno Añez E-mail: anez21@hotmail.com

research design

literature review

discussion

Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal, RN, Brazil

Miguel Eduardo Moreno Añez He has a Post-doctorate in International Administration from HEC Montréal, Canada. He has a PhD in Business Administration from Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV/EAESP). He teaches at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal, Brazil. His research interests include business strategy, organizational culture, organizational studies, international business, and service management.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9386-7724

Evadio Pereira Filho

He is a PhD student in Administration at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), he has a Master’s degree in Administration from the Potiguar University (UnP) and a Bachelor’s degree in Production engineering from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). His research interests include consumer behavior, service management, quality management, operations management, and ergonomics.

E-mail: evadio.filho@gmail.com

Miguel Eduardo Moreno Añez

He has a Post-doctorate in International Administration from HEC Montréal, Canada. He has a PhD in Business Administration from Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV/EAESP). He teaches at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal, Brazil. His research interests include business strategy, organizational culture, organizational studies, international business, and service management.

E-mail: anez21@hotmail.com

Editor:

Glauber Eduardo de Oliveira Santos.

Author/Year	The concept of delight involves (...)	Context
Oliver, Rust, & Varki (1997)Oliver, R. L., Rust, R. T., & Varki, S. (1997). Customer delight: Foundations, findings, and managerial insight. Journal of Retailing, 73(3), 311–336. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-4359(97)90021-X https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-4359(97)90...	joy, excitement, and surprise.	amusement park and musical event
Schneider & Bowen (1999)Schneider, B., & Bowen, D. E. (1999). Understand-ing customer delight and outrage. Sloan Management Review, 41(1), 35-45.	justice	It is not specified
Rust & Oliver (2000)Rust, R. T., & Oliver, R. L. (2000). Should we delight the customer? Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28(1), 86-94. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070300281008 https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070300281008...	positive emotions and surprise	It is not specified
Kumar, Olshavsky, & King (2001)Kumar, A., Olshavsky, R. W., & King, M. F. (2001). Exploring alternative antecedents of customer delight. Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, 14(1), 14-26.	joy and surprise	It is not specified
Finn (2005)Finn, A. (2005). Reassessing the foundations of customer delight. Journal of Service Research, 8(2), 103-116. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670505279340 https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670505279340...	joy, excitement, and surprise	online retail
Arnold et al. (2005)Arnold, M. J., Reynolds, K. E., Ponder, N., & Lueg, J. E. (2005). Customer delight in a retail context: Investigating delightful and terrible shopping experiences. Journal of Business Research, 58(8), 1132-1145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2004.01.006 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2004.0...	interpersonal factor: effort, engagement, problem solving, detachment, time commitment. non-interpersonal factor: unforeseen purchase and value.	retail
Magnini, Crotts, & Zehrer (2011)Magnini, V. P., Crotts, J. C., & Zehrer, A. (2011). Understanding customer delight. Journal of Travel Research, 50(5), 535-545. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287510379162 https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287510379162...	pleasant and helpful service, cleanliness, and location.	Hotel
Crotts & Magnini (2011)Crotts, J. C., & Magnini, V. P. (2011). The customer delight construct. Annals of Tourism Research, 38(2), 719–722. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2010.03.004 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2010.03...	surprise	It is not specified
Barnes, Ponder, & Dugar (2011)Barnes, D. C., Ponder, N., & Dugar, K. (2011). Investigating the key routes to customer delight. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 19(4), 359-376. https://doi.org/10.2753/MTP1069-6679190401 https://doi.org/10.2753/MTP1069-66791904...	employees (affection, effort, skills), time, problem solving and surprise item.	restaurant
Torres & Kline (2013)Torres, E. N., & Kline, S. (2013). From customer satisfaction to customer delight: Creating a new standard of service for the hotel industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 25(5), 642-659. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-Dec-2011-0228 https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-Dec-2011-0...	problem solving, personalized service, outstanding performance, and aspects of the employee (charisma, knowledge, and skills.	Hotel
Bartl, Gouthier, & Lenker (2013)Bartl, C., Gouthier, M. H. J., & Lenker, M. (2013). Delighting consumers click by click. Journal of Service Research, 16(3), 386-399. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670513479168 https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670513479168...	surprise, utility, and entertainment.	online retail
Ma et al. (2013)Ma, J., Gao, J., Scott, N., & Ding, P. (2013). Customer delight from theme park experiences. Annals of Tourism Research, 42(1), 359–381. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2013.02.018 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2013.02...	joy	tourism
Liu & Keh (2015)Liu, M. W., & Keh, H. T. (2015). Consumer delight and outrage: scale development and validation. Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 25(6), 680-699. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-08-2014-0178 https://doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-08-2014-017...	justice, excitement, and surprise.	restaurant
Barnes et al. (2016)Barnes, D. C., Collier, J. E., Howe, V., & Hoffman, K. D. (2016). Multiple paths to customer delight: the impactof effort, expertise and tangibles on joy and surprise. Journal of Services Marketing, 30(3), 277-289. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-05-2015-0172 https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-05-2015-0172...	employee effort and experience, surprise, and joy.	grocery store
Ball & Barnes (2017)Ball, J., & Barnes, D. C. (2017). Delight and the grateful customer: Beyond joy and surprise. Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 27(1), 250-269. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-01-2016-0013 https://doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-01-2016-001...	joy, surprise, and gratitude.	musical event
Ali et al. (2018)Ali, F., Kim, W. G., Li, J., & Jeon, H. M. (2018). Make it delightful: Customers’ experience, satisfaction and loyalty in malaysian theme parks. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 11(1), 1–11. ttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2016.05.003 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2016.05.0...	physical environment (comfort, cleanliness, layout), interactions with the team (professionalism and knowledge) and with other customers (appropriate behavior).	amusement park
Lee & Park (2019)Lee, B. Y., & Park, S. Y. (2019). The role of customer delight and customer equity for loyalty in upscale hotels. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 39(1), 175-184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2019.04.003 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2019.04.0...	joy and excitement.	Hotel
Jiang (2020)Jiang, Y., & Wen, J. (2020). Effects of COVID-19 on hotel marketing and management: A perspective article. International Journal of Comtemporary of Hospitality Management. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-03-2020-0237 https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-03-2020-02...	authenticity of the place, availability of employees, surprise.	tourist destinations
Torres, Zhang, & Ronzoni (2020)Torrres, E. N., Zhang, T., & Ronzoni, G. (2020). Measuring delightful customer experiences: The validation and testing of a customer delight scale along with its antecedents and effects. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 87(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2019.102380 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2019.1023...	human resources and surprise.	hotel, restaurant, retail, and amusement park
Guidice, Barnes, & Kinard (2020)Guidice, R. M., Barnes, D. C., & Kinard, B. R. (2020). Delight spirals: the cause and consequence of employee perceived customer delight. Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 30(2), 149-170. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-05-2019-0126 https://doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-05-2019-012...	Interpersonal (delightful service, easy and effective communication, harmonious interaction).	retail
Parasuraman et al. (2020)Parasuraman, A., Ball, J., Aksoy, L., Keiningham, T. L., & Zaki, M. (2020). More than a feeling? Toward a theory of customer delight. Journal of Service Management, ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-03-2019-0094 https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-03-2019-009...	positive value emotions, time, consumer role, sensory experiences, interpersonal interactions, and problem solving.	multiple, including restaurants and medical services.

Dimension	Items	Author (s)
Problem solving	Apology: PS1: The company regretted the error that occurred; PS2: The company apologized for the inconvenience that the problem brought to the customer;	Mostafa, Lages, & Sääksjärvi (2014) Reynolds & Harris (2005)Reynolds, K. L., & Harris, L. C. (2005). When service failure is not service failure: An exploration of the forms and motives of “illegitimate” customer complaining. Journal of Services Marketing, 19(5), 321-335. https://doi.org/10.1108/08876040510609934 https://doi.org/10.1108/0887604051060993...
	Compensation: PS3: The reward that the company gave me for the loss incurred is good;	Mostafa, Lages, & Sääksjärvi (2014) Reynolds & Harris (2005)Reynolds, K. L., & Harris, L. C. (2005). When service failure is not service failure: An exploration of the forms and motives of “illegitimate” customer complaining. Journal of Services Marketing, 19(5), 321-335. https://doi.org/10.1108/08876040510609934 https://doi.org/10.1108/0887604051060993...
	Explanation: PS4: The company explained why the service problem may have happened;	Mostafa, Lages, & Sääksjärvi (2014)Mostafa, R., Lages, C., & Sääksjärvi, M. (2014). The CURE Scale: A multidimensional measure of service recovery strategy. Journal of Services Marketing. 28(1), 300-310. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-09-2012-0166. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-09-2012-0166...
	Monitoring: PS5: After solving the problem, the company contacted me to ensure that the problem was resolved completely;	Mostafa, Lages, & Sääksjärvi (2014)Mostafa, R., Lages, C., & Sääksjärvi, M. (2014). The CURE Scale: A multidimensional measure of service recovery strategy. Journal of Services Marketing. 28(1), 300-310. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-09-2012-0166. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-09-2012-0166...
	Facility: PS6: Easy access to the company channels to express complaints;	Mostafa, Lages, & Sääksjärvi (2014) Reynolds & Harris (2005)Reynolds, K. L., & Harris, L. C. (2005). When service failure is not service failure: An exploration of the forms and motives of “illegitimate” customer complaining. Journal of Services Marketing, 19(5), 321-335. https://doi.org/10.1108/08876040510609934 https://doi.org/10.1108/0887604051060993...
	Response time: PS7: The company responded promptly to my complaint;	Arnold et al. (2005)Arnold, M. J., Reynolds, K. E., Ponder, N., & Lueg, J. E. (2005). Customer delight in a retail context: Investigating delightful and terrible shopping experiences. Journal of Business Research, 58(8), 1132-1145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2004.01.006 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2004.0... ; Mostafa, Lages, & Sääksjärvi (2014)Mostafa, R., Lages, C., & Sääksjärvi, M. (2014). The CURE Scale: A multidimensional measure of service recovery strategy. Journal of Services Marketing. 28(1), 300-310. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-09-2012-0166. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-09-2012-0166...
	Effort: PS8: The company really did its best to resolve the complaint;	Mostafa, Lages, & Sääksjärvi (2014)Mostafa, R., Lages, C., & Sääksjärvi, M. (2014). The CURE Scale: A multidimensional measure of service recovery strategy. Journal of Services Marketing. 28(1), 300-310. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-09-2012-0166. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-09-2012-0166...
	Solution of the problem: PS9: The company presented a solution to my complaint; PS10: The company was able to answer my questions;	Arnold et al. (2005)Arnold, M. J., Reynolds, K. E., Ponder, N., & Lueg, J. E. (2005). Customer delight in a retail context: Investigating delightful and terrible shopping experiences. Journal of Business Research, 58(8), 1132-1145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2004.01.006 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2004.0... ; Mostafa, Lages, & Sääksjärvi (2014)Mostafa, R., Lages, C., & Sääksjärvi, M. (2014). The CURE Scale: A multidimensional measure of service recovery strategy. Journal of Services Marketing. 28(1), 300-310. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-09-2012-0166. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-09-2012-0166... ; Reynolds & Harris (2005)Reynolds, K. L., & Harris, L. C. (2005). When service failure is not service failure: An exploration of the forms and motives of “illegitimate” customer complaining. Journal of Services Marketing, 19(5), 321-335. https://doi.org/10.1108/08876040510609934 https://doi.org/10.1108/0887604051060993...
Interpersonal Interactions	Courtesy: IP1: The company was polite to me when handling the complaint;	Arnold et al. (2005)Arnold, M. J., Reynolds, K. E., Ponder, N., & Lueg, J. E. (2005). Customer delight in a retail context: Investigating delightful and terrible shopping experiences. Journal of Business Research, 58(8), 1132-1145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2004.01.006 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2004.0... ; Mostafa, Lages, & Sääksjärvi (2014)Mostafa, R., Lages, C., & Sääksjärvi, M. (2014). The CURE Scale: A multidimensional measure of service recovery strategy. Journal of Services Marketing. 28(1), 300-310. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-09-2012-0166. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-09-2012-0166... ; Parasuraman et al. (2020)Parasuraman, A., Ball, J., Aksoy, L., Keiningham, T. L., & Zaki, M. (2020). More than a feeling? Toward a theory of customer delight. Journal of Service Management, ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-03-2019-0094 https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-03-2019-009... .
	Attention: IP2: The company seems interested in responding to the complaint;	Parasuraman et al. (2020)Parasuraman, A., Ball, J., Aksoy, L., Keiningham, T. L., & Zaki, M. (2020). More than a feeling? Toward a theory of customer delight. Journal of Service Management, ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-03-2019-0094 https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-03-2019-009...
	Communication: IP3: Clarity and precision of the company's responses to complaints;	Parasuraman et al. (2020)Parasuraman, A., Ball, J., Aksoy, L., Keiningham, T. L., & Zaki, M. (2020). More than a feeling? Toward a theory of customer delight. Journal of Service Management, ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-03-2019-0094 https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-03-2019-009...
	Utility: IP4: The information provided by the company is useful.	Arnold et al. (2005)Arnold, M. J., Reynolds, K. E., Ponder, N., & Lueg, J. E. (2005). Customer delight in a retail context: Investigating delightful and terrible shopping experiences. Journal of Business Research, 58(8), 1132-1145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2004.01.006 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2004.0...
Delight	Final evaluation: grade given by the tourist (0 to 10)	Proposed by the authors

[1] Evadio Pereira Filho

He is a PhD student in Administration at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), he has a Master’s degree in Administration from the Potiguar University (UnP) and a Bachelor’s degree in Production engineering from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). His research interests include consumer behavior, service management, quality management, operations management, and ergonomics.

Group Before the pandemic
Latent Variables	InI	RP	Prz
Interpersonal Interactions (InI)	0.751
Problem solving (PS)	0.508	0.599
Delight (Dlg)	0.491	0.718	1.000
Group During the pandemic
Interpersonal Interactions (InI)	0.717
Problem solving (PS)	0.369	0.576
Delight (Dlg)	0.523	0.590	1.000
Note. Scores in italics (diagonal) represent the square root of the average variance extracted (AVE) of each latent variable. Scores outside the diagonal are the correlations between latent variables.

Brasil

Brasil

Is the dream over? A study of the theory of customer delight in complaints against travel agencies

Abstract