Personality dimensions and service failure severity: A cross-sectional study in the cellular industry

Abstract

Service providers base service recovery efforts to retain consumers on service failure severity. A good understanding of possible effects on service failure severity is therefore necessary, and so this study examined the effects of personality dimensions on service failure severity. A hierarchical regression analysis was performed on data collected from 564 respondents through convenience sampling. The results indicated significant effects of Extraversion and Agreeableness on perceived service failure severity. In terms of theory, this study extends the influence of the trait theory of personality to service failure research. Furthermore, practical recommendations for cell phone network providers’ service recovery strategies include combining restorative and apologetic strategies.

Keywords: service failure severity, personality dimensions, age, service failure, service recovery strategies, cell phone network provider