Why Did This Happen to Me? an Empirical Examination of Repeat-purchase Customers’ Need for Explanations after Good and Bad Service Performance

It is often assumed that negative events elicit a higher level of response than positive events. Therefore, is not surprising that relationship marketers have devoted much attention to transactions leading to customer dissatisfaction – and to the supplier’s response to dissatisfaction (e.g., in terms of complaint management and recovery strategies). The empirical study reported in this paper, however, shows that customer satisfaction is related to the customer’s need for explanations following a service encounter in a U-shaped way: both a low level of satisfaction and a high level of satisfaction elicit a need for explanations. This finding is consistent with approaches that acknowledge that surprise, rather than valence, elicits cognitive responses due to a contrasting effect in relation to a norm. Positive events (i.e., events that create a high level of customer satisfaction), then, elicit a need for explanations, and this need may represent useful opportunities for the supplier who is interested in long-term relationships with customers ___________________________________________________________________________