Browsing by Author "Sullivan, Ursula Y."

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Citation - WoS: 57
Citation - Scopus: 64
An Attribution Approach To Consumer Evaluations in Logistics Customer Service Failure Situations
(Wiley, 2012) Oflaç, Bengü; Sullivan, Ursula Y.; Baltacioglu, Tuncdan
The primary goal of this study is to investigate the roles of expectations and purchase criticality on consumers' brand perceptions and attribution behaviors in service delivery failures. The provision of logistics services is often a crucial point in supply chain management that can influence brand perceptions of customers. Indeed, the level and the quality of customer service provided may determine whether the organization will retain existing customers or even attract new ones. As a consequence, a failure in logistics customer service and its effect on overall perceptions of a brand should not be underestimated. Furthermore, the involvement of a third-party logistics (3PL) company in this failure situation can create considerable shifts in the responses of consumers, especially in the attribution behavior for cause of failure. By applying scenario-based experiments, this study demonstrates the dynamics by which customer expectations, purchase criticality and 3PL companies affect consumer brand perceptions and attributions. The results suggest the presence of two expectation-based buffering effects in delivery failures. The first buffering effect is revealed in overall brand evaluation and repurchase intention, while the second buffering effect is observed in consumer brand attribution. The findings indicate that higher expectations may protect the brand and cause more attribution to the third-party service provider. Additionally, it is shown that criticality of the purchase has crucial impacts on brand evaluations and attributions.
Citation - WoS: 22
Citation - Scopus: 24
Examining the Impact of Locus and Justice Perception on B2b Service Recovery
(Emerald Group Publishing Ltd, 2021) Oflac, Bengu Sevil; Sullivan, Ursula Y.; Aslan, Zeynep Kaya
Purpose - This paper aims to examine the relationships between locus of attribution, recovery justice perceptions, recovery satisfaction and repurchase intention after a B2B service failure. Design/methodology/approach - Structural equation modeling was used to analyze 300 customer surveys from hospitality businesses. The connections between the selected variables were explored through path analysis using AMOS 24. Findings - Based on the results, the more that business customers blame their wholesalers after a service failure, the less they perceive the procedures in the recovery process as fair. Findings also indicate that in the recovery process, interactional connections through fair treatment and inclusion of customer opinions are important to achieve high recovery satisfaction levels. Moreover, if business customers perceive the monetary compensation provided as fair, their recovery satisfaction increases, and recovery satisfaction then helps to retain these business customers after a service failure. Research limitations/implications - Starting from the locus of blame, this study highlights the after-failure calculation that business customers make in considering their recovery justice perceptions and the resulting satisfaction level. Practical implications - The findings have relevance for B2B relationships. This study provides practical processes for failure and recovery management in B2B settings, especially for wholesale providers who function as resellers rather than as manufacturers. Originality/value - The contributions from this study are largely due to examining B2B service failure and recovery as a process that starts at the pre-recovery stage with the locus of attribution followed by recovery justice perceptions. Whereas other studies have focused more on justice perceptions, the authors go back a step in the recovery process to better understand the antecedents of repurchase intention in B2B transactions.