Moderating role of consumers’ attachment style on post-recovery satisfaction behavior

This study examines the moderating role of consumers’ attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance, on the relationship between recovery satisfaction and their behavior after service recovery. This study analyzes the moderating effect of consumers’ attachment styles to explain the differences in their behavior after service recovery efforts, which has not been explored previously. Primary data was collected from hand-phone users, and the effect of consumers’ attachment styles was examined in the context of the telecommunication sector. Findings indicate that consumers high in attachment anxiety were more likely to repurchase but not to engage in positive word-of-mouth after recovery satisfaction. Attachment avoidance did not impact consumers’ behavioral intentions. In addition, the interaction of anxiety and avoidance positively influenced word-of-mouth intentions upon satisfaction with recovery efforts. However, the interaction did not affect repurchase intentions. This study provides insight into how consumer’s attachment style influences their positive behavioral intentions after recovery satisfaction. We present segment-specific relationship marketing strategies that can aid service providers in managing service recoveries and minimizing the adverse effects of service failures on customer retention.