Service leniency: a dual logics perspective

Purpose: A pervasive yet underexplored phenomenon in service delivery is the tendency toward leniency, which can ultimately lead to negligence in service interactions. Despite its significance, we observe that the notion of leniency in service has been overlooked in the marketing literature. Therefore, this paper proposes the conceptual notion of service leniency, identifies its intrinsic and extrinsic drivers and examines its impacts on the overall service journey. Design/methodology/approach: The study employs Jaakkola’s (2020) approach to conceptualize service leniency through theory synthesis and typology development. This study bases the notion of service leniency on two theoretical perspectives: service-dominant and customer-dominant logics. A review of literature within services marketing forms the basis for conceptualizing and identifying key drivers of service leniency. Findings: Service leniency is defined as undue permissiveness or laxity in adhering to service standards, leading to compromised service delivery. Intrinsic drivers include permissive service culture, work role disengagement, training insufficiency, performance incentive misalignment and ambiguous service standards. Extrinsic drivers encompass assumed customer tolerance, feedback mechanism deficits, neglect of customer-driven innovations, risk aversion in service innovation and generational expectation gaps. Research limitations/implications: As a conceptual study, the propositions and frameworks discussed here require empirical validation. Social implications: This study highlights the potential societal implications of service leniency by emphasizing how its mitigation can foster improved public trust and satisfaction with high-quality service delivery. Originality/value: This study proposes the concept of service leniency, addressing a critical phenomenon that demands attention in the marketing literature.