Antecedents and outcomes of positive disconfirmation after service failure and recovery

Abstract: The main purpose of this study was to identify the precursors of disconfirmation and examine the influence of disconfirmation on customer satisfaction in the airline industry of an emerging economy. The target population was airline travellers who had previously experienced service failure with a South African airline. Data was collected from a total of 300 respondents and analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The results revealed that positive disconfirmation is influenced by service recovery expectations and the perceived quality of recovery performance; that recovery expectation is positively related to the perceived quality of recovery performance; that service failure severity influences customer service recovery expectations; and that disconfirmation influences customer recovery satisfaction, which in turn affects customer loyalty. The study recommends that airlines establish in advance their customer expectations after service failure so that they can craft appropriate service recovery strategies