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Blog
"Repeat patronage intentions"
April 16, 2008
Far be it from moi to knock the expertise of people with Ph.Ds. (No way, my wife is one.) But I'm still capable of wincing at the research some of them produce, especially under the auspices of a university, where the pressure to "publish or perish" remains intense. Particularly for the nontenured.
Case in point: A recent study by one Alex Susskind, Ph.D., robustly entitled "Complaint Communication: How Complaint Severity and Service Recovery Influence Guests’ Preferences and Attitudes." You can read it here once you're registered. By the way, I have no idea if Dr. Susskind, who's employed by Cornell University's School of Hospitality Administration, in Ithaca, N.Y, is tenured. His bio, however, allows his research interests include "the influence of communication relationships upon individuals’ work-related attitudes and perceptions surrounding organizational events and processes such as teamwork and downsizing."
(Note to the professor: Downsizing has a negative impact on work-related attitudes.)
I won't bother taking you through the study's data mainly because I don't quite understand it myself. Charts with squiggly lines and titles like "Results from the one-way analysis of variance for complaint communication mode" throw me for a loop. Instead, I leave you with one of Professor Susskind's conclusions:
While satisfaction is a useful measurement, the most important gauge of customers’ reaction to service failure and recovery has to be whether the customer will return to the restaurant. ... The lowest level of repeat patronage intentions was reported by guests who complained about the atmosphere or another issue not related to food or service. This underscores the idea that if elements of the atmosphere are not pleasing to the guest, they are not likely to return, regardless of the remedy.
Guess that means you'd better get the lighting right at least.
Posted by David Farkas on April 16, 2008 | Comments (3)
In response to: "Repeat patronage intentions"
Steve commented:
Right on David! I have read his findings for a couple of years and most of his "group" studies are college students and college employees and or friends. I find most of them hard to garner any buy in from industry proffesionals! Reading work from the Hartman Group is much more valuable!
In response to: "Repeat patronage intentions"
Dave commented:
Thanks for the tip Steve. I believe Suuskind refers to "travelers" in this bit of research, but you d have to check.
In response to: "Repeat patronage intentions"
Steve commented:
I was referring to several of his previous published papers, not this one. I shave over time become suspect of many of his findings. I must admit however they always seem to raise more question than they appear to answer. Which may be his goal?