The psychology of frustration: Appraisals, outcomes, and service recovery
Résumé
This study fills a gap in the consumer emotions literature regarding customer frustration in a customer service setting. Most research on customer emotions has examined anger, happiness or affect in general, largely ignoring the particularities of frustration. Consistent with appraisal theory, we use five experiments to explore the different appraisal dimensions that define frustration and its relation to customer loyalty and satisfaction. Contrary to common belief, we show that frustration is not simply the result of goal-blocking, but rather of a more complex combination of appraisals which differentiate it from anger and lead to distinct effects on satisfaction and loyalty. We also examine how the effects of frustration on loyalty and satisfaction are mitigated by service recovery in a further experiment and an event reconstructive method. Our results test appraisal theory, inform theory on customer emotions and have important implications for our understanding of customer satisfaction and loyalty following frustrating customer service encounters.