The role of service guarantees in service development

Abstract

Service development lacks the level of systematisation and customer involvement that has proved important for product development. This article presents an empirical description of how service guarantees may support service development by systemising customer involvement after service failures. Thirty-one in-depth interviews and a content analysis of 41 guarantee invocations from the temporary work businesses and staffing services industry reveal that nine cases resulted in service development and 32 did not. We present explanations for these results, and identify what role a service guarantee -- from a development perspective -- plays in the service process, the recovery process and the development process.