The Behavioral Consequences of Regret, Anger, and Frustration in Service Settings

Abstract

Following a service failure, three discrete negative emotions—regret, anger, and frustration—are triggered through the attribution of blame to the three different sources of self, service provider, and situation, respectively. This study aims at investigating the set of behavioral consequences deployed by customers to mitigate each of those negative emotions within the context of Vietnam—a Confucian culture. The data was collected from 404 Vietnamese consumers. The findings reveal that regret and frustration are more likely to arise. Moreover, feelings of regret and anger trigger similar behavioral responses; customers choose neither to complain directly to the service provider nor to simply ignore the failed incident. Instead, they vent their feelings through nWOM with the intention of switching to another provider. In contrast, frustrated customers might either be passive in such a situation or complain directly. They do not engage in nWOM, but do intend to switch to alternatives.