Effect of service incidents on customer–firm relationship
| Positive incidents | Benevolent incidents |
| Have a positive effect on customer–firm relationship | Have a positive effect on customer–firm relationship |
| Improvement in customer–firm relationship is larger if the event is unexpected | The effect is larger for expected benevolent incidents |
| Positive surprises can be used to reverse a downward spiral in customer–firm relationship | Expected benevolence can be a valuable tool to create an upward spiral of relationship improvement |
| Negative incidents | Opportunistic incidents |
| Have a negative effect on customer–firm relationship | Have a negative effect on customer–firm relationship |
| Damage on customer–firm relationship is larger if the event is unexpected | The effect is larger for expected opportunistic incidents |
| If not avoided, negative surprises may stop an upward spiral in customer–firm relationship | Expected opportunism risks creating a downward spiral degrading customer–firm relationship |
| Have a positive effect on customer–firm relationship | Have a positive effect on customer–firm relationship |
| Improvement in customer–firm relationship is larger if the event is unexpected | The effect is larger for expected benevolent incidents |
| Positive surprises can be used to reverse a downward spiral in customer–firm relationship | Expected benevolence can be a valuable tool to create an upward spiral of relationship improvement |
| Have a negative effect on customer–firm relationship | Have a negative effect on customer–firm relationship |
| Damage on customer–firm relationship is larger if the event is unexpected | The effect is larger for expected opportunistic incidents |
| If not avoided, negative surprises may stop an upward spiral in customer–firm relationship | Expected opportunism risks creating a downward spiral degrading customer–firm relationship |
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