Consumers’ Propensity to Complain Towards Tourist Agencies’ Services: Evidence from Serbia and Croatia
Abstract
The goal of the research is to determine a statistically significant difference in the tendency to appeal in relation to socio-demographic characteristics of the users of tourist services. The study has been conducted on a group sample of 116 respondents from Serbia and 106 respondents from Croatia. The empirical part of the research was carried out by a survey technique. The results of the conducted empirical research confirmed the findings and claims of foreign authors on the impact of tourist service users' age, monthly income and the number of family members, on their inclination to complain. The main findings of this research indicate that maintaining a long-term loyalty relationships with existing users is becoming increasingly difficult. The paper seeks to contribute to the existing literature by indicating the importance of knowing the effects of influence factors upon a tendency to file a complaint. The obtained results help employees in the first service line to identify aspects of influence on the users' reaction to service failure and thus give a starting point for creating measures for effective resolution of user dissatisfaction. Future researchers are advised to collect additional information on the factors influencing the user’s complaint behaviour.
References
Alvarez, L. S., Casielles, R. V., & Martín, A. M. D. (2010). Analysis of the role of complaint management in the context of relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 27(1-2), 143-164.
Assaf, A. G., Josiassen, A., Cvelbar, L. K., & Woo, L. (2015). The effects of customer voice on hotel performance. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 44, 77-83.
Barlou, Ž., & Moler, K. (2007). Žalba je poklon /A Complaint is a gift. Miloš Kramaršić, Beograd.
Bell, S. J., Mengüç, B., & Stefani, S. L. (2004). When customers disappoint: A model of relational internal marketing and customer complaints. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 32 (2), 112-126.
Bove, L. L., & Robertson, L. N. (2005). Exploring the role of relationship variables in predicting customer voice to a service worker. Journal of Retailing and Customer Services, 12 (2), 83-97.
Choi, B., & Choi, B. J. (2014). The effects of perceived service recovery justice on customer affection, loyalty, and word-of-mouth. European Journal of Marketing, 48 (1/2), 108-131.
Chumpitaz Caceres, R., & Paparoidamis, N. G. (2007). Service quality, relationship satisfaction, trust, commitment and business-to-business loyalty. European Journal of Marketing, 41 (7/8), 836-867.
Crie, D. (2003). Consumers' complaint behaviour. Taxonomy, typology and determinants: Towards a unified ontology. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 11 (1), 60-79.
Eccles, G., & Durand, P. (1998). Complaining customers, service recovery and continuous improvement. Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, 8 (1), 68-71.
Ganesh, J., Arnold, M. J., & Reynolds, K. E. (2000). Understanding the customer base of service providers: an examination of the differences between switchers and stayers. Journal of marketing, 64(3), 65-87.
Homburg, C., Fürst, A., & Koschate, N. (2010). On the importance of complaint handling design: a multi-level analysis of the impact in specific complaint situations. Journal of the Academic Marketing Science, 38, 265-287.
Homburg, C., Wiesere, J., Lukas, B. A., & Mikolon, S. (2011). When salespeople develop negative headquarters stereotypes: performance effects and managerial remedies. Journal of the Academic Marketing Science, 39, 664-682.
Honeycutt, E. D., Magnini, V. P., & Thelen, S. T. (2012). Solutions for customer complaints about offshoring and outsourcing services. Business Horizons, 55 (1), 33-42.
Karatepe, O. M. (2006). Customer complaints and organizational responses: the effects of complainants’ perceptions of justice on satisfaction and loyalty. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 25(1), 69-90.
Kastenholz, E., Carneiro, M. J., & Eusébio, C. (2005). The impact of socio-demographics on tourist behaviour–analyzing segments of cultural tourists visiting Coimbra. Atlas Cultural Tourism Research Project, 1-18.
Keng, K. A., & Liv, S. (1997). Personal values and complaint behaviour. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 4(2), 89-97.
Kim, J. H., & Chen, J. S. (2010). The effects of situational and personal characteristics on consumer complaint behaviour in restaurant services. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 27(1), 96-112.
Kotler, P., & Keller, L. K. (2006). Marketing menadžment. DATA STATUS, Belgrade.
Leroi-Werelds, S., Streukens, S., Van Vaerenbergh, Y., & Grönroos, C. (2017). Does communicating the customer’s resource integrating role improve or diminish value proposition effectiveness?. Journal of Service Management, 28(4), 618-639.
Marić, D., Marinković, V., Marić, R., & Dimitrovski, D. (2016). Analysis of tangible and intangible hotel service quality components. Industrija, 44(1), 7-25.
Mattila, A. S. (2001). The effectiveness of service recovery in a multi-industry setting. Journal of Services Marketing, 15(7), 583-596.
Maxham, J. G., & Netemeyer, R. G. (2002). Modeling customer perceptions of complaint handling over time: the effects of perceived justice on satisfaction and intent. Journal of Retailing, 78(4), 239-252.
Metehan, T., & Yasemin, Z. A. (2011). Demographic Characteristic and Complaint Behavior: An Empirical Study Concering Turkish Customers. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(9), 42-48.
Michel, S., Bowen, D., & Johnston, R. (2007). Service recovery management: Closing the gap between best practices and actual practices. Revise and resubmit from Academy of Management Perspectives, 1-24.
Mousavi, M., & Esfidani, M. E. (2013). A Comprehensive Model of Customers’ Complaint Behavior. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 3(5), 548-569.
Ngai, E. W., Heung, V. C., Wong, Y. H., & Chan, F. K. (2007). Consumer complaint behaviour of Asians and non-Asians about hotel services: an empirical analysis. European Journal of Marketing, 41 (11/12), 1375-1391.
Phau, I., & Baird, M. (2008). Complainers versus non-complainers retaliatory responses towards service dissatisfactions. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 26(6), 587-604.
Priluck, R. (2003). Relationship marketing can mitigate product and service failures. Journal of Services Marketing, 17 (1), 37-52.
Sangjae, L., Sungil, J., & Doyoung, K. (2011). The impact of tour quality and tourist satisfaction on tourist loyalty: The case of Chinese tourists in Korea. Tourism Management, 32, 1115-1124.
Smith, A. K., Bolton, R. N., & Wagner, J. (1999). A model of customer satisfaction with service encounters involving failure and recovery. Journal of Marketing Research, 356-372.
Tao, K., Karande, K., & Arndt, A. D. (2016). How Angry Customer Complaints Influence Salesperson Commitment to Service Quality. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 24 (3), 265-282.
Tronvoll, B. (2007). Complainer characteristics when exit is closed. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 18(1), 25-51.
Yilmaz, C., Varnali, K., & Kasnakoglu, B. T. (2016). How do firms benefit from customer complaints?. Journal of Business Research, 69 (2), 944-955.
Yuksel, A., Klilinc, U. K., & Yuksel, F. (2006). Cross-national analysis of hotel customers’ attitudes toward complaining and their complaining behaviours. Tourism Management, 27, 11-24.