Guarantee or inoculate? Ex ante messages against service failures

Purpose While many studies have focused on the effectiveness of service recovery after encountering service failure, few have considered for pre-recovery opportunities. Drawing on service guarantee research and the inoculation theory, this study examines the effect of pre-recovery strategy on customer’s satisfaction when faced with possible service failure. This study takes into consideration the uncertainty of service failure, including specific or unpredicted failures. Design/methodology/approach Three experimental studies were conducted to examine our research hypotheses, which include a total of 1203 subjects recruited from online and offline platforms. Findings The findings reveal that service guarantees and inoculation messages both effectively mitigate the negative consequences of a service failure. Specifically, the pre-recovery strategy is particularly effective for specific service failures. In addition, we thoroughly examined the mediating role of customer attribution. Originality/value This research significantly contributes to the existing literature on service research by delving into the potential positive impact of proactive measures undertaken by service enterprises. Furthermore, the findings of this research offer valuable insights for practitioners.