Why do Consumers Forgive Online Travel Agencies? A Multi-study Approach

This paper investigates how consumers respond to online recovery strategies in response to a service failure in the online travel agencies (OTA) context. The study also examines the role of justice and forgiveness in the online service recovery process. Firstly, a qualitative study was employed to explore the predominant strategies exercised by the service providers. Further, we collect the data from a survey ( n = 335) using an online questionnaire about service failure in the OTA context to examine the proposed relationship based on Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework and Justice theory. The data was analysed using CB-SEM and fsQCA. Results show that response speed, explanation, courtesy and problem-solving are crucial online recovery strategies. Results also highlighted that consumers’ perceived justice and forgiveness play a crucial role in the online recovery process. The fsQCA results showed that five solutions (i.e. various combinations of causal antecedents) could facilitate the formation of repatronage intention. Our study enriches service failure literature. Our findings may help online travel agents design suitable strategies to reduce the negative effect of service failure on their customers.