The effects of perceived justice toward service recovery on electronic word of mouth of four- and five-star hotels in Thailand

Purpose This study aims to examine the service failure recovery process, focusing on the effects of distributive, procedural and interactional justice perceptions on emotions, post-recovery satisfaction and electronic word of mouth (eWOM). It also explores the relationships between perceived justice, silence behavior and eWOM among former patrons of four- and five-star hotels. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected via an online survey from 400 consumers who had experienced service failures and recovery efforts at four- and five-star hotels in Thailand within a year prior to the study. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed model. Findings This study found that all three dimensions of perceived justice significantly influenced positive emotions, whereas only interactional justice impacted negative emotions. Both positive and negative emotions affected post-recovery satisfaction and eWOM. Furthermore, the direct effect of perceived justice on satisfaction was stronger than its indirect effect through emotions. In addition, perceived justice also influenced silence behavior, which led to more frequent negative eWOM. Practical implications Service providers must understand that different aspects of justice perception impact customer behavior uniquely. Interactional justice is crucial, as it affects both emotions and satisfaction. Training staff to handle customer concerns fairly during service recovery can lead to positive word of mouth and encourage silence customers to voice their issues directly. Originality/value This study contributes to the service sector by highlighting the impact of justice perception on emotions, behavior, eWOM and provides insights that can be used to improve service recovery strategies to restore customer experience and satisfaction. There has been a paucity of studies examining perceived justice after service recovery in Thai contexts; this study helps to fill this research gap. Moreover, this study provides findings on the impact of consumers’ silence, which has received insufficient attention in existing literature.