The Influence of Service Failure, Service Recovery, and Customer Forgiveness on Customer Loyalty
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37641/jimkes.v14i1.4682Keywords:
Customer Forgiveness, Dental Clinic, Revisit Intention, Service Failure, Service RecoveryAbstract
Dental clinic services are vulnerable to service failures that can reduce patient trust and loyalty. This study analyzes the effect of service failure, service recovery, and customer forgiveness on revisit intention at dental clinics. The study used a quantitative approach with a survey method of 235 respondents who had used dental clinic services. Data analysis was conducted using Partial Least Square–Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) through SmartPLS to test the measurement and structural models, including direct and indirect effects. The results show that service failure has a negative and significant effect on service recovery, customer forgiveness, and revisit intention. Conversely, service recovery and customer forgiveness have a positive and significant effect on revisit intention. Mediation analysis shows that service recovery and customer forgiveness significantly mediate the relationship between service failure and revisit intention. The research model has good predictive ability based on the R-square, Q-square, and model fit index values. These findings emphasize the importance of minimizing service failures and strengthening patient recovery and relationship management strategies to increase loyalty and revisit intentions at dental clinics.
Downloads
References
Abashidze, I. (2024). Contemporary trends in electronic word-of-mouth marketing from the online reputation management perspective. Prof. Dr. Sevda Mutlu AKAR (Bandırma Onyedi Eylül University) Associate Prof. Anukrati Sharma (Kota University, India), 7(1), 89-95.
Alnawas, I., Al Khateeb, A., Abu Farha, A., & Ndubisi, N. O. (2023). The effect of service failure severity on brand forgiveness: the moderating role of interpersonal attachment styles and thinking styles. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 35(5), 1691-1712.
Amoako, G. K., Caesar, L. D., Dzogbenuku, R. K., & Bonsu, G. A. (2023). Service recovery performance and repurchase intentions: the mediation effect of service quality at KFC. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, 6(1), 110-130.
Apidana, Y., & Prasetyo, A. (2023). The influence of e-trust and e-servqual on e-repurchase intention with e-satisfaction as an intervening variable. Jurnal Ilmiah Manajemen Kesatuan, 34(2), 45-49.
Chou, P.-F. (2015). An analysis of the relationship between service failure, service recovery and loyalty for low cost carrier travelers. Journal of Air Transport Management, 47 (7), 119–125.
de Mesquita, J. M. C., Shin, H., Urdan, A. T., & Pimenta, M. T. C. (2023). Measuring the intention-behavior gap in service failure and recovery: the moderating roles of failure severity and service recovery satisfaction. European Journal of Marketing, 57(7), 1826-1853.
Edström, A., Nylander, B., Molin, J., Ahmadi, Z., & Sörqvist, P. (2022). Where service recovery meets its paradox: Implications for avoiding overcompensation. Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 32(7), 1–13.
Ekasari, F., & Sulistiadi, W. (2020). Business development of dental services marketing in hospital: A systematic review. Jurnal ARSI: Administrasi Rumah Sakit Indonesia, 6(2), 33-39.
Ellyawati, J. (2017). Customers’ response to service failure: An empirical study on Indonesian customers. ASEAN Marketing Journal, 1(6), 12-13.
Foroudi, P., Tabaghdehi, S. A. H., Cillo, V., & Cuomo, M. T. (2025). E-service failure and recovery strategy in times of crisis: effect on peer attitudes, expectation and future intention. Review of Managerial Science, 19(2), 537-571.
Gannon, M., Taheri, B., Thompson, J., Rahimi, R., & Okumus, B. (2022). Investigating the effects of service recovery strategies on consumer forgiveness and post-trust in the food delivery sector. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 107(4), 103-111.
Gao, J., Yao, L., Xiao, X., & Li, P. (2022). Recover from failure: Examining the impact of service recovery stages on relationship marketing strategies. Frontiers in Psychology, 13(5), 85-96.
Garg, A. (2013). Service recovery paradox in Indian banking industry: An empirical investigation. The South East Asian Journal of Management, 7(2), 108–122.
Hall, M. J., & Hyodo, J. D. (2023). Service provider to the rescue: how firm recovery of do-it-yourself service failure turns consumers from competitors to satisfied customers. Journal of Service Research, 26(4), 578-596.
Harrison-Walker, L. J. (2022). Organizational and customer moderators of service recovery on consumer forgiveness in health care. Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, 35(4) 26-51.
Huang, Y.-J., Chang, S.-C., Lin, Y.-S., Chan, H.-Y., & Chang, W.-T. (2024). Regression analysis to identify relationship between service failure, service recovery, customer satisfaction and loyalty in food delivery platform. Engineering Proceedings, 28(5), 11-14.
Joireman, J., Grégoire, Y., & Tripp, T. M. (2016). Customer forgiveness following service failures. Current Opinion in Psychology, 10(5), 76–82.
Kim, C. E., Shin, J.-S., Lee, J., Lee, Y. J., Kim, M., Choi, A., Park, K. B., Lee, H.-J., & Ha, I.-H. (2017). Quality of medical service, patient satisfaction and loyalty with a focus on interpersonal-based medical service encounters and treatment effectiveness: A cross-sectional multicenter study of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) hospitals. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 17(1), 174-179.
Kim, Y., Ho, T. H., Tan, L. P., & Casidy, R. (2023). Factors influencing consumer forgiveness: a systematic literature review and directions for future research. Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 33(5), 601-628.
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2012). Marketing management (14th ed.). New York: Prentice Hall.
Ladeira, W. J., Lim, W. M., De Oliveira Santini, F., Rasul, T., Rice, J. L., & Azhar, M. (2024). Fostering conative loyalty in tourism and hospitality loyalty programs: An eye-tracking experiment of reward timing, fairness perception, and visual attention. Tourism Recreation Research, 6(2), 1–17.
Li, Q., Yang, D., Zheng, S., & Fu, X. (2025). Public compensation and private apology: examining how service recovery influences consumer forgiveness in group service failures. Current Issues in Tourism, 7(4), 1-18.
Low, W.-S., Lee, J.-D., & Lian, W.-C. (2013). Can loyal customers tolerate service failure? The moderating roles of service failure severity and transaction frequency in a B2B context. Journal of Service Science and Management, 6(5), 12–19.
Muhammad, L., & Gul-e-Rana, G.-R. (2019). Do service firm employee and customer relations matter for customer forgiveness in service recovery? Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 31(4), 1216–1232.
Nikbin, D., Armesh, H., Heydari, A., & Jalalkamali, M. (2011). The effects of perceived justice in service recovery on firm reputation and repurchase intention in airline industry. African journal of business Management, 5(23), 98-114.
Özdemir, N. (2023). Systematic review on consumer forgiveness: Clarifying the domain and future research agenda. Business & Management Studies: An International Journal, 11(3), 1241–1259.
Ozuem, W., Ranfagni, S., Willis, M., Salvietti, G., & Howell, K. (2024). Exploring the relationship between chatbots, service failure recovery and customer loyalty: A frustration–aggression perspective. Psychology & Marketing, 41(10), 2253-2273.
Park, S., Kim, H.-K., Choi, M., & Lee, M. (2021). Factors affecting revisit intention for medical services at dental clinics. PLOS ONE, 16(5), 250-266.
Pighin, M., Alvarez-Risco, A., Del-Aguila-Arcentales, S., Rojas-Osorio, M., & Yáñez, J. A. (2022). Factors of the revisit intention of patients in the primary health care system in Argentina. Sustainability, 14(20), 130-135.
Ramos, K., & Cuamea, O. (2023). Dental tourism: factors influencing travelers’ revisit intention to the Mexican border. International journal of tourism cities, 9(3), 806-831.
Raza, A., Tsiotsou, R., Sarfraz, M., & Ishaq, M. I. (2023). Trust recovery tactics in financial services: the moderating role of service failure severity. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 41(7), 1611-1639.
Singh, S. V., Ancheary, T., Mondal, A., & Rajauria, S. (2024). Enhancing service excellence in the hospitality industry through effective service recovery from failures. In Innovative technologies for increasing service productivity (pp. 117-133). New York: IGI Global Scientific Publishing.
Sukhu, A., & Bilgihan, A. (2023). Service recovery strategies: mitigating negative word-of-mouth in the hotel industry through enhanced customer engagement. International Hospitality Review, 8(3), 45-48.
Sukosyah, A. W., Hussein, A. S., & Isharina, I. K. (2025). The effect of green destination image on tourist revisit intention through green perceived value and satisfaction. Jurnal Ilmiah Akuntansi Kesatuan, 12(2), 1234-1239.
Sumarni, I., Baskara, I., & Fadli, J. A. (2024). The effect of service quality and destination image on return visit intention through tourist satisfaction. Jurnal Ilmiah Manajemen Kesatuan, 8(9), 1245-1255.
Suprayogi, Y., Mangruwa, R. D., Suryono, H. G. P., & Ramadhian, M. A. R. (2025). Exploring repurchase intention and key factors in dental care decisions: evidence from dental clinics in Bandung City, Indonesia. Jurnal Ilmiah Edunomika, 9(1), 12-14.
Thatsaringkharnsakun, U., Khorchurklang, S., & Yawised, K. (2025). The influence of service failure, service recovery, and customer forgiveness on customer loyalty: a case study of the omnichannel marketing restaurants in the lower northern provincial cluster 1 of Thailand. Journal of Business, Innovation and Sustainability (JBIS), 20(1), 57-66.
Tsarenko, Y., & Tojib, D. (2012). The role of personality characteristics and service failure severity in consumer forgiveness and service outcomes. Journal of Marketing Management, 28(9-10), 1217-1239.
Um, K. H., & Lau, A. K. (2018). Healthcare service failure: how dissatisfied patients respond to poor service quality. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 38(5), 1245-1270.
Umar, R. M., & Saleem, S. (2022). Employee emotional competence and service recovery satisfaction: the mediating role of consumer forgiveness. British Food Journal, 124(13), 445-459.
van der Woude, L. A., Welker, G. A., Brand, P. L., & Festen, S. (2025). Barriers to implementing shared decision-making in postgraduate medical education: The role of disease-centered beliefs. Perspectives on Medical Education, 14(1), 436-444.
Wilson, M., Robson, K., & Pitt, L. (2022). Consumer subversion and its relationship to anti‐consumption, deviant and dysfunctional behaviors, and consumer revenge. Psychology & Marketing, 39(3), 598-611.
Yoruk, I., Hsu, J. H., & Lee, Z. W. (2025). Consumer forgiveness: A literature review and research agenda. Psychology & Marketing, 42(2), 554-578.
Zhang, L., Zhang, Q., Li, X., Shao, W., Ma, J., Zhang, R., ... & Li, J. (2022). The effect of patient perceived involvement on patient loyalty in primary care: The mediating role of patient satisfaction and the moderating role of the family doctor contract service. The International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 37(2), 734-754.
