Relationship Strength, Gender and Customers’ Switching Intentions after Online Purchase Service Failures among International Students in India

Abstract

While previous studies have acknowledged the importance of understanding customer reaction after purchase disappointments, the combined insights of gender and relationship strength on consumer switching intentions after a service failure has not been fully examined.To address such gap, this study investigates the joint effect of relationship strength and gender on customer switching intentions after a service failure among international students in North East India universities. Two way ANOVA was used to determine the existence of an interaction between relationship strength and gender on intentions to switch. Results from quasi-experiment research among 104 international students suggest that male customers in both relationship strength were more likely to switch than female customers after a service failure. This suggests that male customers are supporting ``love become hate`` effect, whereas female customers support the ``love is blind effect``.Practitioners might want to consider each gender characteristics in relation to customer relationship when handling customers complains after service failure and therefore providing relevant service recovery solutions basing on the relationship strength and gender. Based on the study’s key findings, valuable theoretical and managerial implications are given for academics and practitioners on the subject.