Asymmetric impact of attributes performance on overbooking recovery satisfaction

Attribute performance is critical for achieving higher customer recovery satisfaction. Previous studies show an asymmetric impact of attribute performance on satisfaction, however, without consideration of customer's psychological impacts. Such ignorance may mislead the research results and deviate the effectiveness of implementation. The purpose of this study is to extend traditional attribute-satisfaction analysis by incorporating customer's psychological factors and to propose a new way for implementation. Using data collected in Chinese airline industries, this study ascertains the effectiveness to categorize the customers into time fixed versus time flexible situations and finds that the asymmetric impacts exist in both time situations. The possible misleading effect in traditional methods is pointed out. The findings of this study suggest an easier and more accurate way to prioritize the attributes for service recovery by considering psychological impacts. The promising managerial implications are discussed.