| Complaint behavior in the business-to-business (B2B) literature has clearly been under-researched, despite its obvious and growing relevance in the last ten years. This study proposes a conceptual model of managerial complaint behavior, which offers an explanation for paradoxical behavior following a telecommunications service failure that consists of: (1) complaint without exit; and (2) unsatisfied business customers without exit. The model introduces five moderators (alienation, justice, participation, attractiveness of alternative and switching cost) and two mediators (emotions and trust).;A series of hypotheses are tested on data collected with the help of a telecommunications service provider in a B2B context. Two methodological phases were adopted. In the first, two focus groups were conducted (N=20), one in which the members complained and the other in which they did not complain. The second involves administering a questionnaire, using a computer-assisted telephone interviewing system, to a sample of small-business decision makers (N=240) who had experienced a (non-cellular) telephone service problem within a twelve-month period.;Our findings indicate that a service failure has a significant impact on complaint and loyalty behavior. Furthermore, learning about the mediating effects of emotions and trust and the moderating effects of alienation and customer participation in service recovery increases our understanding of paradoxical behavior, while at the same time contributing to the development of useful market retention strategies.;The current theoretical models in service marketing (Rust et al., 1995; Zeithalm et al., 1996) explain customer retention as a causal sequence that is particularly unsuitable when applied to paradoxical behaviors. While appropriate for routine business relationships, these models are inadequate for describing service failure situations (Chebat, 2002). Our conceptual model will contribute to the field of business service marketing by introducing appropriate training designed to increase the quality of the B2B relationship. It should yield original findings to deepen our understanding of business customer complaint and loyalty behavior.;Key words: Service failure, critical incident, service recovery, complaint, loyalty... |
