Effects of tourist complaining constraints on justice perceptions and loyalty intention: Using culture and magnitude as moderators

Receiving complaints is important for service companies in general and for tourism companies in particular. However, the majority of dissatisfied tourists are ready to just walk away and never come back. To prevent this from happening, it is imperative for tourism industry managers to understand the factors that discourage tourists from complaining, in other words, the factors that constrain them from voicing their complaints.;An extensive review of tourism literature reveals that most studies directly applied general consumer behavior theories without considering the unique features of the tourism industry. Tourism presents the characteristics of services very much in general but is also intrinsically a non-ordinary and non-routine experience. Tourists have a different mindset and perceive, behave and react 'differently' when taking their holidays. Therefore, the intention of this research is to firstly develop a new measurement scale namely tourist complaining constraints (TCC), being tailor-made to incorporate unique features of the tourism industry. Secondly, the objective is to analyze relationships between the TCC factors and justice perceptions, and finally determine how cultural background and magnitude of failure moderate these relationships.;Results of this review were used to develop a set of interview questions and questionnaire items. Transcripts created from 15 in-depth interviews with Chinese and American graduate students generated an initial pool of 61 items. Thereafter, through the examination of dimensionality, reliability, factor structure and validity, these items were purified. Through judgmental sampling 1,822 respondents from China and America, were recruited for input into the study. A series of comprehensive data analysis was collected which included descriptive, multivariate and structural equation modeling producing a 15-item TCC scale. Five factors emerged as statistically reliable and valid. Results from the path analysis indicated that in the main hypothesized relationships were supported. Major findings from this research are listed below. • This thesis developed a tailor-made multiple-item measurement scale, TCC, which contains five factors that constrains tourists complaining behavior. • Limited time, unfamiliarity, limited communication, limited involvement and being in a positive holiday mood are factors that hinder tourists complaining behavior. • Cultural background of the respondents affects the perceived importance of these constraining factors. • The TCC scale fills the gap in tourism literature by highlighting the differences between consumer and tourist complaining behaviors. • With regard to the relationship between justice perceptions and loyalty intentions to the company, results suggest that hotel guests expect a fair recovery to keep them loyal to the company, regardless of their cultural background. • The magnitude of failure significantly moderates the relationship from justice perceptions to loyalty intentions in all sub-samples.;Replication studies using a larger sample size elsewhere with members of different cultures would be fruitful for further generalization of the newly developed TCC scale.