Research On The Effect Of Frontline Employee Apology On Consumers’ Forgiveness In The Context Of Service Failure

The Internet era makes the spatial distance between people shrink and information transmission is faster.When service failure occurs,if a negative response is taken,the fermentation of Internet public opinion will bring economic and reputation losses to the enterprise.As important members of the enterprise and direct service providers,front-line employees have a key role in effective service remediation,because front-line employees at the service site are familiar with the specific situation and can carry out rapid disposal and remedial response to service failure within the authorized scope,which can avoid the expansion and escalation of the situation,therefore,it is important and necessary to pay attention to the remedial role of the main body of front-line employees for the enterprise to cope with service failure.Based on the above,this study combines service remediation theory,social exchange theory and social information processing theory to establish a research model based on service failure in the restaurant industry.In this paper,we conducted pre-experiment,experiment 1 and experiment 2 to study typical service failure in the restaurant industry,and used SPSS26.0 statistical software to analyze the data.(1)The results of the pre-experiment showed that the subjects’ recognition of the two service failure scenarios of "bad dining environment" and "long waiting time" was high,and then identified as the scenarios for the subsequent experiments.(2)The results of Experiment 1 showed that there was a significant interaction between frontline employees’ apology and customer relationship norms on consumers’ willingness to forgive,and furthermore,under the shared relationship norms,consumers’willingness to forgive was significantly higher among frontline employees who adopted direct apology strategy than indirect apology,and under the transactional relationship norms,consumers’willingness to forgive was significantly higher among frontline employees who adopted indirect apology strategy than direct apology.(3)The results of Experiment 2 further verified the results of Experiment 1 and that there was a mediating role of perceived effort in the effect of frontline employees’ apology and customer relationship norms on consumers’ willingness to forgive.Further,under the shared relationship norms,frontline employees’ adoption of direct apology strategy would cause consumers to infer effort on frontline employees,and thus consumers’ willingness to forgive would be significantly higher than indirect apology,and under the transactional relationship norms,the Under the transactional relationship norm,the adoption of an indirect apology strategy by frontline employees leads consumers to make an effort inference about frontline employees,and thus consumers’ willingness to forgive is significantly higher than that of a direct apology.Finally,this paper proposes suggestions for dealing with service failure in the light of the findings of the study and the actual operation of enterprises.(1)Pay attention to the remedial role of frontline employees,and choose reasonable apology and remedial measures taking into account the relationship between consumers and frontline employees to avoid the expansion of the situation and the negative impact on the company.(2)Companies should focus on building long-term friendly relationships with consumers,expand publicity through new media operations,and fully demonstrate their advantages in attracting consumers.(3)Foster the embodiment of effortful behavior by front-line employees so that consumers can achieve a state of psychological equilibrium when faced with service failures,thereby enhancing positive perceptions of the company.