Similarities could alter customer reactions

Similarities could alter customers' reactions to service failure, irrespective of whether it is any name, hometown or personal characteristic, a study finds.

It has significant implications for consumers' feedback about online reviews which play a major part in shopping experiences nowadays, according to a Media OutReach-forwarded statement on Tuesday.

The study titled The Influence of Incidental Similarity on Observers' Causal Attributions and Reactions to a Service Failure was conducted by Chinese University of Hong Kong or CUHK Business School.

Prof Lisa Wan, Assistant Professor of School of Hotel and Tourism Management and Director of Centre for Hospitality and Real Estate Research, led the research.

She thinks the study also reflects a unique characteristic in Asian societies.