Diagnosing Service Success and Failure Incidents in the Consumer-to-Business Sharing Economy

Abstract

This study uses the critical incident technique to collect and analyze incidents of service failure and success involving a logistics sharing service in which the service providers are individuals. The authors also explore the key factors that affect customer satisfaction, along with the official and ideal recovery strategies. Data is based on interviews with 35 business users in Taiwan in 2017. A card sorting exercise is employed to classify the collected incidents and strategies into categories. The results show that the determinants of success and failure in logistics sharing services include drivers, platform operation, the matching system, and communication. Compensation is the most effective recovery strategy, whereas doing nothing is the least effective. Suggestions based on our results can help managers of the sharing economy to avoid or recover from failures and attain success.