A Critical Incident Approach to Examining the Effects of Service Failures on Customer Relationships

Abstract

This article presents the results of empirical studies of critical incidents in airline services in Sweden and the United States. The main aim is to describe and analyze service break downs from the customer's point of view and thus create a basis for crisis management. The aim is also to compare Sweden, a monopoly market, with the United States, a market with keen competition in airline services. The discussion is based on personal interviews with 320 customers and 80 airline employees in Sweden and 241 customers and 100 employees in the United States. The study focuses on negative critical incidents in the relations between the service provider and business passengers.