Moderating effect of discriminatory attributions on repatronage intentions

This research investigates the role of social context at the time of a service failure. The negativity of the service failure has the potential to escalate when consumers who are part of a traditionally stigmatized group believe the service failure to be a purposeful event brought on by physically observable differences in appearance. A small exploratory study and two large scale data collections are conducted to validate a measure of transaction specific attributions of discrimination (TSAD) to enhance our understanding of the issue. The moderating effect of TSAD is demonstrated on repatronage intentions to the service firm. Published by Elsevier Ltd.