WAITING IN SERVICE ENVIRONMENTS: INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF PREDICTED VALUE, WAIT DISCONFIRMATION, AND PROVIDERS' ACTIONS IN CONSUMERS' SERVICE EVALUATIONS

Abstract

Management of consumer waiting experiences is critical for practitioners in that unpleasant waiting experiences may result in negative service evaluations. This study focused on consumers' queue waits during the pre-process phase of waiting experiences, i.e., before services are received, and investigated the extent to which relevant variables during this process may impact consumers' subsequent service experience evaluations. The investigation purported to expand and refine the expectation-affect-service evaluation relationship. Specifically, the framework examined the influence of predicted value of service on wait expectations (conceptualized as "consumer zone of wait tolerance" derived from the service literatures), the effects of consumers' comparisons between wait expectations and perceptions (i.e., wait disconfirmation) and perceived wait duration on affective responses to waiting, and the impact of affective responses to waiting on service experience evaluations. In addition, this study predicted the moderating role of actions of the service provider from a social justice perspective in the relationship between affective response to waiting and service experience evaluation.Data were collected at two points in time (i.e., during waiting and at completion of service) via surveys completed by 393 adult consumers intercepted at three restaurants located in a southwestern city in the U.S. Hypotheses were tested through structural equation modeling, MANCOVA statistical techniques, and additional post hoc analyses. Findings suggest that both wait disconfirmation and perceived wait duration influence service experience evaluation through affective response to waiting. Results also revealed a positive relationship between predicted conditional value and zone of wait tolerance. The study provides support for social exchange theory and better understanding of the role of actions of the service provider in the relationship between affective response to waiting and service experience evaluation. Lastly, post hoc analyses lend credence to the concept that consumers' affective responses to waiting and service experience evaluations vary across the wait disconfirmation groups. Both theoretical and managerial implications are discussed and directions for future research are also provided.