A second chance to serve South African private banking consumers: the role of post-transgression forgiveness

While service failure is inevitable in the banking sector, the manner in which service recovery efforts are expedited poses vital implications for organizations vested in profitable relationships with their clients. In this vein, this study investigates the significance of post-transgression forgiveness in defining the resultant satisfaction levels of customers. A structured questionnaire was self-administered among 371 premium banking customers. The findings point to the salience of selected service recovery efforts towards the forgiveness inclinations and ultimate satisfaction levels of banking customers. In particular, both bank reciprocity norms (ß=0.459; p<0.000) and extra-role behavior (ß=0.348; p<0.000) positively influence post-transgression forgiveness by customers. On the other hand, extra-role behavior (ß=0.407; p<0.000) and forgiveness (ß=0.373; p<0.000) positively influence bank service satisfaction. Nevertheless, bank reciprocity was found to have a positive influence on extra-role behavior (ß=0.548; p<0.000) in this study. The findings suggest the need for the development of a prescribed set of guidelines and bank procedures to support personalized service recovery efforts in the wake of service failures.