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| Project Details |
| Funding Scheme : | General Research Fund | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Project Number : | 14502514 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Project Title(English) : | The Influence of Incidental Similarity on Consumers’ Causal Attributions and Reactions to Observable Service Failures Across Cultures | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Project Title(Chinese) : | 服務失誤: 巧合相似對跨文化旁觀者的影響 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Principal Investigator(English) : | Prof Wan, Chun Ying | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Principal Investigator(Chinese) : | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Department : | School of Hotel and Tourism Management | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Institution : | The Chinese University of Hong Kong | ||||||||||||||||||||
| E-mail Address : | lisawan@baf.cuhk.edu.hk | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Tel : | 852-39438624 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Co - Investigator(s) : |
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| Panel : | Business Studies | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Subject Area : | Business Studies | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Exercise Year : | 2014 / 15 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Fund Approved : | 334,138 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Project Status : | Completed | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Completion Date : | 30-4-2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Project Objectives : |
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| Abstract as per original application (English/Chinese): |
Incidental similarities are chance similarities between individuals which create a sense of association between two people. Although incidental similarities can be triggered by trivial cues such as a shared family name or birthplace, they can have nontrivial consequences. For example, chance similarities to another person can increase compliance with a request to help this person (Burger et al. 2004) and, if the individual is a salesperson, can increase purchase intentions (Jiang et al. 2010). Existing research therefore suggests that incidental similarities lead to favorable reactions to the similar other. We propose that the effects of incidental similarities are not invariably favorable. Incidental similarities can elicit unfavorable effects, and can make an otherwise disinterested observer become involved in an exchange between a stranger and a company that (s)he merely witnessed.
For example, a service failure involves the service provider and the suffering customer. From the perspective of an individual observing the failure, the nature of the effect of incidental similarities would depend on whether one feels a sense of association with the provider or the customer. Imagine a situation in which someone observes a customer being told that a table he had reserved is actually not available. If the observer notices that customer’s tie happens to be the same color as his own, he may be disposed to view the situation from the customer’s perspective and blame the provider for the failure. However, if the observer notices from the provider’s name tag that they happen to have the same surname, he may feel more similar to the provider and attributing him less responsibility for the failure. We also suspect this pattern will be stronger for observers with interdependent (vs. independent) self-construal, given they are more sensitive to interpersonal relationships.
This is the first research to investigate the deleterious effects of incidental similarity in a service failure context. We attempt to illuminate the process through which incidental similarities can affect attribution and evaluation. We delineate two mechanisms through which the sense of connectedness can affect attribution: 1) a disposition to forgive if one feels a bond with the person at fault (the provider) and 2) empathy if one feels a bond with the person who is not at fault (the suffering customer). Our findings will not only contribute to an understanding of the effect of incidental similarities on perception and judgment but also will offer managerial insights into service failure and recovery. 人與人之間的巧合相似(例如相同姓氏，相同生日日期) 會令他們產生一種聯繫。以往研究指出這種微不足道的聯繫往往帶來意想不到的正面影響。例如人們大多願意幫助和他們有巧合相似的陌生人。亦會傾向願意購買和他們有巧合相似的售貨員的商品。 我們的研究提出這種巧合相似不一定會有正面影響，特別是在服務失誤的情況下，因為當中牽涉服務員及消費者兩方便。假如旁觀者發現他和那位不認識的消費者帶同一款顏色的領帶，這種巧合可能會讓他傾向怪責服務員。但若果他發現服務員的名牌寫和他同樣的姓氏，他可能傾向不怪責服務員。我們估計這情況會在相互文化的地域比獨立文化的地域更顯著。 |
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| Realisation of objectives: | Objectives 1 to 3 were achieved. We conducted six studies in total to address objectives 1, 2 and 3 and the manuscript was successfully published at the top tier marketing journal, namely, Journal of Consumer Research. In addition, although we conducted one more study to test the objective 4 and results supported our predictions, reviewers suggested us to consider investigating other moderators to address our research question. Therefore, we did not report the study that addressed objective 4 in the published manuscript. We mentioned this objective 4 in the future research direction. We also presented the findings in three international conferences and an invited research seminar. Publication: Wan, Lisa C. and Robert S. Wyer (2019), “The Influence of Incidental Similarity on Observers’ Causal Attributions and Reactions to a Service Failure?” Journal of Consumer Research, 45 (6), 1350-68. (https://academic.oup.com/jcr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jcr/ucy050/5033710) Conferences: Wan, Lisa C. (2017), “How Observers React To Service Failures? The Impact of Incidental Similarity,” The Asia Pacific Tourism Association (APTA) 2017 Annual Conference, Busan, Korea. Wan, Lisa C. and Robert S. Wyer (2016), “The Influence of Incidental Similarity on Consumer Reactions to Observable Service Failures,” Annual Australian New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) Conference, Brisbane. Wan, Lisa C. and Robert S. Wyer(2016), “The Influence of Incidental Similarity on Consumers’ Reactions to Observable Service Failures,” 2016 Global Marketing Conference, Hong Kong. Invited Research Seminar Research and Insights on Consumer Reactions to Service Failures, Research Seminar, Research Institute for Business, Hang Seng Management College, 2017. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Summary of objectives addressed: |
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| Research Outcome | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Major findings and research outcome: | Major findings: Observers’ (i.e., potential customers’) reactions to a service failure and their attributions of responsibility for its occurrence can depend on fortuitous characteristics of the protagonists that happen to draw their attention. Four field and laboratory experiments show that when observers have an incidental similarity to one of the persons involved in a service failure (the customer or the service provider), their attention is drawn to this protagonist, often leading them to construe the situation from this person’s perspective and consequently to blame the protagonist less for the negative event they observe. However, when an incidentally similar protagonist is rude or has an undesirable personal characteristic (i.e., obesity), observers’ greater attention to him or her increases their attributions of responsibility to him or her rather than decreasing it. These opposing effects of incidental similarity on attributions influence not only observers’ evaluations of the persons involved in the situation they observe but also their willingness to patronize the establishment. These effects occur both when observers actually witness a conflict offline and when they consider it online on the basis of reviews. The manuscript with the above findings was successfully published at the top tier marketing journal, namely, Journal of Consumer Research. We also presented the findings at three international conferences and one invited research seminar. Publication: Wan, Lisa C. and Robert S. Wyer (2019), “The Influence of Incidental Similarity on Observers’ Causal Attributions and Reactions to a Service Failure?” Journal of Consumer Research, 45 (6), 1350-68. (https://academic.oup.com/jcr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jcr/ucy050/5033710) Conferences: Wan, Lisa C. (2017), “How Observers React To Service Failures? The Impact of Incidental Similarity,” The Asia Pacific Tourism Association (APTA) 2017 Annual Conference, Busan, Korea. Wan, Lisa C. and Robert S. Wyer (2016), “The Influence of Incidental Similarity on Consumer Reactions to Observable Service Failures,” Annual Australian New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) Conference, Brisbane. Wan, Lisa C. and Robert S. Wyer(2016), “The Influence of Incidental Similarity on Consumers’ Reactions to Observable Service Failures,” 2016 Global Marketing Conference, Hong Kong. Invited Research Seminar Research and Insights on Consumer Reactions to Service Failures, Research Seminar, Research Institute for Business, Hang Seng Management College, 2017. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Potential for further development of the research and the proposed course of action: |
We think that more research works can be done on the topic of the role of observers in services consumption. For example, our conclusions assume that observers are not only incidentally similar to the persons they observe but also evaluate the similarity favorably. Individuals with a strong need for uniqueness may react negatively to indications they are similar to another. Moreover, both individual and cultural differences might exist in the general disposition to think about oneself in relation to others (Markus and Kitayama 1991). Participants in the present research were Asians, who may be particularly sensitive to the similarities between themselves and others and inclined to value social connectedness. Although the effects of incidental similarity have been identified in research on Western cultural samples as well (e.g., Burger et al. 2004), this difference could be a consideration in evaluating the generalizability of our findings. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Layman's Summary of Completion Report: | “What a coincidence!” We have all experienced that mysterious sensation triggered by an unexpected connection with a person. This research suggests that these connections can affect observers of service failures to assign blame of the events to the provider or the customer. Our results indicated that the participants having the same last name as the customer would blame the service provider for the service failure, whereas those with the same last name as the service provider would blame the customer instead. Interestingly, this tendency will be changed if the service provider (or the customer) displaying a negative or undesirable quality (e.g., rudeness or obesity). In such scenario, participants sharing the incidental similarity with the provider were found to blame the service provider rather than the customer for the failure of service. This is because sharing an incidental similarity with the provider will increase an observer’s attention on the provider’s negative or undesirable characteristics, the observer will increase their blame on the provider in this case. Customer online complaints have increased 800% over the years between 2014 and 2015 (Causon 2015), capture many viewers’ attention. This research offers important implications for consumers’ reactions to the information conveyed on online websites. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Research Output | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Peer-reviewed journal publication(s) arising directly from this research project : (* denotes the corresponding author) |
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| Recognized international conference(s) in which paper(s) related to this research project was/were delivered : |
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| Other impact (e.g. award of patents or prizes, collaboration with other research institutions, technology transfer, etc.): |
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| SCREEN ID: SCRRM00542 |