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Title: Why do Consumers Forgive Online Travel Agencies? A Multi-study Approach

Journal: Australasian Marketing Journal

This paper investigates how consumers respond to online recovery strategies in response to a service failure in the

online travel agencies (OTA) context. The study also examines the role of justice and forgiveness in the online service
recovery process. Firstly, a qualitative study was employed to explore the predominant strategies exercised by the

service providers. Further, we collect the data from a survey (n = 335) using an online questionnaire about service failure
in the OTA context to examine the proposed relationship based on Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework

and Justice theory. The data was analysed using CB-SEM and fsQCA. Results show that response speed, explanation,
courtesy and problem-solving are crucial online recovery strategies. Results also highlighted that consumers’

perceived justice and forgiveness play a crucial role in the online recovery process. The fsQCA results showed that five
solutions (i.e. various combinations of causal antecedents) could facilitate the formation of repatronage intention.

Our study enriches service failure literature. Our findings may help online travel agents design suitable strategies to
reduce the negative effect of service failure on their customers.

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