Relationship Between Social Media Customer Complaint Behavior and Complaint Satisfaction: The Mediating Role of Recovery Expectations in the Kenyan Hospitality Industry

Résumé fourni par la source

Social media has transformed customers’ ability to voice dissatisfaction with service failure, leading to a rise in customer complaints that can negatively influence both a firm’s reputation and customers’ perceptions. As a result, effective complaint handling has become a central concern for hotel managers. This study sought to explore the mediating role of justice-based recovery expectations in the relationship between social media customer complaint behavior and complaint satisfaction. A descriptive cross-sectional survey and stratified random sampling were used to obtain a sample of 503 customers from star-rated hotels in Kenya. Descriptive and inferential analyses (factor analysis and SEM) were conducted using SPSS-28 and AMOS. Results indicated that social media complaint behavior negatively affects complaint satisfaction, and that recovery expectations mediate this relationship. This study contributes to the literature by integrating recovery expectations into the complaint satisfaction framework and empirically demonstrates that recovery expectations mediate the relationship between complaint behavior and complaint satisfaction. The study offers hoteliers evidence-based recommendations that can help them develop recovery strategies that enhance customer satisfaction.