Exploring the Dimensions of Perceived Justice and the Moderating Effect of Brand Image in Service Recovery

Abstract

In the context of the present research, the author aims to address gaps in the existing literature by exploring the dimensions of perceived justice and examining whether brand image plays a moderating role in the relationship between perceived justice and recovery satisfaction. The study is based on primary data collected from air passengers in a developing country, specifically India. The first model of the hierarchical regression analysis revealed that all three dimensions of perceived justice—distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactional justice—are positively related to recovery satisfaction. Among these, distributive justice had the strongest influence on recovery satisfaction, followed by interactional justice, which had a stronger effect than procedural justice. This indicates that how fairly outcomes are distributed (distributive justice) has a more significant impact on customer satisfaction after a service failure than how the process is handled (procedural justice) or the quality of interpersonal treatment (interactional justice). Moreover, the results confirmed that brand image plays a moderating role in the relationship between perceived justice and recovery satisfaction. All three interaction terms (distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactional justice) with brand image were significant, showing that a strong corporate or brand image can enhance the positive effects of perceived justice on customer satisfaction following a recovery effort. This suggests that companies with a favorable brand image are better able to mitigate the negative effects of service failures by influencing how customers perceive the fairness of their recovery processes.