Coping strategies for serial service failures in peer-to-peer sharing services: the power of empathic communication

Peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing services experience failures, caused by customers or peer service providers (PSPs). When failures recur, PSPs’ response to the first failure shapes subsequent customer reactions. This study examines scenarios where the initial failure is caused by the customer, and the subsequent failure is attributed to the PSP. How the PSP’s empathetic responses to the initial failure influences customer reactions during the subsequent failures was examined. Results show that PSP’s empathic communication during the first failure reduces customers’ negative emotions and may or may not foster a more lenient attitude toward the second failure, depending on the response type. Specifically, empathy positively impacts satisfaction and intent for positive review score but not for sharing negative reviews.