Why service recovery fails: A case study on the Norwegian Coastal Voyage (Hurtigruten)

Abstract

This paper deals with a service recovery study carried out on the prestigious Norwegian Coastal Voyage (NCV) or the Hurtigruten, which is the brand name. The research is based on a collection of 51 service failure incidents, of which 16 were recovered by the service provider. However, 35 service failure incidents were not recovered, and the paper documents why service recovery failed in these cases on the Hurtigruten. The findings show that the service actors, the service leadership due to lack of service competencies, the service employees due to lack of knowledge, skills and empowerment, and the customers themselves due to their own attitudes and behaviours explain why service recovery failed.