Index of Paper Presentations for the Parallel Sessions - Academy of ...

stress. Secondary appraisal relates to identifying an appropriate response to mitigate thisstress. This step emphasizes the ability of the individual to cope with the stress. Finally, theprocess culminates with the execution of the coping strategy (Lazarus, 1966 and Lazarusand Folkman, 1984; Folkman and Lazarus, 1988). With varied levels of stress invoked due to difference in theseverity of the problem, consumers have diverse coping strategies at their disposition to deal with the failures.Duhachek (2005) based on the extant literature identified eight dimensions of coping which were namely; action,rational thinking, emotional support seeking, instrumental support seeking, avoidance, positive thinking and denial.ActionConsumers‘ stress related to service failure often drives them towards engaging in taking action to mitigate thestress. In case of high severe failures, action might be in the form of direct confrontation with the marketer toinfluence them to change their minds. This strategy aims at the ways the problem can be solved by devising a plan ofaction. It includes information search, taking direct action against the marketer in order to reduce the stressassociated with the service failure (Carver et al., 1989 and Yi and Baumgartner, 2004)Rational thinkingA failure when perceived to be of less severe is often dealt with making conscious effort to subdue emotions fromdirecting one‘s behaviour. Explained this as restraint coping strategy where an individual deals with the stress byholding back to the emotions unless there is a right opportunity to act upon it (Carver et al., 1989). Customerscontrol their emotions by providing appropriate rationale for the situation. They distance themselves from thesituation, and analyze it in a more objective manner (Duhachek, 2005).Seeking social support for emotional reasonsThis form of coping behaviour is used to improve the emotional state of an individual (Duhachek, 2005) and is moreprevalent way of coping when the severity is low but brand reputation is high. It is a mechanism of seeking supportfrom others by discussing the problem with them (Yi and Baumgartner, 2004). Thus individuals irrespective of highor less severe failure would want to seek moral support from others for sympathy or better understanding of theirsituation (Carver et al., 1989).Seeking social support for instrumental reasons