“Can I go or should I stay?” A theoretical framework of social lock-in during unsatisfactory service encounters

Purpose This article demonstrates that the type of service setting and the first interaction with an employee influences the customers' intention to stay or leave during an unsatisfactory service encounter, and that these effects are mediated by social lock-in, which describes the perception of a customer that exiting a service encounter early violates social norms. Design/methodology/approach The hypotheses are tested with two scenario-based...