Quality of Outcome Guidelines for Complaint Handling

What it measures

Measures the quality of an organisation's formal guidelines for the outcomes or compensation provided to complaining customers, operationalising the mechanistic approach to complaint management. Items assess whether guidelines are clearly defined and simple, whether employees have sufficient decision authority and empowerment to award redress, whether guidelines permit generous compensation, and whether they specify that redress should match the complainant's individual needs. Higher scores indicate more complete and customer-aligned outcome guidelines. Administered to the manager with primary responsibility for complaint management.

Response format

7-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree)

Scale items

• In our company/business unit, guidelines for providing compensation to complaining customers are clearly defined.
• In our company/business unit, guidelines for providing compensation to complaining customers are relatively simple.
• In our company/business unit, guidelines for providing compensation to complaining customers give employees who are responsible for complaint handling the decision authority which is necessary for a satisfactory problem resolution.
• In our company/business unit, guidelines for providing compensation to complaining customers empower frontline employees to award redress up to a certain degree.
• In our company/business unit, guidelines for providing compensation to complaining customers allow for a generous redress.
• In our company/business unit, guidelines for providing compensation to complaining customers include instructions that the type of redress should be in line with complainants' needs.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Composite reliability = .85; AVE = .49 (marginally below the recommended .50 threshold; interpret discriminant validity indicators with some caution). In the structural model, outcome guidelines positively predict perceived distributive justice (γ = .54, p < .01), the strongest guideline effect among the three mechanistic constructs on their corresponding justice dimension. Outcome guidelines have the largest total effect on complaint satisfaction (.54 × .47 = .25) among the three guideline types. Effect on distributive justice is negatively moderated by supportiveness of internal environment (p < .10, weak support) and is stronger for service firms than manufacturing firms.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Homburg, C., & Fürst, A. (2005). How organizational complaint handling drives customer loyalty: An analysis of the mechanistic and the organic approach. Journal of Marketing, 69(3), 95–114.

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