Quality of Process Guidelines for Complaint Handling

What it measures

Measures the quality of an organisation's formal process guidelines for customer complaint handling, operationalising the mechanistic approach to complaint management. Items assess whether guidelines are clearly defined and simple, whether time standards govern complaint duration, whether staff are required to update customers on complaint status, and whether procedures exist for recording and forwarding complaint information efficiently. Higher scores indicate more complete and customer-aligned process 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 registering and processing customer complaints are clearly defined.
• In our company/business unit, guidelines for registering and processing customer complaints are relatively simple.
• In our company/business unit, guidelines for registering and processing customer complaints include time standards that define the normal or maximum duration of the entire process.
• In our company/business unit, guidelines for registering and processing customer complaints include instructions to inform customers about the current status of their complaint within a reasonable period of time.
• In our company/business unit, guidelines for registering and processing customer complaints include instructions to record complaint information in a fast, complete, and structured manner.
• In our company/business unit, guidelines for registering and processing customer complaints include instructions to forward complaint information to the person in charge in a fast, complete, and structured manner.

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

Usage notes & scoring

Validated using a dyadic sample of 110 company–customer dyads drawn from 379 responding firms across manufacturing (machine building, chemicals, automotive, electronics, metal processing) and service (banking/insurance, retailing, transport) industries. Composite reliability = .89; AVE = .58. Discriminant validity from QBGCH, QOGCH, and SIECH confirmed via Fornell–Larcker criterion. In the structural model, process guidelines positively predict perceived procedural justice (γ = .55, p < .01). Effects of process guidelines on justice perceptions are stronger in B2C than B2B contexts and stronger for service firms than manufacturing firms. The negative moderating effect of internal environment supportiveness on this specific link was non-significant (p > .10).

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.

Keywords