By Sasha Milam, Gustavson Content Curator
Envision this scenario: a shopper orders a framed print online—a Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas black-and-white print, in this case. The order arrives, and the customer eagerly unwraps the package, only to discover that the product is defective. The issue is discussed with the seller, escalated and ultimately ends up unresolved, and the customer leaves even more dissatisfied than after the original error.
For most companies, this would be the end of it—in the worst case, the customer might give them an unflattering review online. But most companies aren’t unwittingly waiting on a renowned service management researcher who has an extensive knowledge of service dos and don’ts—indeed, who helped discover many of these core practices—and who can bring their experience to a class full of business students. Companies aren’t typically waiting on Dr. Steve Tax.
“Scenarios like this one provide the perfect learning opportunity for my customer experience management classes,” says Tax. “You’re a lot more likely to remember complaint-resolution best practice when learned via my Fear and Loathing poster exchange than when viewing it strictly from the perspective of theoretical models.”
Service failure and recovery, customer experience management, service networks, customer performance and service design has been the focus of Tax’s 30-plus-year career as a business researcher and professor. In this time, Tax has not only influenced nearly three decades of Gustavson students, he has also shaped the academic contours of his chosen field of study and helped practitioners bring the concepts he researches to life.
In 1998, Tax and co-author Dr. Murali Chandrashekaran of UBC published what would become his most-cited research paper (which now has more than 3,100 citations by scholars around the world). Titled “Customer evaluations of service complaint experiences: implications for relationship marketing,” the award-winning Journal of Marketing paper broke new ground in understanding how customers assessed a company’s response to their complaint. It concluded that an effective response to a service failure was the most critical determinant of the future relationship between customer and service provider.
“A customer complaint is an opportunity for organizations to demonstrate empathy and reliability and restore trust, if handled correctly,” says Tax. “It’s not just about the outcome of the complaint, however: our research shows that the process by which a resolution is reached, as well as interactions with the employee handling the complaint, are equally important.” In the case of the Fear and Loathing poster, the seller missed these opportunities and created a poor customer experience, but an excellent lesson plan.
“I’ve had several occasions to participate in Dr. Tax’s classes this past fall and in previous years,” says Philip Rubel, a member of Gustavson’s International Advisory Board. “Dr. Tax’s style is a combination of storytelling and rigorous, research-based knowledge sharing that ensures students not only understand the material but absorb it and ‘own it.’ I believe that provides students the bridge they need to transform learning into practice as they pursue their career ambitions.”
Indeed, Tax has plenty of experience with building a bridge from theory to practice. In his own career, he has consulted with organizations from the transportation industry, financial institutions and public policy makers. In 2018, he was recruited to join the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) External Advisory Panel on Service, a board of experts advising CRA on their service design and delivery with the goal of pursuing excellence in client experience. Although it is early days for seeing the impact of this most recent project, Tax’s seat on the panel speaks volumes about the significance of his lifelong dedication to meaningful research and its corresponding value to practitioners, academia and future business leaders.
More about research at Gustavson can be found at www.uvic.ca/gustavson/research
