The Consequences of Fairness for a Small Professional Services Firm
Abstract
This paper distinguishes among client perceptions of outcome, procedural and interactional justice in professional services. We surveyed clients of a small accounting firm and focused specifically on fairness perceptions in income tax services. We predicted that procedural and interactional fairness would be more influential than distributive fairness on evaluations of the service. The results suggest that interactional fairness, the interpersonal treatment in the delivery of the service, is the most significant predictor of client perceptions of service quality, loyalty, and trust. Implications for managers of small businesses as well as sole practitioners that offer professional services are discussed.
References
Behn, B.K., Carcello, J.V., Hermanson, D.R. & Hermanson, R.H. 1997. The determinants of audit client satisfaction among clients of Big 6 Firms. Accounting Horizons, Vol. 11 : 7-24.
Bejou, D. & Palmer, A. 1998. Service failure and loyalty: an exploratory empirical study of airline customers. Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 12 (1): 7-22.
Bowen, D.E. & Schneider, B. 1988. Services marketing and management: Implications for organizational behavior. In B.M. Staw & L.L. Cummings (Eds.) Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 10, pp. 43-80). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Clemmer, B.C. 1993. An investigation into the relationship of fairness and customer satisfaction with services. In Cropanzano, R. (Ed.) Justice in the workplace: Approaching fairness in human resource management: 193-207. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc.
Clemmer, B.C. & Schneider, B. 1996. Fair Service. In T. Swartz, D. Bowen, & S. Brown (Eds.) Advances in services marketing and management: 109-126. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Coulter, K.S. & Coulter, R.A. 2002. Determinants of trust in a service provider: the moderating role of length of relationship. Journal of Services Marketing. Vol. 16(1): 35-50.
Crosby, L.A., Evans, K.R. & Cowles, 1990. Relationship quality in services selling: An interpersonal influence perspective. Journal oj Marketing, Vol. 54: 68-81.
Cropanzano, R. & Folger, R. 1989. Referent cognitions and task decision autonomy: Beyond equity theory. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 74(2): 293-299.
Curasi, C.F. & Kennedy, K.M. 2002. From prisoners to apostles: A typology of repeat buyers and loyal customers in service businesses. Journal of Services Marketing, 16(4): 322-341.
de Ruyter, K. & Wetzels, M. 2000. Customer equity considerations in service recovery: A cross-industry perspective. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 11(1):91-108.
Folger, R., Konovsky, M. A. 1989. Effects of procedural and distributive justice on reactions to pay raise decisions. Academv of Management Journal, Vol. 32(1): 115130.
Goodwin, C. & Gremler, D.D. 1996. Friendship over the counter: How social aspects of the service encounters influence consumer service loyalty. Advances in Services Marketing and Management, 5:247-282.
Greenberg, J. 1990. Organizational justice: Yesterday, today and tomorrow. Journal of Management, Vol. 16: 399-432.
Greenberg, J. 1993. Stealing in the name of justice: Informational and interpersonal moderators of theft reactions to underpayment inequity. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Vol. 54:81-103.
Halinen, A. 1996. Service quality in professional business services: A relationship approach. Advances in services marketing and management: Vol. 5: 315-341.
Konovsky, M.A. 2000. Understanding procedural justice and Its impact on Business Organizations. Journal of Management, Vol. 26(3): 489-511.
Korsgaard, M.A. & Roberson, L. Procedural justice in performance evaluation: The role of instrumental and non-instrumental voice in performance appraisal decisions. Journal of Management, Vol. 21: 657-669.
Lind, E. A., & Tyler, T. 1988. The social psychology of procedural justice. New York: Plenum.
McFarlin, D.B. & Sweeney, P.O. 1992. Distributive and procedural justice as predictors of satisfaction with personal and work outcomes. Academv of Management Journal, Vol. 35(3): 626-637.
Miller, J.L., Craighead, C.W. & Karwan, K.R. 2000. Service recovery: A framework and empirical investigation. Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 18: 387-400.
Reichheld, F.F. 1996. The loyalty effect. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Reichheld, F.F. & Sasser, W.E. 1990. Zero defections: Quality comes to service. Harvard Business Review, 68(September-October): 105-111.
Robbins, T.L., Jeffords, B.C. & Summers, S.B. 2002. Identifying client fairness criteria in income tax services. Services Marketing Quarterly, Vol. 22(4): 33-44.
Rousseau, D.M. & Parks, J.M. 1993. The contracts of individuals and organizations. In L.L. Cummings and B. Staw (Eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior, 15 (pp. 1-47), Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Rundle-Thiele, S. & Mackay, M.M. 2001. Assessing the performance of brand loyalty measures. Journal of Services Marketing, 15(7): 529-546.
Seiders, K. and Berry, L.L. 1998. Service fairness: What is it and why it matters. Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 12(2): 8-20.
Sweeney, P.O. & McFarlin, D.B. 1993. Workers' evaluation of the 'ends' and 'means': An examination of four models of distributive and procedural justice. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Vol. 55:23-40.
Turner, L.D., Aldhizer, G.R., III, & Shank, M.D. 1999. Client perceptions of MAS Quality as measured by a marketing-based service quality model. Accounting Horizons, Vol. 13: 17-36.
Tyler, T.R. 1989. The psychology of procedural justice: A test of the group-value model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57: 830-838.
Tyler, T.R. 1994. Psychological models of the justice motive: Antecedents of distributive and procedural justice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(5): 50-863.
