Try again. Fail again. Fail better-E-commerce service failures in small and medium-sized enterprises
(R2024-122587)

AUTHORS

Ana Brochado, ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, DINAMIA'CET Centro de Estudos sobre a Mudanca Socioeconomica e o Territorio; Maria Gabriela Patrocínio, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL),; Helena Rodrigues, ISCTE-IUL, University Institute of Lisbon, Business Research Unit (BRU-IUL) & Universidade Europeia; Pedro Miguel da Costa, ISCTE

ABSTRACT

The adoption of e-commerce has emerged as a dominant trend in the business world, with Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) being no exception. However, the specific characteristics of these companies make them more prone to encountering e-commerce service failures. This research investigates how Portuguese SMEs address and respond to e-commerce service failures and analyzes the consequent impact on customer satisfaction. To meet these objectives, we adopted a qualitative approach, conducting 17 semi-structured interviews with Portuguese SMEs. The results emphasized the need to implement effective service recovery strategies, which help minimize customer dissatisfaction but also play a critical role in the success of SMEs.