PARTIAL TRUST REPAIR IN A MANDATORY GREEN SERVICE: EVIDENCE ON THE SERVICE RECOVERY PARADOX FROM CHINA'S VEHICLE INSPECTION INDUSTRY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35631/IJIREV.826034Keywords:
ESG Governance, Justice Perceptions, Mandatory Green Services, Service Recovery Paradox, Trust Restoration, Vehicle InspectionAbstract
Vehicle inspection is a mandatory, compliance-oriented service that vehicle owners cannot easily avoid. This study asks whether recovery in this setting can produce a service recovery paradox, whereby post-recovery trust or satisfaction exceeds the pre-failure level. An embedded case study at BR Company, a Chinese vehicle inspection SME, combined 87 complaint cases, interviews with 10 customers and 5 employees, and participant observation across three insider action-research cycles. Descriptive analysis covered all incidents; exploratory regression used 40 complete cases. Pre-failure trust was retrospectively stated in customer records rather than measured prospectively and may therefore be affected by recall bias. Mean trust declined from a recalled pre-failure baseline of 3.8 to 2.1 after failure and recovered to 3.3. Only 3 cases (3.4%) showed post-recovery satisfaction above the stated pre-failure level. Interactional justice had the strongest association with post-recovery trust (beta = 0.45, p < .001), followed by procedural and distributive justice. The findings indicate that mandatory green services may limit the paradox by shifting recovery from extraordinary satisfaction toward damage control. Respectful treatment, transparent procedures, credible remedies, and complaint-led learning are practical capabilities for responsible service governance.
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