Mindset matters: Mitigating negative spillover effects in service failures

Abstract

Mitigating the spillover effects of service failures has been a critical challenge in tourism management. This research investigates how tourists’ mindsets influence the negative spillover effects of service failures. Through six empirical studies using different scenarios, manipulation techniques, and types of service failures, we demonstrate that activating an incremental mindset mitigates negative spillover effects on unaffected destinations. Findings reveal a mediating role of perceived differences and moderating roles of destination typicality and service failure severity in the observed relationship. The study contributes to tourism literature by introducing mindset as a mitigating factor in negative spillover effects, integrating implicit theory with the heuristic-systematic model, and providing insights into cross-domain spillover effects. It suggests strategies to activate tourists’ incremental mindsets and highlight destination uniqueness to mitigate negative spillover effects.