Much attention has been paid recently to the concept of service failure. In
light of this, the paper develops a model of the potential outcomes from s
ervice failure. Results are utilised from interviews with business banking
customers who have recently encountered a service failure. The results show
that service recovery is only one of the reasons a customer may stay or ex
it a service organisation after a service failure. Other factors, such as b
arriers to exit and loyalty, are just as prevalent in the decision-making p
rocess. A model of service failure, which was generated through the results
of the research, is presented in the discussion section of the paper.