If a company messes up, giving you the *exact* amount of money back can actually feel more insulting than just saying sorry.
March 20, 2026
Original Paper
Trust repair in E-Commerce: How attributions of ability, benevolence and integrity mediate the effectiveness of trust repair strategies
SSRN · 6442008
The Takeaway
While many firms believe 'making the customer whole' is the goal after a failure, this study found that simple compensation actually diminished trust. Only overcompensation worked because it signaled 'benevolence' rather than just a calculated attempt to fulfill a minimum obligation.
From the abstract
Trust repair after trust violations is shaped by how customers attribute the violation to its cause. However, the attribution process itself has rarely been examined as the mediating mechanism through which repair strategies exert their effects. In an online experiment, we examined how common trust repair strategies, i.e. (1) apology, (2) explanation with a focus on benevolence, (3) explanation with a focus on integrity, (4) explanation with a focus on ability, (5) compensation, and (6) overcomp