Understanding complaining responses through consumers' self‐consciousness disposition

The objective of this article is to determine whether a dissatisfied consumer would select a specific complaining behavior response based on his or her self‐consciousness disposition. The study used written scenarios where subjects waiting in line at a movie theater had to face additional waiting time as a consequence of an event associated with an intruder or with the service provider, and occurring either immediately in front of them or further away. Results indicated that, when faced with an additional delay related to an event occurring near them as opposed to further away from them, high private subjects, in contrast with low private subjects, had a significantly more negative perception of service quality and a strong tendency to display more negative word‐of‐mouth behavior. When faced with an additional delay related to an event occurring near them as opposed to further away from them, high public subjects, in contrast with low public subjects, had a significantly more negative perception of service quality and favored significantly more negative word‐of‐mouth behavior to express their dissatisfaction. Under a direct intrusion scenario, when compared with low public subjects, high public subjects favored significantly more negative word‐of‐mouth behavior and evaluated service quality in a significantly more negative way than when the loss of time was related to actions of the service provider. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

“Never eat in that restaurant,I did!”: Exploring why people engage in negative word‐of‐mouth communication

What do consumers want to achieve when they engage in negative word‐of‐mouth communication (N‐WOM)? Two studies explore this question and reveal that consumers pursue specific goals when engaging in N‐WOM and that these goals systematically differ between the specific negative emotions that are experienced. For example, the results reveal that consumers who experience anger engage in N‐WOM to vent feelings or to take revenge. However, disappointed consumers engage in N‐WOM to warn others, and consumers who experience regret communicate with others to strengthen social bonds or to warn them. This reveals the functionality of specific emotions to N‐WOM, and how goals for N‐WOM are associated with these emotions. This demonstrates that rather than being uniform, the content and implications of N‐WOM are contingent on the specific emotions that consumers experience. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Do you want to talk about it? When word of mouth alleviates the psychological discomfort of self‐threat

When consumers experience a self‐threat due to receiving negative information that calls the positivity of their self‐concept into question, psychological discomfort ensues, motivating consumers to seek a resolution. This research examines how consumers use word of mouth to overcome this discomfort and cope with a self‐threat. The psychological discomfort associated with a self‐threat generally influences consumers to refrain from spreading word of mouth in order to avoid the potential for further negative evaluations. However, a self‐threat can encourage the spread of word of mouth if consumers perceive a brand as possessing attributes positively associated with the threatened aspect of the self, signaling sufficiency in the threat domain. Furthermore, this research demonstrates that spreading word of mouth about a brand that signals sufficiency in the threat domain is an effective coping tactic that alleviates the psychological discomfort caused by the self‐threat. Overall, the present research deepens the current understanding of the relationships among self‐threat, symbolic brands, and word of mouth by revealing that a brand's symbolic associations shape the effect of the self‐threat on word of mouth.     

The Effects of Locus of Control on Word‐of‐mouth Communication

Word‐of‐mouth can be a powerful tool for and against marketing a brand. The effect of personality can have a significant effect on an individual's word‐of‐mouth behaviour. One of the most popular personality constructs is the locus of control. This research studied the influence of the locus of control on consumer word‐of‐mouth communications. The results showed that individuals who scored high on their internal locus of control were more likely to engage in word‐of‐mouth communication with their out‐groups. In addition, individuals who scored high on their external locus of control were more likely to engage in word‐of‐mouth communication with their in‐group. Out‐groups are defined as people with a weaker ties relationship, while in‐groups are defined as people with a stronger ties relationship (i.e. close friends and family). These findings would help marketers in directing their promotional programmes more effectively.     

Consumption‐Focused Self‐Expression Word of Mouth: A New Scale and Its Role in Consumer Research

This research represents the first systematic empirical examination of the motivation to spread word of mouth about consumption activities in order to self‐express, a phenomenon that has been observed in both the academic literature and the popular press. Consumption‐focused self‐expression is a motivation to engage in word‐of‐mouth communication that is distinct from other word‐of‐mouth motivations that have been discussed in the literature. This work defines consumption‐focused self‐expression word of mouth as communication about one's consumption activities for the purpose of expressing one's self‐concept and attracting attention to oneself. A scale to measure consumption‐focused self‐expression word of mouth is developed and shown to exhibit a consistent scale structure, acceptable reliability, and convergent, discriminant, nomological, and predictive validity. Scores on the consumption‐focused self‐expression word‐of‐mouth scale are shown to predict differences in the quantity and nature of consumers’ actual word‐of‐mouth communications via the social networking Web site Facebook.     

Do satisfied customers bad‐mouth innovative products?

For many years marketing academics have recommended, and practitioners have implemented, organization‐wide programs that measure customers' levels of satisfaction with a firm's offerings because it is believed that satisfied customers are both more likely to continue using a previously adopted product and less likely to engage in negative word‐of‐mouth communication. Given the ubiquity of product‐review forums resulting from today's increasing levels of e‐commerce, this paper pairs cause constructs from the diffusion literature with effect constructs from the satisfaction and services literatures to reconsider that perspective. Specifically, it examines the relationships bet‐ween six perceived innovation attributes known to influence a new product's diffusion process and two post‐adoption behaviors, satisfaction and negative word‐of‐mouth communication. The results quash previous assumptions that satisfaction mediates negative word‐of‐mouth communication and reveal that satisfied customers do speak ill of previously adopted products. Implications for both theory and practice are also presented. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The effect of activity identity fusion on negative consumer behavior

Negative consumer behavior is an important research topic as it explores consumer behaviors that threaten a brand's image and financial stability. However, prior research offers conflicting findings on whether a strong consumer‐brand relationship hurts or protects a brand after a market disruption or a brand transgression. To provide clarity on this issue, this work argues that disrupting the consumer‐activity relationship motivates consumers to reaffirm and protect their identity, thereby leading to negative consumer behavior. The data reveal that, after a brand‐initiated market disruption, consumers with high activity identity fusion are more likely to spread negative word‐of‐mouth, boycott the brand, and avoid repurchasing the brand in the future. Moreover, the data suggest that high brand identity fusion protects the brand during market disruptions; therefore, prior conflicting results may be due to the fact that the consumer‐activity relationship was not accounted for. Theoretically, this work establishes that consumers' relationship with their consumption activities has significant impacts on consumer behavior. Brand managers and marketers are urged to develop strategies that focus on strengthening the consumer‐brand relationship and not the consumer‐activity relationship.     

The Effects of Rhetorical Figures and Cognitive Load in Word‐of‐Mouth Communications

Advertising messages often are intended to ignite large‐scale word‐of‐mouth campaigns among consumers. Drawing primarily from memetic theory, cognitive fit theory, and perceptual fluency, this research examines how rhetoric and cognitive load interact to enhance or diminish desirable effects such as retention of the original intent of the message (copy‐fidelity) and engendering a desire to pass the message along (fecundity). Certain types of rhetoric are shown to aid this process by making some messages more attractive for retransmission and increasing retention of the original message, while cognitive load modifies which types are effective in accordance with cognitive fit and perceptual fluency. The results suggest that low‐deviation high‐complexity message forms (known as reversal) are the most effective for creating positive word‐of‐mouth outcomes and limiting potentially negative outcomes. Additionally, the results show that destabilization messages are more likely to yield mutated word‐of‐mouth messages that consumers still feel a strong desire to pass along to others. For practitioners, the results indicate what message forms should be used to effectively spark word‐of‐mouth campaigns.     

The Effect of Word of Mouth on Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Products and Their Purchase Probability

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of word of mouth on consumers’ attitudes toward the product and its purchase probability. Furthermore, we examine the moderating influence of susceptibility to interpersonal influence, which is a personal characteristic of the receiver of word of mouth information. A quasi experiment was conducted, in which subjects were asked to evaluate a product, while being subjected to positive or negative word of mouth. Our results indicate that negative word of mouth has an impact on consumers’ attitudes and purchase probability, while the influence of positive word of mouth was not significant. Interestingly, susceptibility to interpersonal influence does not play a moderating role. While the experimental design with an unknown word of mouth source and fictitious brand allowed the comparison of results for the positive, negative, and control group, such conditions do not correspond to an actual market setting.     

Learned helplessness as an explanation of elderly consumer complaint behavior

Studies of consumer complaint behavior have shown that many elderly consumers are very reluctant to pursue their rights through the complaint process when they encounter problems with products or services. This passive complaint behavior may be very costly to the elderly, who often live on fixed incomes. This paper presents a theory developed in experimental psychology that may help explain why clderly consumers are more likely than other consumers to incur losses rather than engage in complaint activity. The theory, known as learned helplessness (LH), refers to a process whereby noncontingent reinforcement produces the expectation that events are uncontrollable.The theory of learned helplessness is presented and related to specific behaviors of dissatisfied elderly consumers that have been reported in the literature. Strategy implications of the theory are discussed for counselors, consumer affairs practitioners, and others interested in helping elderly consumers exercise their rights.Mary C. LaForge is currently Associate Professor of Marketing at Clemson University. She received her Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Georgia. Her current research interest focuses on the behavior of the elderly as consumers.     

Online Damage Control: The Effects of Proactive Versus Reactive Webcare Interventions in Consumer-generated and Brand-generated Platforms

Web 2.0 has empowered consumers to voice complaints with reduced costs (physical and psychological), and to share these with a multitude of other consumers on the Internet. As a public phenomenon, online complaints have a negative impact on consumers' evaluations of brands that are under attack in online complaints. By means of an experiment, we study the most effective means for companies to counter complaints as expressed in negative electronic word of mouth (NWOM). The results show that negative brand evaluations engendered by NWOM can be attenuated by webcare interventions dependent on type of strategy (proactive vs. reactive) and platform used (consumer-generated vs. brand-generated blog). This effect appeared to be mediated by conversational human voice. The findings are discussed in the light of practical implications for online complaint management.     

Consumers’ subjective and objective consumerism knowledge and subsequent complaint behaviour concerning consumer electronics: a South African perspective

Although there is immense international support for consumer protection, the notion exists that consumer protection can only exist in developed countries with ample fiscal resources and expertise to properly act in the interest of consumers. This conception leaves consumers in emerging and transitional economies in a difficult position as these economies indeed generally lack sufficient funding and the required capacity to educate consumers on their rights. With the South African Consumer Protection Act that came into effect in 2011, South African consumers can now claim to be among the best protected consumers in the world. However, many consumers are still not aware of their consumer rights, and do not have the necessary knowledge to pursue redress when they are dissatisfied. The objective of this research was therefore to explore and describe the relationship between consumers’ knowledge of consumerism (consumer protection) and their consumer complaint behaviour (CCB) concerning their dissatisfaction with a technologically advanced product, in this case, a consumer electronic product. This study attempts to differentiate between subjective consumerism knowledge and objective consumerism knowledge and by extension the measures used. In addition, we explored and described the relationship between demographic variables and levels of subjective and objective consumerism knowledge as well as the combined effect of the two types of knowledge on CCB. The findings revealed that the respondents had a reasonable level of subjective consumerism knowledge relative to a low level of objective consumerism knowledge. No significant relationship was found between subjective consumerism knowledge and demographic variables. However, the factors of race, gender and level of income were related to objective knowledge. A higher level of subjective knowledge could be associated with public action. Respondents with reasonable levels of objective knowledge were also better equipped to take private and public action. CHAID (Chi‐Square Automatic Interaction Detection) analysis highlighted that a combination of subjective and objective knowledge was the best predictor of taking public action only and of taking both private and public complaint action. The study has implications for policy makers, consumer protection organisations, retailers and the individual consumer. Our approach to measuring knowledge of consumerism could possibly be applied in other emerging contexts where consumers generally lack awareness of consumer protection.     

Will they pitch or will they switch? Comparing Chinese and American consumers

This study compares the conditions for consumer satisfaction and word of mouth (WOM) between Chinese and American consumers. The authors utilize a between‐subjects factorial design experiment to investigate the effect of service experience (positive or negative) and consumption context (hedonic vs. utilitarian) across these two cultures. Results indicate that consumers perceive higher levels of satisfaction and switching costs, and provide higher WOM intention for positive than for negative service experiences. The relationship between service experience and perceived switching costs is further moderated by consumption context and culture. Of importance is the critical mediating role of consumer satisfaction in driving perceived switching costs and WOM intention. The comparison of Chinese and American consumers also reveals the distinct switching behaviors between the two groups of consumers, which can be explained from a cultural perspective. The study findings provide insights into provider‐switching and WOM‐spreading behaviors by Chinese and American consumers, under hedonic versus utilitarian consumption contexts.     

The negative effects of expecting to evaluate: Reexamination and extension in the context of service failure

Service managers implement customer satisfaction evaluation cards (CSECs) to help them better understand and serve their customers. Yet a robust finding from recent research is that consumers who expect to evaluate provide lower satisfaction ratings than customers who are asked to evaluate without prior notice. This article reports results of two experiments that examine the effects of expecting to evaluate (here, the CSEC effect) in the negative context of service failure. The experiments utilize thought‐listing protocols to differentiate between vigilant processing (VPT) and negativity bias (NBT) theories and reinforce the internal validity of the CSEC effect. The studies also extend prior research by separating CSEC effects on evaluations of the service employee from CSEC effects on the service firm overall. Study 2 examines consequences of the CSEC effect not previously studied (switching, complaining, and negative word‐of‐mouth intentions) and extends external validity through an international replication. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Status Has Its Privileges: The Psychological Benefit of Status‐Reinforcing Behaviors

Many firms use loyalty programs to stratify their customers into status tiers and reward those with high status with special privileges. This research documents how consumers with high status willingly incur a cost to utilize the exclusive privileges, termed “status‐reinforcing behaviors,” that accompany their high status because doing so reinforces their high‐status identity. They do so in the absence of threats to their high status or self‐worth and also in the absence of an opportunity to conspicuously signal their high status to others through face‐to‐face interactions. This suggests that the behavior is undertaken neither for compensatory nor conspicuous reasons. Across two studies, results indicate that consumers who hold high status in a loyalty program engage in “status‐reinforcing behaviors,” even when doing so offers no material or conspicuous signaling benefit and in fact causes them to incur some costs. Engaging in status‐reinforcing behaviors yields a distinct psychological outcome—elevated feelings of prestige. Results indicate that when high status is made salient, individuals demonstrate a greater propensity to engage in status‐reinforcing behaviors. However, individuals who have a reinforced sense of status (i.e., already validated their high‐status position) are less likely to engage in status‐reinforcing behaviors, which suggests that utilizing status privileges does serve as a reinforcing behavior, even in the absence of a status threat.     

eWOM Watchdogs: Ego‐Threatening Product Domains and the Policing of Positive Online Reviews

Suspicion regarding dishonest electronic word‐of‐mouth is a growing concern for consumers online. Individual consumers are occasionally seen acting as product review forum “watchdogs” within the websites they visit, posting vigilante comments against reviews they perceive to be fraudulent. This multimethod set of studies investigates consumer “watchdog comments,” and the way in which ego‐threatening product categories themselves may actually induce a prosecutorial mindset, leading to greater levels of suspicion toward positive online product reviews and the impulse to prosecute potential fraudsters. In Study 1, laboratory‐induced ego threat increased punitive severity against the act of falsifying online product reviews. In Study 2, a content analysis of actual Amazon.com reviews and consumer commentary indicates that the occurrence of watchdog comments is more common within ego‐threatening product categories.     

Cross-national differences in satisfaction/dissatisfaction and complaint behaviour concerning apparel products

Consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction with apparel products was compared among several European nations. The issues of complaint behaviour and the extent to which dissatisfied consumers took action were also studied. The data examined were from nine member nations of the Commission of the European Communities. The sample size was 9,153 respondents. Overall, respondents expressed satisfaction with apparel products; however, a minority of respondents in each country expressed dissatisfaction with such products. Chi-square tests of homogeneity determined relationships between countries and satisfaction/dissatisfaction with apparel. Differences in satisfaction/dissatisfaction among countries were found to be statistically significant. Moreover, whether consumers complained when dissatisfied and the type of complaining behaviour was found to vary significantly by country.     

Gratitude,delight, or guilt: The role of consumers' emotions in predicting postconsumption behaviors

This study investigates the relationships among appraisals (goal congruence/incongruence and agency), consumption emotions (gratitude, happiness, guilt, anger, pride, and sadness), and post‐consumption behaviors (positive and negative word of mouth, repurchase intention, and complaint behavior). The findings demonstrate that these emotions predict different specific types of post‐consumption behaviors and that they are elicited by appraisals specified in the psychology literature. In particular, gratitude but not happiness, predicts repurchase intention and positive word of mouth. By contrast, guilt inhibits complaint behaviors and negative word of mouth. The implications of these findings for marketing practice are discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

When eWOM becomes cynical

Nowadays, it is common practice for corporations to communicate with consumers through social network sites (SNSs), such as YouTube, which allow consumers to share and comment on companies’ sponsored videos communicating their marketing campaigns. The authors conducted a qualitative assessment of posts written on the official YouTube site of Coca Cola, where the brand asks consumers to join in a brigade against obesity. Results extend the current knowledge about consumers’ negative electronic word of mouth (eWOM), identifying three forms of cynical consumer communication styles in response to corporate campaigns on SNSs: skeptical, passive‐aggressive and warrior eWOM. Managerial implications, limitations and some avenues for future research are indicated.     

Exploring Attitudes and Affiliation Intentions toward Consumers Who Engage in Socially Shared Superstitious Behaviors: A Study of Students in the East and the West

Existing literature on superstitious beliefs focuses on consumer purchasing behavior. However, little is known about how superstition‐based consumption behaviors are socially perceived. This paper investigates students’ attitudes toward consumers who engage in socially shared superstitious behaviors. Two studies show that students from Eastern and Western countries have negative attitudes and lower affiliation intentions toward consumers engaging in socially shared superstitious behaviors. As predicted by social judgment theory, this effect is driven by perceived low competence but not by perceived warmth. These negative attitudes and lower affiliation intentions are moderated by the student's superstitiousness. The managerial implications of social perceptions regarding consumer superstitious behavior are discussed.