Brand Trolling Engagement Behavior (BTEB) of Customers: A Challenge for Customer-Brand Relationship

Abstract

The extensive use of social media has resulted in higher customer engagement, and firms use these platforms to communicate with customers, share information about brands and improve brand popularity. Social media provides the same platform for customers to share their views about firms and brands. Online communities or groups on social media facilitate interactions and information sharing among members. When the group members start using these social media platforms to post negative views, it is termed trolling. Customer comments on social media are crucial in shaping a firm’s reputation; therefore, when a brand falls short of customer expectations, they might feel cheated and betrayed and indulge in brand trolling activities termed Brand Trolling Engagement Behavior (BTEB). Customer comments on social media are crucial in shaping a firm’s reputation and significantly impact the brand. Trolling is an emerging research topic, and empirical studies on brand trolling are relatively scarce. This paper attempts to develop and validate a scale to measure customers’ BTEB and, subsequently, the impact of trolling on a brand. The data for the study was gathered from respondents in stages. Two factors, agitation and dissatisfaction, were obtained in the results, which explain the reasons why customers troll a brand on social media. Significant results were obtained where customers feel that brand trolling is a challenge for the firms and it affects the popularity and image of the brand. The research provides insights about the BTEB of customers on social media and would help the firms to manage customer-brand relationships.