Online Corporate Apology Strategies Posted on Twitter in Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Study

Abstract

This study aims to identify the types of moves and politeness strategies used in online corporate apology (OCA) in Arabic, posted on customers’ complaints/negative reviews on Twitter. Additionally, the study compares Arabic with English, Japanese, and Chinese to explore cross-cultural similarities and differences in OCA. Following the growth of social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, various studies have focused on identifying the strategies utilized on social media using data from new-age computer-mediated communication. OCA strategies used by companies to restore their image, manage rapport, show accountability, and responsibility have been studied in many languages, but not Arabic. This study collected 271 responses on customer complaints/negative reviews from a company’s account on Twitter and analyzed them using Morrow and Yamanouchi’s (2020) model of rhetorical moves and Spencer-Oatey's (2008) rapport management framework. It revealed 12 OCA moves that were used 1045 times: opening, closing, repair, promising, explanation, expressing reassurance, apology, request, showing appreciation, denying the problem, expressing feelings, and compensation. Closing was the most frequent move, followed by opening and repair. All the previous moves were used in English, Japanese, and Chinese, except promising, expressing reassurance, showing appreciation, expressing feelings, denying problems, and compensation. The findings indicate that the company used 11 moves to enhance rapport and manage customers’ face needs, sociality rights, and interactional goals. Denying the problem was the only move challenging rapport, and was used only 1%. The company seeks to preserve its image to build rapport with customers in OCA.