Complaint Behavior Research Articles

The strategical approach to reduce negative emotion and complaint behavior in social commerce: Focusing on perceived risk

The strategical approach to reduce negative emotion and complaint behavior in social commerce: Focusing on perceived risk

A Cross Cultural Study on Iranian EFL Students’ Pragmatic Transfer

This study aimed to identify the complaint strategies used by the Persian- speaking EFL students, and find out if there was any evidence of pragmatic transfer in their complaint realizations. To this end, three groups participated in the study. Two of them were the control groups, which included 10 Australian native speakers of English (ANSs) for the English baseline data, 10 native speakers of Persian (PNSs) for the Persian baseline data. The third group of participants involved 40 Persian-speaking EFL teacher trainees. The data were collected by means of a Discourse Completion Task (DCT). The original version of the DCT was given to the ANSs and interlanguage group (IL), the translated version of it was given to the (PNSs). In order to identify the complaint strategies utilized by the IL group, the collected data were coded and categorized according to the complaint taxonomy proposed by (Prykarpatska, 2008). To find out whether there was any evidence of pragmatic transfer in the complaint behaviors of the IL group, their responses were compared to those of the baseline groups. The results of the study showed cross-cultural differences and similarities between the research groups in performing the speech act of complaint with regard to the choice and frequency of strategies. Besides this, degree of familiarity and the social status of interlocutor were also found to influence the complaint responses of the research groups. In addition, the interpretation of the results revealed possible signs of transfer from the first language to the second language regarding some specific situations presented in the DCT. Evidence on the development of interlanguage by Iranian graduate students was also detected. Iranian learners were found to need more education on the choice of strategies used, as they performed similar strategies used by the PNS rather than the ANS.

Fostering EF/SL learners’ meta-pragmatic awareness of complaints and their interactive effects

This paper suggests a series of steps for teaching complaint behaviour in English. The production of complaints requires a meta-pragmatic awareness of their interactive value and functions, their different types and realisations, pragmalinguistic formulae frequently employed or the socio-pragmatic factors affecting them, among others, which many didactic materials do not address holistically. Integrating relevant findings about complaint behaviour from pragmatics and various neighbouring disciplines, these pedagogical steps combine distinct teaching approaches and include production tasks and guidelines for assessment. Moreover, these steps also comprise an account of some communicative effects of complaints from the cognitive framework of relevance theory with a view to fostering learners’ meta-psychological awareness.

항공서비스 내 고객 간 상호작용이 고객만족에 미치는 영향

This study attempts to identify the factors of customer-to-customer interaction within airline services, specifically the relationship between customer-to- customer interaction and customer satisfaction. From this relationship, the moderating effect of flight attendants’ role performance is examined. This empirical study collected relevant data through a survey of local customers that experienced overseas airline services within one year. As a result, customer-to-customer interaction was broken down into four behavioral factors: externally unpleasant, lacking manners in shared space, loudness, and service complaint behavior. Within these factors, lacking manners in a shared space and loudness showed a negative influence on customer satisfaction, whereas service complaint behavior showed a positive influence on customer satisfaction. Lastly, the role of performance of the flight attendant was divided into two factors: problem solving ability and attitude towards customers. Both factors proved the moderating effect between customer-to-customer interaction and customer satisfaction. The study results address academic and practical implications.

Do Personality Types Make Consumers Exhibit Different Complaint Behaviors?

This study aims to explore the differences and similarities in complaint behavior of consumers according to their personality types. 116 managers of a large Turkish fi nance company have participated in the study. Results show that Intuition-Thinking and Sensing-Thinking individuals tend to engage in public action, while Sensing-Feeling individuals prefer to take private action, and Intuition-Feeling individuals take no action, which is a different form of complaint behavior. JEL classifi cation: M39 and M12

A Conceptual Complaint Model for Value Co-creation Process

It is important for service providers to get feedback from their customers. This is particularly important when a customer gets an unfavorable service experience. One way to receive feedback from customers is to encourage and facilitate the complaint process. Then, customers who have an unfavorable service experience should be invited to join in the process of value co-creation, because if they do not, the provider risks losing the customers and revenues in the future. Inviting customers to the process of value co-creation is easier if the initiation comes first from provider. In contrast, if there is an unfavorable service experience, the process of value co-creation comes first from customers. Sometimes providers are not ready yet to face this condition. The main objective of this paper is to increase the knowledge of value co-creation. The paper will contribute to conceptualise different aspects of customer complaint behaviour from service science paradigm. It can help to recognize the complexity of the complaint behavior by joining value co-creation process. The contribution of this paper is an overview from previous model of value co-creation and adding some principles of handling customer complaints. The limitation of this paper is customer complaint behavior is viewed as action and reaction, that is, as the dynamic processes that occur during and/or after the interaction of services, not as a post-purchase activity.

Justice and emotions in service recovery: a complaint in B2C e-commerce

This study proposes a marketing approach to service recovery (SR) models to explain what factors affect cumulative satisfaction, loyalty and word-of-mouth (WOM) following complaint behaviour. The model has its base on the definition of perceived justice and its influence on satisfaction with service recovery (SSR) and on emotions (positive and negative). Trust acts as a central construct in the model, receiving influence from the affective and cognitive aspect. The sample for this study consists of 303 Spanish business-to-consumer e-commerce (B2C-EC) users who made a complaint after an electronic transaction. Results from the analysis show the influence of perceived justice - mainly interactional justice and procedural justice - on SSR and the relevance of positive emotions as a key factor in SSR processes, in contrast to the major role that negative emotions have traditionally played in these models.

Complaint Management on Social Networking Platforms: An Examination of Inconsistent Complaint Behaviour and the Identification of Potential Reduction Strategies

Complaint Management on Social Networking Platforms: An Examination of Inconsistent Complaint Behaviour and the Identification of Potential Reduction Strategies

All Anglos are alike? A study of whinging Poms and bloody-minded Aussies

Cross-cultural service research is an important topic with a rich array of empirical evidence for differences in customer perceptions, attitudes and behaviours. However, the extant literature is almost exclusively focused on differences between cultures at each end of the diversity spectrum (most commonly East vs. West). Contemporary researchers have observed that existing studies fail to acknowledge the substantially greater levels of intra-cluster variation that exist. A cultural cluster is a group of countries that reflect values, attitudes and beliefs stemming from a common cultural ancestry. This seems surprising given the anecdotal evidence and stereotypes that are portrayed in popular culture, media and art. One area where intra-cluster variation may be evident is consumer complaint behaviour and in particular within the Anglo-cultural cluster in countries. A cultural cluster is a group of countries that reflect values, attitudes and beliefs stemming from a common cultural ancestry. The aim of this study is therefore to explore and elucidate the nature of differences in consumer complaint behaviour between cultures traditionally conceived and operationalised as identical. This study presents a qualitative study of 60 in-depth interviews with consumers in the United Kingdom and Australia and identifies differences in complaining styles, parental influence and the conceptualisation of complaining.

Determinants of Customer Complaint Behavior in a Restaurant Context: The Role of Culture, Price Level, and Customer Loyalty

Prior cross-cultural research on customer complaint behavior has shown that Asian customers–collectivists (vs. Western customers–individualists) are less likely to engage in voice complaint but more inclined to choose nonconfrontational responses such as switching and negative word-of-mouth. Yet, we suggest that this relationship may not hold true when taking into account customer loyalty, price level, and power distance as cultural value. To that end, we conducted an experiment to examine the joint effects of culture, customer loyalty, and restaurant price level on customer complaint behaviors. Our results indicate that Asian customers might indeed be vocal public complainers when there is no deep commitment to a restaurant and when paying a high price for the service. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

The influence of Male consumers' Leisure Activities on Cosmetic Product Benefits and Product Consumption

최근 남성들도 여성 못지않게 멋진 외모를 가꾸기위해 다양한 화장품을 소비하고 있음에도 남성을 대상으로 한 연구가 매우 미흡하다. 본 연구는 남성들의 여가활동을 알아보고, 남성들의 화장품 관련 구매 행동을 알아보고자 하는 것이었다. 첫째 여가활동에 따라 세분화되어진 집단에서 화장품 관심과 허영 변인의 차이를 알아보고 둘째, 세분화된 집단에서 기초 화장품 추구혜택에 차이가 있는 지를 규명하고, 셋째, 세분화된 집단에서 화장품 구매 시 불평행동의 차이를 알아보고자 하는 것이었다. 연구대상은 서울 및 경기 거주 20대에서 50대 성인 남성을 편의 추출하여 200부의 설문지를 배부하였고 회수된 것 중 불완전한 응답지를 제외한 157부를 연구에 사용하였다.<BR> 연구 결과, 첫째, 여가활동은 온라인 활동, 신체적활동, 종교 활동, 사교 활동, 문화 활동, 일상 활동, 비활동의 7개 요인이 도출되었고, 비활동 요인이 가장 높은 평균 점수를 나타냈다. 둘째, 여가활동 요인점수를 이용하여 군집분석(k-means cluster)을 실시하였고, 적극적 여가활동 집단, 종교 활동 집단, 사교 활동집단으로 구분되었다. 적극적 여가활동 집단에서 20대의 분포가 높았고, 종교 활동 및 사교 활동 집단은 기혼의 분포가 높았으며, 학력은 사교 활동 집단이 가장 높은 것으로 나타났다.<BR> 셋째, 여가활동에 따른 세 집단에서 허영심 변인의 차이는, 성공 자신감 요인은 적극적 여가활동 집단과 종교 활동 집단에서 높게, 외모 /성공 관심 요인에서는 종교 활동 집단에서 가장 높게, 사교활동 집단은 가장 낮게 나타났다. 화장품에 대한 관심은 종교 활동집단에서 가장 높았고 사교활동 집단에서 가장 낮게 나타났다.<BR> 넷째, 기초화장품 추구혜택은 기능성, 제품의 향, 피부 적합성, 천연성분의 4개 요인이었고, 피부 적합성의 평균이 가장 높았다. 기초 화장품 추구혜택에 관하여 세 집단의 차이를 분석한 결과, 제품의 향 요인을 제외한 모든 요인에서 의미 있는 차이를 나타내었다. 종교 활동을 많이 하는 집단은 천연성분이 중요한 추구혜택으로 나타났고 적극적 여가활동 집단에서는 기초 기능성과 피부 적합성이 매우 중요한 추구혜택으로 나타났다.<BR> 다섯째, 불평행동은 제3자 불평행동, 사적 불평행동, 직접 불평이었고, 사적 불평의 평균 점수가 가장 높게 나타났다. 세 집단에서 불평행동의 차이를 비교한 결과, 직접불평행동에서만 차이가 나타나, 종교 활동 집단이 가장 높고, 사교활동 집단이 가장 낮았다. 이러한 연구 결과를 통하여 남성들의 여가활동은 화장품 추구혜택 및 불평행동 그리고 화장품 관심에도 영향을 미치므로 남성을 대상으로 한 마케팅 전략 설정시 기초자료로 사용할 수 있을 것이다.

Effects of complaint behaviour and service recovery satisfaction on consumer intentions to repurchase on the internet

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of complaint behaviour and service recovery satisfaction on consumer intentions to repurchase through internet channels. Design/methodology/approach – Using survey data from large consumer samples from 15 European countries, the authors classify consumers according to: whether they had negative experiences with online purchases, whether they complained, and whether they were satisfied with the complaint handling. A logistic regression analysis assesses the effects of these experiences on repurchase intentions. Findings – Remarkable differences arise among the consumers with respect to intentions to repurchase on the internet. Consumers with negative experiences who complained expressed higher repurchase intentions than consumers with no reason to complain and also than consumers who had negative experiences but did not complain. Yet the highest repurchase intentions arose among consumers who complained and expressed satisfaction with the complaint handling, in support of the service recovery paradox in an online setting. Originality/value – This project is one of the first empirical studies of the consequences of dissatisfaction and complaints related to online purchase behaviour.

Do Individualists Complain More than Collectivists? A Four-Country Analysis on Consumer Complaint Behavior

ABSTRACTUnderstanding the consumer complaint patterns of response and the cultural underpinnings of their characteristics may facilitate the customization and timing of response to such consumer demands. We investigated complaint behavior differences between collectivist and individualist societies. Specifically, our study compared three consumer complaint patterns of response (voice, private response, and third party) across the individualism/collectivism continuum. We opted for the mall intercept technique in surveying our participants in four countries (United States, Egypt, Mexico, and Turkey). Our most salient findings revealed that the individualist consumer is very likely to demand redress and very likely practice speaking to others about their dissatisfaction. Collectivists would avoid the product before switching companies. All participants who voiced their dissatisfaction privately showed significant exit intentions. Interesting differences were also found among collectivist countries. Managerial implications are annotated.

How We Complain: The Effect of Personality on Consumer Complaint Channels

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of personality types on consumer complaint channels. Respondents completed a survey that depicted four service failure scenarios, each with 11 possible courses of action. The three personality factors measured against the complaint behavior were locus of control, the California Psychological Inventory measure of sociability and Cattell’s 16 personality factors of relaxed versus tense. Factor analysis revealed three complaint channel dimensions: active, passive, and delayed. Sociability produced more active and less passive complaint behavior. Locus of control interacted with relaxed versus tense on the use of passive and delayed complaints. The findings have implications for recognizing and resolving customer complaints for different personality types.

Customers Complaint Behavior Toward Restaurant Services

Complaint behavior in restaurant service industry is remarkable known. This study empirically investigates the attitudes, reasons for customers began to complain and most importantly the customer complaint behavior in restaurant service. Personally administered questionnaire was used and through a series of analyses from frequencies, descriptive to inferential statistics, some useful insights or predictors on the issues of interest were obtained. The findings indicate that majority of restaurant customers are clearly concerned about service that their experienced in restaurant and disappointed service that they experienced will turn to complain.

A Study on Consumer Complaint Behavior Caused by Dissatisfaction with the Service of Smartphone Applications: The Moderating Effect of a Complaint Handling Process and Consumer’s Attribution

The use of smartphones has grown rapidly over a short period of time, particularly for commuting news search, smart banking, and social networking services, and has had a significant impact on the pattern of contemporary life. Further, a wide range of applications are downloaded on to smartphones. This has also led a considerable number of complaints regarding these applications. In this study, we focus on the levels of dissatisfaction that users experience with smartphone applications and their effects on consumer complaint behavior along with the moderating effects of the complaint handling process and attribution. The aim of this study is to verify whether the following hypothesis--2 (low/high dissatisfaction level of smartphone applications)×2 (poor/excellent complaint handling process)×2 (internal/external consumer attribution)--is in accordance with the betweengroup design to build a factorial design experiment. The results of this study are as follows. First, the consumer’s tendency to complain significantly influenced their dissatisfaction level. Second, consumer complaint behavior is modulated by the complaint handling process. Third, the external-attribution tendency of consumers was found to lead to more dissatisfaction than the tendency for internal attribution.

Complaint behavior intentions and expectation of service recovery in individualistic and collectivistic cultures

Purpose– The purpose of this study is to investigate whether complaint behavior intentions and expectations of service recovery based on the justice theory are different among customers from collectivistic versus individualistic cultures. A secondary purpose is to find which service recovery strategies are appropriate for different culture-based complaint behavior intentions.Design/methodology/approach– A survey was conducted at universities, and the survey population consisted of college students, who are known to be frequent users of fast-food restaurants. A total of 304 usable questionnaires were collected. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to verify the validity of the items, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were used to examine the internal consistency of the factors, and an independent samplet-test was used to analyze differences in complaint behavior intentions and expectations of service recovery efforts in terms of cultural difference.Findings– The results of this study indicated that South Koreans revealed more voice complaint behavior intentions than Americans did. However, there were no significant differences in expectations of service recovery efforts between them. Second, American customers who indicated voice and private complaint behavior intentions expected distributive, procedural and interpersonal justice in complaint-handling procedures. South Korean customers who indicated voice complaint behavior intentions expected distributive and procedural justice, and South Korean customers who indicated private complaint behavior intentions anticipated interactional justice in complaint-handling procedures.Research limitations/implications– Understanding customers’ complaint behavior intentions and expectations of service recovery based on the justice theory and cultural differences will suggest practical implications to hospitality industry managers for effective service quality management.Originality/value– Understanding customers’ complaint behavior intentions and expectations of service recovery based on the justice theory and cultural differences will suggest practical implications to hospitality industry managers for effective service quality management.

The role of moral emotions and individual differences in consumer responses to corporate green and non-green actions

We investigate the mediating role of moral emotions and their contingency on individual characteristics in consumer responses to corporate green and non-green actions. Two between subjects experiments were conducted to test our hypotheses on samples of adult consumers. The results show that, for corporate non-green actions, various individual difference characteristics (social justice values, empathy, moral identity, self-concept) moderate the elicitation of negative moral emotions (contempt, anger, disgust), which, in turn, lead to consumer negative responses (negative word of mouth, complaint behaviors, boycotting). Moreover, for corporate green actions, empathy moderates elicitation of positive emotions on gratitude, which, in turn, influences consumer positive responses (positive word of mouth, resistance to negative information, identification with the company, investment). This study adds to extant research by examining understudied “hot” moral emotional processes underlying consumer reactions toward corporate environmental responsibility and irresponsibility. Implications for marketing communication and segmentation decisions are considered.

The Drivers of Consumer Complaint Behaviors in the Service Industry

The Drivers of Consumer Complaint Behaviors in the Service Industry

Service Quality, Perceived Value, Customer Satisfaction, and Behavioral Intention Among Fitness Center Members Aged 60 Years and Over

Our aim in this study was to examine the structural relationships among service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intention. Participants, who were all aged 60 years or older and who were members of a sport and fitness center, completed surveys to assess these relationships. Scanning electron microscopy results showed that provision of high-quality services for older adult consumers in a sport and fitness center elevated perceived value, enhanced customer satisfaction, reduced complaint behavior, and ultimately increased the likelihood of renewed membership and continued use of the center facilities.