Consumer Complaint Behavior Research Articles

Cross-national differences in complaint behavior: cultural or situational?

PurposePrevious research indicates that dissatisfied consumers in other countries react differently as compared to those in the USA, due to their cultural orientation. These studies, however, have not recognized that retail policies (regarding returns and exchanges) in the USA are much more liberal and “consumer friendly” than in other parts of the world, and thus it is possible that their conclusions are flawed. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to determine the extent to which cross-national differences in complaint behavior are due to cultural vs situational factors.Design/methodology/approachTo examine this issue, a two-part study was conducted. Study 1 compared consumers living in China, India and Mexico to cohorts who immigrated to the USA. Study 2 compared individuals from those same countries to subjects who are native to the USA.FindingsThe findings indicate that situational factors (i.e. consumer-oriented vs restrictive refund/return/exchange policies) have a large impact on consumer complaint behavior (i.e. redress, negative-word-of-mouth and exit), and that the effects of culture are minor.Research limitations/implicationsTo infer cause-effect, and establish scientific theory, one must rule out alternative hypotheses. Researchers who are investigating cross-cultural complaint behavior must take situational factors into account.Practical implicationsWith the emergence of “global consumers” consumer expectations around the world are changing. Astute retailers should institute and promote more liberal return policies, thereby mitigating consumers’ perceived risk.Originality/valueThis study dispels the notion that culture is responsible for differences in cross-national consumer complaint behavior.

A Study on the Relationship between Personality Traits and Consumer Complaint Behavior

In the twenty-first century, rapid change and dramatic development in the way of doing business has caused time to pass faster and increased competition worldwide. Companies now have stopped to think traditionally. Instead, they started to care more about customers, made them their main focus point and started to give more importance to their ideas. From this perspective understanding, customers are integral in order to survive and confront competition. One of the most effective ways of understanding customers is to understand the dissatisfaction of consumers during or after shopping. In this regard in this study, it is analyzed that whether there is a relationship between the consumers’ complaint behaviors when confronted with dissatisfaction and locus of control (internal-external locus of control). According to the results, three different complaint behaviors were found. These are; passive complaint behavior which means not to complain or complain only when asked, active complaint behavior which means to complain actively and seek remedy and active complaint behavior through social media which means consumers actively complain but they want other people to hear the dissatisfaction. In this research, the chi-square independence test was used. According to results, it was found that there is a significant relationship between the locus of control and consumer complaint behaviors, and participants who have an internal locus of control mostly choose active complaint behavior or active complaint behavior through social media and participants who have an external locus of control choose passive complaint behavior.

헤어스타일 불평행동과 보상 및 헤어샵애고도의 구조모형

Hair style allows consumers to express their aesthetic sense and individual beauty. However, due to the attributes of hairdressing services and the high expectations of consumers, complaints are increasing rapidly. This study examined the complaint behavior, compensation and hair salon patronage of consumers. Then, a model is presented that explains the complaint behavior for hairstyling, forms of compensation, and hair salon patronage through empirical analysis. This study was conducted by a survey method. A total of 399 questionnaires were used for the analysis. The data were analyzed using SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 23.0 statistical software. The dimension of complaint behavior for hair style included verbal complaints, non-verbal complaints in the salon and private complaints outside the salon. The forms of compensation included re-procedure, psychological, and material compensation. Hair salon patronage was one-dimensional. These results were obtained through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Then the conceptual model was empirically analyzed by covariance structure analysis and obtained in final form through model modification. Verbal complaint behavior positively influenced re-procedure compensation. In addition, non-verbal complaint behavior had positive effects on psychological and material compensation. Hair salon patronage was positively affected by re-procedure and psychological compensation. However, private complaint behavior had a negative effect on hair salon patronage. The direct and indirect effects of the paths among variables were verified by analyzing the mediating effects of different forms of compensations. It is possible to establish differentiated marketing strategies with these findings for consumers with complaint behaviors by considering the forms of compensation.

Consumer Protection in Turkey: Law, Informality and the Role of the Media

This report is part of a University of Oxford John Fell funded collaborative project:Informality and the Media in Consumer Protection in Emerging Economies. This pilot project seeks to shed light upon consumer complaint behaviour through social media in emerging economies. This report is about Turkey. It offers an overview of consumer protection laws, and a summary of what Turkish consumers complain about and how they choose to do this. The aim is to set the scene and context for further in-depth analysis into social media as a tool for consumer complaints.

Application of Fairness Theory to Medical Tourists' Dissatisfaction and Complaint Behaviors: The Moderating Role of Patient Participation in Medical Tourism

ABSTRACTMedical tourism is a worldwide phenomenon in which patients travel abroad to seek medical treatment. Although excellent health service quality of a foreign country has shown to attract more medical tourists, little is known about how an unfairly distributed service can increase dissatisfaction and trigger complaint behaviors. Fairness theory and consumer complaint behaviors provided the theoretical support for this study; and, 354 medical tourists who received cosmetic treatments in Korea agreed to provide feedback via online surveys. The findings indicated that outcome fairness is the strongest variable affecting dissatisfaction, followed by interpersonal, procedural, and informational fairness, and dissatisfaction triggers specific behaviors (e.g., switching, negative word of mouth, and complaining), and differs by levels of participation. The results suggest that a medical hosting country and its hospitals should provide a fair service to reduce dissatisfaction and conceive a way of managing complaint behaviors. Future research should focus on service recovery strategies that can correct service failures from the perspective of the medical tourist.

Difference between Consumers’ and Front-line Workers’ Perceptions on Consumer Complaint Behavior with Hateful Intentions: Based on the Personal and Social Factor

This study analyzes difference in consumers’ and front-line workers’ perceptions on ‘consumer complaint behavior with hateful intentions’ though the Co-orientation Model in three dimensions. In addition, we seek to contribute to reducing the conflict between consumers and front-line workers in the service contact point by finding factors that affect the difference in perception between two parties. This study findings and implications are as follows. First, Taking a look at the mutual orientation between consumers and front-line workers, mutual perceptions have been found to match in agreement but with a significant difference in perceived agreement (congruence), which indicates that the internal perceptions of both consumers and front-line workers do not match. The findings confirm that consumers and front-line workers have different perspectives on consumer complaint behavior with hateful intentions and therefore raise a need for efforts and institutional devices for improvement. Second, the study has found that consumers’ economic responsibility as part of their social responsibilities and front-line workers’ perceptions on consumers’ civic responsibility affect the perception difference between these two groups and suggest a need for educating consumers about economic responsibility. Meanwhile, unlike consumers, front-line workers view consumers’ complaint behavior with hateful intentions from an ethical point of view, raising a need for a transition of perspectives on complaint behavior with hateful intentions.

Complaint behavior of mothers and daughters in Pakistan: Transmission and differences between generations

Despite the abundance of marketing literature on consumer complaint behavior, little research has been conducted to explicate such behavior from a generational perspective. I therefore investigated the complaint behavior of 2 generations in Pakistan, namely, mothers and daughters. I used a qualitative interview approach with 5 pairs of dyads. All interviews were transcribed and content analysis was performed. Findings showed that the mothers would most likely seek redress in person, would complain to others verbally, or would take no action. The daughters tended to seek redress in person and to tell others about the problem using electronic media. There was similarity between mothers and daughters in seeking redress and showing anger. The study thus serves as a precursor to future investigation of complaint behavior by different generation cohorts in the same family and of the potential transmission of behavioral values.

An Exploration of Consumer Complaint Behavior towards the Hotel Industry: Case Study in Macao

Macao has experienced positively exponential growth with the liberalization of the gaming industry in 2002. This profit-generating territory has attracted many international chain companies, such as Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Wynn Resorts Limited, MGM Resorts International, and Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, LLC, to establish their businesses in Macao. However, Macao is currently experiencing its worst downturn since 2002. Hotel operators should strive to continuously improving the services that they offer to survive the keen competitive environment. These operators should acquire feedback by encouraging and facilitating the complaint process to improve service quality and meet customer expectations. When customers encounter service failure, they engage in different coping strategies such as inertia, negative word-of-mouth, third party complaint, and voice (Kim, 2010). This study aims to explore the complaint behavior of customers toward the hotel industry in Macao. A qualitative approach is adopted with a sample of 30 respondents who have stayed in Macao hotels. Semi-structured questions are asked through in-depth interviews. The reasons for the complaints and complaint behavior of the customers have been identified, and recommendations are given based on the results of the analysis to provide insights for industry practitioners.

Service Failures and Consumer Responses: Exploring the Antecedents of Consumer Dissatisfaction and Propensity to Complain

This qualitative research synthesizes the literature of service failure and consumer complaining behavior and presents a holistic template of service failure and consumer responses. In reviewing the literature, seven propositions are made which include consumer personal factors, causal attributions, situational and organizational factors, service failure recovery perceptions, past relationship, and switching costs that influence the sequential relationship between service failure, consumer dissatisfaction and propensity to complain respectively. A qualitative methodology is employed to ratify the propositions using faceto face structured interviews from thirty individuals having different backgrounds. It was found that the type and intensity of service failure, social stratum, state and type of consumers' emotions, beliefs, personality, attributions, perceptions of the organizational responsiveness, perceived service failure recovery mechanisms, past relationship with the brand/organization and switching costs affect consumer dissatisfaction and propensity to complain. Additional insights are also presented. Overall, this study comprehensively covers the serial responses to service failure, the underlying role of internal and external factors and integrates episodic processes of service failure and consumer complaint behavior in one model.

Mediating effect of SATCOM on the relationship between consumer complaint behaviour and relationship quality

Mediating effect of SATCOM on the relationship between consumer complaint behaviour and relationship quality

Kids complain – do companies respond?

Purpose Most of the research on children’s consumer behavior focuses on pre-purchase processes, with brand choice typically being the last stage investigated. This paper aims to examine the outcome of children’s purchase decisions, with an emphasis on dissatisfaction and outcome resolution. Of particular interest was the comprehension level of the corporate communication and the extent to which clear, understandable communication influenced children’s ultimate satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach Eighty-seven children wrote authentic letters of complaint to manufacturers about a recent product purchase. The study examined what happened after the children complained – i.e. how companies responded to children, and how satisfied children were with the resolution and the overall complaint handling process. Two widely regarded readability formulas were used to measure the complexity of the written correspondence. Findings The present study suggests that child complainants are the most concerned with the bottom-line results of their communication efforts. Like adults, they want the problem corrected. Unfortunately, the majority of children did not feel fully satisfied with the corporate complaint handling process. Over one-third of the companies in the sample did not even bother to respond to children’s legitimate complaints, despite the fact that each child specifically asked the company to write back. Those firms which did were more likely to respond with a letter only than with a letter plus add-on. And the corporate letters, by and large, were written at an educational level which would preclude full understanding by the child. Research limitations/implications Because consumer complaint behavior is not randomly distributed in the population, the use of probability sampling was precluded. Published studies which have used consumer complaint letters as the data collection method have relied primarily on convenience sampling. In the present study, judgmental sampling was used to select children participants. Three criteria were applied. Children had to be aged between 10 and 13 years. Children had to have experienced dissatisfaction with a product purchase made over the previous six months. Children could not have taken any public action to resolve their dissatisfaction. But they had to be willing to write a letter of complaint at this point. It was considered of utmost importance that the letters used in this study be authentic. They had to be composed and penned by the children themselves. This criterion, coupled with the fact that the complaints were legitimate, avoided the obvious ethical dilemma associated with the use of fabricated letters. Practical implications It seems ironic that in the present era of consumer consciousness, corporations do not place greater emphasis on truly communicating with their customers, where communication is viewed as a process of establishing shared meaning. How can there be shared meaning when the message sender fails to consider the characteristics of the receiver – characteristics such as age and cognitive development? Businesses may argue that their corporate communication policies and practices are based on a concern for cost efficiency. This argument carries little merit, unfortunately. Even the federal government, through the Plain Writing Act of 2010, acknowledges the importance of using common, everyday words and plain English in all written documents. Social implications On the surface, American businesses state that they welcome customer feedback. The comments of children are more sought after now than ever before, particularly in the area of advertising and new product development. But the results of this study show that companies have a long way to go before they can claim to be truly receiver-oriented in their managerial communication policies. Perhaps this is why consumers – certainly child consumers – are only beginning to believe that when kids complain, companies will respond. Originality/value The vast body of complaint research focuses almost exclusively on adults. Despite their sophistication and marketing literacy, children are not miniature adults. It is not known whether the same models and findings with respect to adult complaint behavior apply to children. Unfortunately, there are very few studies of children’s complaint behavior and corporate responses.

Complaint Behaviour between Generations and Its Transmissions: An Exploratory Study in Malaysia

Despite the abundance of marketing literature on consumer complaint behaviour, little is done to explicate such behaviour from generational perspectives. How the older and younger groups complain, and whether the latter learn or inherit behavioural values from the former remain unknown. Using theories pertinent to complaint behaviour and social learning theory as the basis, the present study aims to look into complaint behaviour between two generations, namely the mothers and the daughters. A qualitative approach using dyad interview was employed in Malaysia to gain insights not only about their respective complaint behaviour but also its similarities and differences simultaneously. Subsequently, five pairs of mothers and daughters were interviewed. All interviews were transcribed and analyzed using content analysis. The findings show that while the mothers would most likely seek redress in person, complain to others verbally and take no action, the daughters tend to seek redress and tell others about it using electronic media. There is apparent similarity in seeking redress and ranting on between the mothers and daughters but the younger generation tends to do it via social media. The study thus serves as a precursor to future investigation on complaint behaviour by different generation cohorts in the same family and the potential transmission of behavioural values between them. Practical implications are provided.

The Effects of Self-Construals and Interactive Constraints on Consumer Complaint Behaviors Across Cultures

This study predicts cross-cultural associations between task and face constraints in relation to consumer complaint behaviors. Participants comprised 1200 undergraduates from Kyoto City in Japan and 420 undergraduates from Las Vegas and Tennessee in the USA. The complaint methods studied include direct voice responses, private responses (negative word of mouth and exit action), and third-party responses. We found that complaints are usually made when service failures occur at the level of co-consumption, rather than at the level of the unaccompanied consumer. The results elucidate intrapersonal and interpersonal views regarding the role played by task constraints and face constraints in mediating the relationship between independent and interdependent self-construals and complaints expressed in various ways. Discussion of these results and their implications is provided, followed by suggestions for future research on culture and conversational constraints (task and face constraints), which leads to complaint behavior, and implications of such research.

소비자의 부적절한 불평행동에 대한 태도 및 의도에 관한 연구

소비자의 부적절한 불평행동에 대한 태도 및 의도에 관한 연구

무엇이 소비자를 분노케 하는가 - 1372 소비자상담센터를 통한 공적 불평행동 사례를 중심으로

무엇이 소비자를 분노케 하는가 - 1372 소비자상담센터를 통한 공적 불평행동 사례를 중심으로

BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS OF CONSUMER COMPLAINT

Complaining is one form of communication for consumers to express their dissatisfaction. Understanding the consumer complaint behavior is an important thing for businesses; however, it is not easy to do. The initial step in understanding this behavior of consumer complaints is to map consumers based on their behavior of complaints and analyze the factors that influence this. This study examines the complaint behavior of consumers in Cibubur who have experienced dissatisfaction with a product. The objectives of this study are to map the consumer complaint behavior and identify its relationship with various factors such as consumer demographics, personality, attitude to businesses, attribution of the causes of dissatisfaction, and product attributes. A crosstab descriptive analysis method was used to map the consumers, while the Pearson correlation analysis methods was used to analyze consumer complaint behavioral relationships with various factors. The results of this study indicated that consumers in Cibubur based on their complaint behavior are classified into four groups: passive, voicers, irates and activist. The passive consumers dominate the category with a percentage of 49%. The voicers, irates, and activist belong to the complaining type and are dominated by young women, with high levels of education and income. Keywords: consumer complaint behavior, product, crosstab, pearson correlation

The impact of other customers and gender on consumer complaint behaviour in the Ecuadorian restaurant setting

Abstract Customer complaint behaviour, in response to service failures, has been shown to vary based on numerous factors, such as the nature of the service encounter, the setting, culture, gender and the presence of others. The gender-based study reported in this paper demonstrates the impact of two of these factors, i.e. the presence of others and gender, on the intent of Ecuadorian customers to voice their complaints about service failures in a restaurant setting. Employing a theoretical framework of impression management and cultural orientation, and with specific reference to Hofstede’s work on cultural differences, this study found that Ecuadorian customers were less likely to complain in the presence of other customers than when they were alone. Impression management and concern for others were shown to be more significant among women than men. Women were found to be more motivated to manage their public image and create positive impressions in other people’s minds, leading to less intent to complain in the presence of other customers than when they were alone. Male customers, on the other hand, exhibited less concern for others and did not show any significant difference in their complaint intentions, whether they were alone or in the presence of others.

Effect of Consumers’ Awareness in Store and Determinants of Consumer Complaint Behavior on Consumer Complaint Intention: Focus on Super Stores and Traditional Markets

Product complaints allow business operators to learn from and solve problems they have been unaware of and prevent customers from leaving in advance. The ability to deal properly with complaints may improve consumer loyalty and repurchase intentions. This study analyzes consumers` intention in complaining behavior towards supermarkets and traditional markets. This study provides implications for business operators in the establishment of marketing strategies to deal with complaints and perform education related to consumer complaints by the verification of variables that influence intention on complaining behavior. A survey was conducted on housewife consumers who had experience using supermarkets and traditional markets. The major results are as follows: first, in store awareness higher in supermarkets than in traditional markets. Second, determinants of consumer complaint behavior, indicated a belief there was a need to spend more money at traditional markets than supermarkets, where the possibility of complaint success and complaint attitudes were found to be low. Third, intention of complaining behavior was lower at traditional markets than supermarkets. Intentions on private complaining behavior and public complaining behavior were both low. Fourth, intention of private behavior is higher than intention of public behavior for both supermarkets and traditional markets. Fifth, complaint attitudes were variables with the greatest influence on intention of complaining behavior for both supermarkets and traditional markets.

Determining the Income Differences and Complaint Behavior Among Automobile Repairs and Service Consumers in Shah Alam, Malaysia

Abstract Understanding consumer's complaint behavior is vitally important as it enables the company to enhance customer satisfaction as well as their experience with the particular company. This paper aims to investigate the differences in income and complaint behavior among automobile repairs and service consumers in Shah Alam. Data for the study was collected using self-administered questionnaire among 400 respondents who sent their cars for servicing at eight selected service centers representing four top car brands sold in the country in 2011. Only those who had experience a service failure within the past twelve months with the respective service center were selected as respondents. They consisted of 60.8 percent female with an average of 28.5 years old and majority of the respondents had tertiary education level. The result indicates that, there is no significant different in consumer complaint behavior in term of respondent's monthly income.

The influence of consumer complaint behaviour on relationship quality among Malaysian mobile phone services subscribers: complainers versus non-complainers

Mobile phone service subscribers in Malaysia have been increasing tremendously. However, the number of complaints received with regard to mobile phone services is small as compared to the number of subscribers. Evidently complaining is one of the consumer behaviours which provides significant impact to organisations as well as to complainers or consumers. Studies on Consumer Complaining Behaviour (CCB) are continuously carried out due to its importance. Although, CCB has extensively been studied in various countries and industries, limited studies are found investigating the relationship between CCB and relationship quality. Therefore, this study was conducted to reduce the existing research gap by concentrating on the Malaysian mobile phone services industry. A total of 550 of mobile phone users consisting of complainers and non-complainers from two selected states in Malaysia were selected as respondents. Using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to analyze the data, the GOF, AVE, CR and convergent validity values confirmed the measurement model of the CCB dimensions which consist of public complaint soft action, public complaint extreme action, private complaint soft action and private complaint extreme action for complainers and non-complainers, respectively. The structural model revealed mixed results of the relationships between the exogenous and endogenous variables. The results provide the indicator of the relationship quality between service providers and consumers. As the mobile phone services industry involves a huge number of Malaysian population this issue should become the focal point to the parties concerned in protecting the consumers.