Negative Word Of Mouth Research Articles

The joy of pain

PurposeRecent research on word-of-mouth (WOM) has presented consistent evidence on the importance of secondary WOM (sWOM) on online user-generated content (UGC) and on diffusion of positive and negative commercial information. The purpose of this paper is to investigate what motivates consumers to spread, via electronic WOM communication, negative information about commercial entities adversity using malicious verbal narratives. Based on concepts related to the joy of pain (schadenfreude) and gloating behavior the authors propose a set of hypotheses designed to test two key moderators (perceived deservingness and entity’s status) as well as the process of spiteful dissemination like content assimilation, dissemination time and duration.Design/methodology/approachThe research consists on a series of four studies using different research methods (surveys and experiments) and a mix of quantitative and qualitative analyses.FindingsResults show that actively communicating about others’ adversity (i.e. gloating behavior) provides an outlet to the passive observation of others’ adversity (i.e. schadenfreude feelings). Results indicate that schadenfreude and gloating are linked to the perceived deservingness of a commercial entity and entity status (the tall poppy syndrome). Results also show that malicious feelings and gloating behavior cause consumers to disseminate information more widely, more rapidly, for a longer period and frequently distort its content.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings contribute to literature on WOM by introducing an approach that highlights the potential negative effects of WOM on the dissemination of commercial information that might harm the relevant commercial entity’s reputation and goodwill.Originality/valueThis study illuminates the prevalence of negative rhetoric in WOM and supports the theory schadenfreude motives as a trigger for gloating behavior in the form of disseminating negative, malicious and intense WOM regarding commercial setbacks. This research is the first to examine and demonstrates that when it comes to WOM communication, schadenfreude feelings and gloating behavior might play a central role in the dissemination of negative information and the two constructs’ role in understanding infostorms, the sudden flow of large quantities of negative WOM using strong gleeful exultation. This study is the first to examine these phenomena in the business setting.

Attributions of blame for customer mistreatment: Implications for employees' service performance and customers' negative word of mouth

Integrating conservation of resources and attribution theories, this study investigates the extent to which perceived customer mistreatment increases customers' negative word of mouth by reducing service workers' subsequent customer-directed in-role performance and customer-directed organizational citizenship behaviors. We also hypothesized that customer-directed blame attributions would moderate these relationships. Data collected from 153 restaurant servers, 153 coworkers, 149 supervisors and 306 customers show that the negative relationship between customer mistreatment and customer-directed behaviors (both in-role performance and organizational citizenship behaviors) is stronger for employees who engage in high as opposed to low levels of customer-directed blame attributions. Furthermore, the conditional indirect effect of customer mistreatment on negative word of mouth, via customer-directed organizational citizenship behaviors, is stronger for those employees who engage in high as opposed to low levels of customer-directed blame attributions.

The effects of outward and inward negative emotions on consumers’ desire for revenge and negative word of mouth

PurposeAll previous research seldom considered the proliferation process from the perspective of consumers or from a negative perspective to examine the desire for revenge and negative word of mouth (WOM) caused by deficiencies in innovative products. The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers’ subsequent behaviors after they have outward and inward negative emotions such as anger and regret. The objective of this study is to explore the different effects of customers’ anger and regret on desire for revenge and negative WOM.Design/methodology/approachThis research uses structural equation modeling to analyze 226 samples.FindingsThe results showed that regret has significant and positive effects on desire for revenge and negative WOM but anger has only a significant and positive effect on desire for revenge. Moreover, desire for revenge has a significant and positive effect on negative WOM. In addition, the desire for revenge plays a crucial mediator between anger and negative WOM as well as regret and negative WOM.Practical implicationsCorporations can use tangled emotions among consumers to predict the development of the desire for revenge and immediately implement remedies for deficiencies to prevent consumers from developing the desire for revenge and spreading negative WOM regarding the corporation or product, or engaging in other revenge behaviors. Corporations can easily detect and prevent the path between anger and revenge behaviors simply based on the desire for revenge. In contrast to the outward negative behavior that is anger, regret is implicit and internal.Originality/valueThis study explored two negative emotions of affect (anger and regret) based on affection and conation/action of the tricomponent attitude model and their different effects on consumers’ revenge behaviors such as desire for revenge and negative WOM. The contributions of this research are to clarify the different relationships between outward negative emotion (anger) and desire for revenge/negative WOM as well as inward negative emotion (regret) and desire for revenge/negative WOM.

Benchmarking model for factors influencing creation of negative electronic word of mouth

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a structural framework for factors influencing the creation of negative electronic word of mouth (WOM) at online forums, review portals, social networking sites or any other internet-based platform. Consumers frequently talk about consumption through WOM. With the unprecedented progress in digitalization of world, consumers usually tell stories about a product or service experience online. The study aims to identify the antecedents for negative electronic WOM (EWOM) and develop a structural model with different levels of factors.Design/methodology/approachLiterature review and group judgment techniques are used to identify the factors responsible for negative WOM. The study uses interpretive structural modeling approach to develop a structural model representing interrelationships among factors. The model also represents the factors at different levels along with most and least dominant factors responsible for EWOM.FindingsSeven factors responsible for negative electronic WOM are identified which are spread over three levels. First level of factors includes anxiety reduction, advice seeking, exertion of power (over companies) and social benefits (received), whereas the second level of factors includes altruism (negative WOM) and economic rewards. The most dominant factor identified is vengeance, which is at level three.Practical implicationsThe study identified three levels of factors responsible for negative EWOM. Companies can strategies their resources to ensure that no consumer reaches beyond level one. Beyond level one, the involved factors may jeopardize the brand value and brand image of the company.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature by providing a structural model for negative EWOM. This model identifies the most and least dominant factors and guides managers to take necessary action to prevent negative EWOM.

Seeding strategies for new product launch: The role of negative word-of-mouth.

When launching a new product, firms often give away free samples to seed the market. This paper aims to identify the optimal seeding targets, such as early adopters, social hubs, or randomly chosen consumers while considering the presence of negative word-of-mouth (WOM). Using agent-based modeling, it was found that seeding early adopters can generate the highest profit and the largest market penetration, followed by the social hubs and random consumers. Moreover, the results show that seeding early adopters can be more beneficial for a low-quality product, wherein adopters are more likely to spread negative WOM. These findings challenge a widely accepted notion in the related research that social hubs are often the most promising targets for seeding programs.

The value of backers’ word-of-mouth in crowdfunding projects filtering: an empirical investigation

The current study aims to investigate whether backers’ electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is a valuable input when it comes to generating collective intelligence for projects filtering in crowdfunding. Based on theories of collective intelligence and WOM, we developed a research model and conducted an empirical study using a cross-section dataset with 845 crowdfunding projects and a panel dataset of the funding dynamics of those projects. The results indicated that backers’ negative WOM rather than positive WOM can effectively predict project implementation performance. Besides, for entrepreneurs with a high reputation, negative WOM has stronger predictive power for the complaints of product quality. We also found that projects with more accumulated negative WOM tend to attract fewer subsequent backers. Compared with positive WOM, negative WOM has a stronger effect on subsequent investments in a crowdfunding project. Finally, positive WOM can reduce the diffusion of responsibility effect in crowdfunding, that is, a backer is less likely to take responsibility for investing in a project when others have already backed it. Based on these findings, we conclude that backers’ WOM, especially the negative WOM, contributes to projects filtering in crowdfunding.

The critical role of customer forgiveness in successful service recovery

Service failures occur when the service provided is less than adequate or fails to live up to the customer's expectations. When service failures inevitably occur, providers implement recovery strategies such as apologizing, offering compensation, or allowing customers to voice their concerns. However, such strategies do not always lead to desired outcomes such as repatronage intentions, reduced negative WOM, or reconciliation. The current research explores the very rich concept of forgiveness with regard to service recovery and empirically examines the links among recovery strategies, customer forgiveness and recovery outcomes. Although differences in terms of optimal recovery strategies depend on industry type, forgiveness is demonstrated to mediate the relationship between recovery strategies and desirable outcomes, suggesting that forgiveness be included in all future models of service recovery.

Communicator or Shill?

Communicator or Shill?

WHY DO WE LIKE COMMENTING AND SHARING IN SOCIAL MEDIA? AN ONLINE APPROCH OF LUXURY BRAND COMMUNICATION

WHY DO WE LIKE COMMENTING AND SHARING IN SOCIAL MEDIA? AN ONLINE APPROCH OF LUXURY BRAND COMMUNICATION

Family business succession: impact on supplier relations and customer management

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine what happens to human relationships when a family business is handed off to the next generation. The second generation, to succeed, must work to nurture and sustain current customer, supplier, and employee relationships so as not to damage existing goodwill. As power is transferred from the founder of the family business to the next generation, organizational issues and the leadership style of the successor take center stage.Design/methodology/approachThis is strictly a conceptual paper designed for the practitioner. There is no empirical study therein, only theoretical frameworks to guide practitioners and family business owners. It is meant to be informational with many useful “tips” for family business succession.FindingsRelationships with valuable human resources, such as current customers, suppliers, and employees must receive the attention they deserve to avoid negatively impacting organizational brand equity. Failure to nurture supplier relationships can increase costs and access. Neglected customer relationships may cause the loss of key members of these groups, contributing significantly to second-generation business failures. Damaged employee relationships cause expensive turnover, loss in customers, and negative word of mouth. Research suggests that only 30 per cent of businesses survive into the second generation and even less (about 13 per cent) into the third generation (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015).Research limitations/implicationsThe next step would be to test the propositions using both qualitative and quantitative research, beginning with interviews of second-generation family business owners. The interviews would test the successor-generations’ attitudes and behaviors toward established customers, suppliers, and employees. Attitudes would be measured on a Likert scale to explore the perceived importance of current customers, employees, and suppliers to the new owner. Issues of commitment, responsibility, loyalty, friendship, respect, and caring would also be measured to evaluate how relationship-friendly the new owner is. Levels of retention of key stakeholders would then be correlated with the firm’s financial success or failure to see if there is any statistically significant relationship.Practical implicationsEstablishing and maintaining strong trust relationships will socially bond customers, employees, and suppliers to the organization. Introduction of a second generation changes the dynamics of these relationships, so care is critical, as customers, suppliers, and employees become anxious with change. Relationship management is about nurturing customer relationships, honoring supplier arrangements, and developing employees. Consistent care toward trusted human resources creates brand equity (or monetary value). Naturally, family businesses start small and understand the value of each relationship, but as the business passes from the founder to the second generation, these loyal, trusted relationships may be tested. It is up to the successor to assure customers, suppliers, and employees that they are a valued part of the operation. Inability to do this will likely lead to an erosion of the business’ loyal base and may precipitate in failure of the firm for the successor.Social implicationsThe social implications revolve around acceptable human interaction and proper treatment of individuals who are critical to the small family business’ success. As a family business passes from the founder to the second generation, loyal, trusted relationships may be tested. It is up to the successor to assure customers, suppliers, and employees that they are a valued part of the operation. Inability to do this will likely lead to an erosion of the business’ loyal base and may precipitate in failure of the firm for the successor.Originality/valueIt is original in that it is practitioner-oriented and full of useful tips for the family business owner. None of the information contained therein is novel. It is a consensus or compilation of useful information packaged for a practitioner.

Factor Affecting Positive and Negative Word of Mouth in Restaurant Industry

Factor Affecting Positive and Negative Word of Mouth in Restaurant Industry

The Effect of Customer Equity Drivers on Word-of-Mouth Behavior with Mediating Role of Customer Loyalty and Purchase Intention

The uncertain stand in terms of product and service quality invites customers to get the advantage of other customers’ experiences in order to make a purchase decision. It has been discussed that word-of-mouth (WOM) influences consumer purchase behavior and it could create a robust tie like relatives and could also tie as close friends, acquaintances, and strangers. This paper intends to define the concepts of WOM and customer equity and study the terminology of current purchase intention, customer loyalty and correlates to consumer decision making. The data was collected utilizing self-administrated questionnaires. The results are obtained using Smart PLS 2.0, then using bootstrap algorithm the t-statistics are analyzed. The results indicate that customer equity drivers increase the customer loyalty and consequently ends in WOM by the customers. Despite the literature which has investigated the influence of customer equity drivers on the loyalty and purchase intention of the customers, this study contributes the analysis of drivers on WOM. Also, it reveals that if a firm invests on the customer equity drivers, the result will be loyalty and accordingly, the easiest way of advertisement that would be WOM. This study only focuses on a unique industry that can impact the generalizability of the contexts. Also, it relates only to the positive WOM effects. Future studies could strengthen the literature by taking in negative WOM with a broader population.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.29.2.17718

At-Risk Brand Relationships and Threats to the Bottom Line

Abstract Like a stock portfolio, each relationship type offers a brand higher or lower growth opportunities and risks. The type of relationship is particularly relevant in brand crisis events. When a brand is hit by a crisis, it is not necessarily the most successful strategy to focus exclusively on protecting positive emotional relationships. At-risk relationships are affected more than others and can lead to a significant decline of brand value. Our cases highlight that at-risk relationships represent a critical, but often overlooked, aspect of a brand’s relationship portfolio. Risks range from negative word of mouth that might have a negative impact on potential new customers to clear retention risk. Marketers should manage these risks proactively by identifying and investigating the nature of their customer relationships and by responding frankly and credibly to crisis events.

Identifying the Picky Shopper

Shopper pickiness is an individual difference that is fundamentally associated with how individuals make choices. From lay intuition, we all know someone who is “picky”. Yet to date, research in marketing has neither systematically defined the construct nor provided the means by which to assess relative degrees of pickiness among shoppers. This paper theorizes that individual differences in shopper pickiness are characterized by two primary factors: precise preferences (PP) and flaw sensitivity (FS). The authors develop the Picky Shopper scale and find that pickier shoppers describe their ideal products in more detail, are more critical of advertised products, are less susceptible to social influence, are more likely to spread negative word of mouth, and form smaller consideration sets. In addition, the authors find that picky shoppers care about a wide range of attributes when they make selections, even when deciding on horizontal attributes (e.g. color, taste). Finally, the Picky Shopper scale reliably identifies pickiness across various shopping contexts.

More Is Less: Only Moderate Polarized Online Product Reviews can Affect Sales

It is widely proved that positive online word-of-mouth (WOM) can boost sales and negative online WOM harm sales. Then will more positivity or negativity of messages in online product reviews text have greater impact on product sales? This research attempts to tackle this ignored research question. The answer is counter-intuitive: it depends on how positive or negative they are! The results of a two-way fixed-effects panel data analysis based on the data about tablet market in Amazon and a novel sentiment analysis technique demonstrate that the most and least polarized online product reviews actually have no effect on sales and only moderate positive / negative reviews can affect sales. Such effects can be explained by the optimal arousal theory and attribution theory. Inspired by the findings, three strategies for user-generated content (UGC) management are proposed.

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.

Consumer tendency to regret, compulsive buying, gender, and fashion time-of-adoption groups

ABSTRACTThe consumer’s emotional state after purchase/non-purchase is affected by regret, a negative emotion leading to dissatisfaction, negative word of mouth, and diminished intention to buy the brand again. This study compared tendency to regret and compulsive buying tendency among fashion time-of-adoption groups and by gender. Participants were US university students. A questionnaire measured demographics, compulsive buying tendency, fashion innovativeness and opinion leadership, and tendency to regret. Participants were divided into four time-of-adoption groups and two compulsive buying tendency groups. Findings support that in post-purchase evaluation, earlier (vs later) fashion adoption groups and those higher (vs lower) in compulsive buying tendency had a greater tendency to regret not purchasing. Earlier (vs later) fashion adoption groups had higher compulsive buying tendency. No gender differences existed in compulsive buying tendency. There were no significant results for consumer tendency to regret purchasing either by gender or fashion adoption group. Implications for researchers and practitioners are provided.

A roadmap for driving customer word-of-mouth

PurposeManagers seeking to manage customer word-of-mouth (WOM) behavior need to understand how different attitudinal drivers (e.g. satisfaction, positive and negative emotion, commitment, and self-brand connection) relate to a range of WOM behaviors. They also need to know how the effects of these drivers are moderated by customer characteristics (e.g. gender, age, income, country). The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachTo investigate these issues a built a large-scale multi-national database was created that includes attitudinal drivers, customer characteristics, and a full range of WOM behaviors, involving both the sending and receiving of both positive and negative WOM, with both strong and weak ties. The combination of sending-receiving, positive-negative and strong ties-weak ties results in a typology of eight distinct WOM behaviors. The investigation explores the drivers of those behaviors, and their moderators, using a hierarchical Bayes model in which all WOM behaviors are simultaneously modeled.FindingsAmong the many important findings uncovered are: the most effective way to drive all positive WOM behaviors is through maximizing affective commitment and positive emotions; minimizing negative emotions and ensuring that customers are satisfied lowers all negative WOM behaviors; all other attitudinal drivers have lower or even mixed effects on the different WOM behaviors; and customer characteristics can have a surprisingly large impact on how attitudes affect different WOM behaviors.Practical implicationsThese findings have important managerial implications for promotion (which attitudes should be stimulated to produce the desired WOM behavior) and segmentation (how should marketing efforts change, based on segments defined by customer characteristics).Originality/valueThis research points to the myriad of factors that enhance positive and reduce negative word-of-mouth, and the importance of accounting for customer heterogeneity in assessing the likely impact of attitudinal drivers on word-of-mouth behaviors.

위기 이력에 따른 사과 메시지 유형의 효과

위기 이력에 따른 사과 메시지 유형의 효과

Perceived Disempowerment as a Deterrent of Inpatient Complaining

Purpose : This paper attempted to understand the felt disempowerment that discourage consumers to voice their complaints in spite of their dissatisfaction with hospital services. Design/Methodology/Approach : Data collected from 312 dissatisfied inpatients who were admitted and discharged from various 100+ bedded private and cooperative hospitals across Kerala revealed that a majority dissuaded from overt complaining behaviours despite dissatisfaction. Instead, they resorted to covert complaining behaviours like engaging in negative word of mouth with friends, relatives, or other inpatients ; switching behaviour ; exit ; or just keeping silent. Findings : Factor analysis revealed that 'powerlessness' and 'subservient' attitude perceived by inpatients in hospitals deterred them from overt complaining behaviours like voicing, seeking third party redressal, or legal action. Bivariate analysis found out that while a significant difference could be established between dissatisfied inpatients holding different levels of occupation, admitted to hospitals belonging to various zones and with different levels of medical awareness, no true difference was observed between respondents possessing different socioeconomic and demographic status, nature of action resorted, admitted in different types of hospitals, and various durations of hospital stay with respect to their levels of perceived disempowerment. Research Limitations/ Implications : The fact that patients are disempowered gives an upper hand to the provider, principally in a credence service like health care. As the respondents who participated in the survey opted to either switch provider or engage in negative word-of-mouth with friends and relatives than overtly complaining, their actions can be viewed as unfavorable from the health care providers' perspective. Practical Implications : Only if the hospitals know that they have caused some sort of discomfort or dissatisfaction to their customers will they get an opportunity to rectify their mistakes. Originality/Value : This study brought to light very important information that hospitals in Kerala need to be cautious about.