The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

They forgot me! The exclusionary effects among complaining consumers when others receive a response

They forgot me! The exclusionary effects among complaining consumers when others receive a response
They forgot me! The exclusionary effects among complaining consumers when others receive a response

Complaint management is often considered a significant cost center, and it may be difficult for companies to treat all complainers equally in physical settings where complainers can observe each other's treatment. How do complainers feel when other complainers receive a response from the company, but they do not? We introduce and conceptualize a complainer exclusion construct that incorporates the complainer's observation of theirs and other complainers' treatment. Drawing on the theory of ostracism, three studies employing varying industry and complaint settings, reveal that perceptions of exclusion underpin complainers' re-complaining intentions (Study 1). Moreover, this effect is intensified when earlier complainers witness the later complainers receive a response, suggesting temporal order of complaints as an important boundary condition (Study 2). Contrarily, shifting complainers' primary focus away from the unpleasant experience through a distraction weakens the re-complaining intentions among complainers feeling exclusion (Study 3). This research has significant implications for managing complaint management systems, avoiding perceived exclusion among complainers, and effectively reducing the likelihood of worse outcomes for all stakeholders.

complaining, distraction, exclusion, recovery, retail, service failure
0742-6046
Ben, Zhiying
4322a421-e052-49bc-b9bf-97e1e0afe78a
Shukla, Paurav
d3acd968-350b-40cf-890b-12c2e7aaa49d
Ben, Zhiying
4322a421-e052-49bc-b9bf-97e1e0afe78a
Shukla, Paurav
d3acd968-350b-40cf-890b-12c2e7aaa49d

Ben, Zhiying and Shukla, Paurav (2024) They forgot me! The exclusionary effects among complaining consumers when others receive a response. Psychology and Marketing. (doi:10.1002/mar.22080).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Complaint management is often considered a significant cost center, and it may be difficult for companies to treat all complainers equally in physical settings where complainers can observe each other's treatment. How do complainers feel when other complainers receive a response from the company, but they do not? We introduce and conceptualize a complainer exclusion construct that incorporates the complainer's observation of theirs and other complainers' treatment. Drawing on the theory of ostracism, three studies employing varying industry and complaint settings, reveal that perceptions of exclusion underpin complainers' re-complaining intentions (Study 1). Moreover, this effect is intensified when earlier complainers witness the later complainers receive a response, suggesting temporal order of complaints as an important boundary condition (Study 2). Contrarily, shifting complainers' primary focus away from the unpleasant experience through a distraction weakens the re-complaining intentions among complainers feeling exclusion (Study 3). This research has significant implications for managing complaint management systems, avoiding perceived exclusion among complainers, and effectively reducing the likelihood of worse outcomes for all stakeholders.

Text
Psychology and Marketing - 2024 - Ben - They forgot me The exclusionary effects among complaining consumers when others - Version of Record
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (892kB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 12 July 2024
Published date: 22 July 2024
Keywords: complaining, distraction, exclusion, recovery, retail, service failure

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 493411
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/493411
ISSN: 0742-6046
PURE UUID: e98f02fd-afaa-452d-8073-72754cad39a8
ORCID for Paurav Shukla: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1957-8622

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 02 Sep 2024 18:03
Last modified: 03 Sep 2024 02:00

Export record

Altmetrics

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×