Researchers and practitioners recently have given increasing attention to the antecedents and consequences of postpurchase consumer complaint intentions and behaviors. Issues pertaining to the nature and structure of the consumer complaint behavior (CCB) concept, however, have not received such attention. The author assesses the validity of the three current operationalizations and taxonomies of CCB using intentions data from four different and independent CCB situations. None is an adequate representation of the empirical observations. Consequently a taxonomy is proposed that is based on exploratory analysis of one of the CCB situations. Confirmatory analysis of the other three CCB situations supports the proposed taxonomy. A validity analysis using complaint behavior data for the four CCB situations also supports the proposed CCB taxonomy.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AndreasenAlan (1984), “Consumer Satisfaction in Loose Monopolies: The Case of Medical Care,”Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 2, 122–35.
2.
AndreasenAlan (1985), “Consumer Responses to Dissatisfaction in Loose Monopolies,”Journal of Consumer Research, 12 (September), 135–41.
3.
BagozziRichard P. (1983), “A Holistic Methodology for Modeling Consumer Responses to Innovation,”Operations Research, 31 (1), 128–76.
4.
BeardenWilliam O., and TeelJesse E. (1983), “Selected Determinants of Consumer Satisfaction and Complaint Reports,”Journal of Marketing Research, 20 (February), 21–8.
5.
BentlerPeter M., and BonnetDouglas G. (1980), “Significance Tests and Goodness of Fit in the Analysis of Covariance Structures,”Psychological Bulletin, 88 (3), 588–606.
6.
BestArthur, and AndreasenAlan R. (1977), “Consumer Responses to Unsatisfactory Purchases: A Survey of Perceiving Defects, Voicing Complaints, and Obtaining Redress,”Law and Society Review, 11 (Spring), 701–42.
7.
Business Week (1984), “Making Service a Potent Marketing Tool” (June 11), 164–70.
8.
DayRalph L. (1980), “Research Perspectives on Consumer Complaining Behavior,” in Theoretical Developments in Marketing, LambCharles, and DunnePatrick, eds. Chicago: American Marketing Association, 211–15.
9.
DayRalph L. (1984), “Modeling Choices Among Alternative Responses to Dissatisfaction,” in Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 11, KinnearThomas C., ed. Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Consumer Research, 496–9.
10.
DayRalph L., and AshStephen B. (1979), “Consumer Responses to Dissatisfaction with Durable Products,” in Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 6, WilkieWilliam L., ed. Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Consumer Research, 438–44.
11.
DayRalph L., and BodurMuzzaffor (1977), “A Comprehensive Study of Satisfaction with Consumer Services,” in Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction, and Complaining Behavior Conference Proceedings, DayRalph, ed. Bloomington: Indiana University, 64–70.
12.
DayRalph L., GrabrickeK., SchaetzleT., and StavbachF. (1981), “The Hidden Agenda of Consumer Complaining,”Journal of Retailing, 57 (Fall), 86–106.
13.
DayRalph L., and Laird LandonE.Jr. (1977), “Towards a Theory of Consumer Complaining Behavior,” in Consumer and Industrial Buying Behavior, WoodsideArch, ShethJagdish, and BennettPeter, eds. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company.
14.
EngelJames F., and BlackwellRoger D. (1982), Consumer Behavior, 4th ed. New York: Dryden Press.
15.
FornellClaes, and DidowNicholas M. (1980), “Economic Constraints on Consumer Complaining Behavior,” in Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 7, OlsonJerry C., ed. Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Consumer Research, 318–23.
16.
FornellClaes, and LarckerDavid V. (1981), “Evaluating Structural Equations Models with Unobservable Variables and Measurement Error,”Journal of Marketing Research, 18 (February), 39–50.
17.
GillyMary C., and GelbBetsy (1982), “Post-Purchase Consumer Process and the Complaining Consumer,”Journal of Consumer Research, 9 (December), 323–28.
18.
HattieJohn (1985), “Methodology Review: Assessing Unidimensionality of Tests and Items,”Applied Psychological Measurement, 9 (June), 139–64.
19.
HirschmanAlbert O. (1970), Exit, Voice and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations and States.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
20.
HuntShelby D. (1983), Marketing Theory.Homewood, IL: Irwin Publications.
21.
JacobyJacob, and JaccardJames J. (1981), “The Sources, Meaning and Validity of Consumer Complaining Behavior: A Psychological Review,”Journal of Retailing, 57 (Fall), 4–24.
22.
JöreskogKarl, and SörbomDag (1982), LISREL V: Analysis of Linear Structural Relationships by Maximum Likelihood and Least Squares Methods.Uppsala, Sweden: University of Uppsala.
23.
KaiserH. F., (1974), “An Index of Factor Simplicity,”Psychometrika, 39, 31–6.
24.
KimJoe-On, and RabjohnJames (1980), “Binary Variables and Index Construction,” in Sociological Methodology, SchuesslerKarl F., ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 120–59.
25.
LandonE. LairdJr. (1980), “The Direction of Consumer Complaint Research,” in Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 7, OlsonJerry C., ed. Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Consumer Research, 335–8.
26.
LewisRobert C. (1982), “Consumers Complain—What Happens When Business Responds?” in Consumer Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior Conference Proceedings, DayRalph, and HuntKeith, eds. Bloomington: Indiana University, 88–94.
27.
NunnallyJum C. (1978), Psychometric Theory.New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
28.
ResnikAlan J., and HarmonRobert R., (1983), “Consumer Complaints and Managerial Response: A Holistic Approach,”Journal of Marketing, 47 (March), 86–97.
29.
RichinsMarsha (1983), “Negative Word-of-Mouth by Dissatisfied Consumers: A Pilot Study,”Journal of Marketing, 47 (Winter), 68–78.
30.
RobinsonLarry M. (1979), “Consumer Complaint Behavior: A Review with Implications for Further Research,” in New Dimensions of Consumer Satisfaction and Complaining Behavior, Vol. 3, DayRalph, and HuntKeith, eds. Bloomington: Indiana University, 41–50.
31.
RossIvan, and OliverRichard (1984), “The Accuracy of Unsolicited Consumer Communications as Indicators of True Consumer Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction,” in Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 11, KinnearThomas C., ed. Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Consumer Research, 504–8.
32.
SinghJagdip, and HowellRoy D. (1985), “Consumer Complaining Behavior: A Review and Prospectus,”Proceedings of the Conference on Consumer Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, DayRalph, and HuntKeith, eds. Bloomington: Indiana University,
33.
TARP (1979), Consumer Complaint Handling in America: Final Report.Washington DC: White House Office of Consumer Affairs.
34.
TARP (1986), Consumer Complaint Handling in America: An Update Study.Washington, DC: White House Office of Consumer Affairs.
35.
TorgersonW. S. (1958), Theory and Methods of Scaling.New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
36.
WarlandRex, HermannRobert, and WillitsJane (1975), “Dissatisfied Consumers: Who Gets Upset and Who Takes Action,”Journal of Consumer Affairs, 9 (Winter), 148–63.
37.
WestbrookRobert A., NewmanJoseph W., and TaylorJames R. (1978), “Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction in the Purchase Decision Process,”Journal of Marketing, 42 (October), 54–60.
