Drawing upon Hirschman's (1970) framework for Exit,
Voice and Loyalty, a model is proposed which predicts and
explains variation in voice, exit, and negative work-of-mouth
behaviors. The findings from extant consumer complaining
behavior (CCB) literature are also incorporated into the
hypothesized model. Using data from customer dissatisfac
tion with three different service categories, the proposed
model is subjected to empirical investigation. Despite the
parsimony of Hirschman's framework, results show that the
hypothesized model provides good model-fit indices in each
of the three data sets. In addition, the explanatory power of
the model is encouraging, ranging from 36 percent to 50
percent variance explained. However, the support for the
hypothesized pattern of CCB rates across the service
categories is mixed. Specifically, while voice responses con
form to the hypothesized pattern, exit responses do not. Im
plications stemming from a comparative analysis of the
results are discussed, and directions for future research out
lined.
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