This article explores the effects of time and relationship strength on the evolution of customer revenge and avoidance in online public complaining contexts. First, the authors examine whether online complainers hold a grudge—in terms of revenge and avoidance desires—over time. They find that time affects the two desires differently: Although revenge decreases over time, avoidance increases over time, indicating that customers indeed hold a grudge. Second, the authors examine the moderation effect of a strong relationship on how customers hold this grudge. They find that firms' best customers have the longest unfavorable reactions (i.e., a longitudinal love-becomes-hate effect). Specifically, over time, the revenge of strong-relationship customers decreases more slowly and their avoidance increases more rapidly than that of weak-relationship customers. Third, the authors explore a solution to attenuate this damaging effect—namely, the firm offering an apology and compensation after the online complaint. Overall, they find that strong-relationship customers are more amenable to any level of recovery attempt. The authors test the first two issues with a longitudinal survey and the third issue with a follow-up experiment.
AakerJennifer, FournierSusan, and BraselS. Adam (2004), “When Good Brands Do Bad,”Journal of Consumer Research, 31 (June), 1–16.
2.
AggarwalPankaj (2004), “The Effects of Brand Relationship Norms on Consumer Attitudes and Behaviors,”Journal of Consumer Research, 31 (June), 87–101.
3.
AhluwaliaRohini (2002), “How Prevalent Is the Negativity Effect in Consumer Environments?”Journal of Consumer Research, 29 (September), 270–79.
4.
AhluwaliaRohini, BurnkrantRobert E., and UnnavaH. Rao (2000), “Consumer Response to Negative Publicity: The Moderating Role of Commitment,”Journal of Marketing Research, 37 (May), 203–214.
5.
AndersonJames C., and GerbingDavid W. (1988), “Structural Equation Modeling: A Review and Recommended Two-Step Approach,”Psychological Bulletin, 103 (May), 411–23.
6.
AquinoKarl, TrippThomas M., and BiesRobert J. (2001), “How Employees Respond to Personal Offense: The Effects of Blame Attribution, Victim Status, and Offender Status on Revenge in the Workplace,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 86 (February), 52–59.
7.
AquinoKarl, TrippThomas M., and BiesRobert J. (2006), “Getting Even or Moving On? Power, Procedural Justice, and Types of Offense as Predictors of Revenge, Forgiveness, Reconciliation, and Avoidance in Organizations,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 91 (March), 653–58.
8.
ArielyDan (2007), “HBR Case Study: The Customers' Revenge,”Harvard Business Review, 85 (December), 31–42.
9.
BechwatiNada N., and MorrinMaureen (2003), “Outraged Consumers: Getting Even at the Expense of Getting a Good Deal,”Journal of Consumer Psychology, 13 (4), 440–53.
10.
BechwatiNada N., and MorrinMaureen (2007), “Understanding Voter Vengeance,”Journal of Consumer Psychology, 17 (4), 277–91.
11.
BiesRobert J., and TrippThomas M. (1996), “Beyond Distrust: Getting Even and the Need for Revenge,” in Trust in Organizations, KramerRoderick M., and TylerTom R., eds. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 246–60.
12.
BiesRobert J., TrippThomas M., and KramerRoderick M. (1997), “At the Breaking Point: A Social Cognitive Perspective on Vengeance and Violence in Organizations,” in Antisocial Behavior in Organizations, GreenbergJerald, and GiacaloneRobert A., eds. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 18–36.
13.
BitnerMary Jo, BoomsBernard H., and TetreaultMary S. (1990), “The Service Encounter: Diagnosing Favorable and Unfavorable Incidents,”Journal of Marketing, 54 (January), 71–84.
14.
BliesePaul D., and PloyhartRobert E. (2002), “Growth Modeling Using Random Coefficient Models: Model Building, Testing and Illustrations,”Organizational Research Methods, 5 (October), 362–87.
15.
BoltonRuth N., and LemonKatherine N. (1999), “A Dynamic Model of Customers' Usage of Services: Usage as an Antecedent and Consequence of Satisfaction,”Journal of Marketing Research, 36 (May), 171–86.
16.
BonifieldCarolyn, and ColeCatherine (2007), “Affective Responses to Service Failure: Anger, Regret, and Retaliatory and Conciliatory Responses,”Marketing Letters, 18 (January), 85–99.
17.
CookThomas D., and CampbellDonald T. (1979), Quasi-Experimentation: Design & Analysis Issues to Field Settings.Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
18.
DawesJohn (2009), “The Effect of Service Price Increases on Customer Retention: The Moderating Role of Customer Tenure and Relationship Breadth,”Journal of Service Research, 11 (February), 232–45.
19.
De WulfKristof, Odekerken-SchröderGaby, and IacobucciDawn (2001), “Investment in Consumer Relationships: A Cross- Country and Cross-Industry Exploration,”Journal of Marketing, 65 (October), 33–50.
20.
The Economist (2006), “Business: The Blog in the Corporate Machine; Corporate Reputations,” (February 11), 66.
21.
ElangovanA.R., and ShapiroDebra L. (1998), “Betrayal of Trust in Organizations,”Academy of Management Review, 23 (July), 547–67.
22.
FinkelEli J., RusbultCaryl E., KumashiroMadoka, and HannonPeggy A. (2002), “Dealing with Betrayal in Close Relationships: Does Commitment Promote Forgiveness?”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82 (January), 956–74.
23.
FornellClaes, and LarckerDavid F. (1981), “Evaluating Structural Equation Models with Unobservable Variables and Measurement Error,”Journal of Marketing Research, 18 (February), 39–50.
24.
GouldnerAlvin W. (1960), “The Norm of Reciprocity: A Preliminary Statement,”American Sociological Review, 25 (Spring), 161–78.
25.
GrégoireYany, and FisherRobert J. (2006), “The Effects of Relationship Quality on Customer Retaliation,”Marketing Letters, 17 (January), 31–46.
26.
GrégoireYany, and FisherRobert J. (2008), “Customer Betrayal and Retaliation: When Your Best Customers Become Your Worst Enemies,”Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36 (June), 247–61.
27.
Hennig-ThurauThorsten, GwinnerKevin P., and GremlerDwayne D. (2002), “Understanding Relationship Marketing Outcomes: An Integration of Relational Benefits and Relationship Quality,”Journal of Service Research, 4 (February), 230–47.
28.
HessRonald L., GanesanShankar, and KleinNoreen M. (2003), “Service Failure and Recovery: The Impact of Relationship Factors on Customer Satisfaction,”Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 31 (Spring), 127–45.
29.
HoganJohn E., LemonKatherine N., and RustRoland T. (2002), “Customer Equity Management: Charting New Directions for the Future of Marketing,”Journal of Service Research, 5 (August), 4–12.
30.
HomburgChristian, KoschateNicole, and HoyerWayne D. (2006), “The Role of Cognition and Affect in the Formation of Customer Satisfaction: A Dynamic Perspective,”Journal of Marketing, 70 (July), 21–31.
31.
KoehlerJonathan J., and GershoffAndrew D. (2003), “Betrayal Aversion: When Agents of Protection Become Agents of Harm,”Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 90 (March), 244–66.
32.
McCulloughMichael E., BellahC. Garth, KilpatrickShelley Dean, and JohnsonJudith L. (2001), “Vengefulness: Relationships with Forgiveness, Rumination, Well-Being, and the Big Five,”Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27 (May), 601–610.
33.
McCulloughMichael E., BonoGiacomo, and RootLindsey M. (2007), “Rumination, Emotion, and Forgiveness: Three Longitudinal Studies,”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92 (March), 490–505.
34.
McCulloughMichael E., FinchamFrank D., and TsangJo-Ann (2003), “Forgiveness, Forbearance, and Time: The Temporal Unfolding of Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivations,”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84 (March), 540–57.
35.
McCulloughMichael E., RachalK. Chris, SandageSteven J., WorthingtonEverett L.Jr., BrownSusan Wade, and HightTerry L. (1998), “Interpersonal Forgiving in Close Relationship: Vol. 2: Theoretical Elaboration and Measurement,”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75 (December), 1586–1603.
PodsakoffPhilip M., MacKenzieScott B., LeeJeong-Yeon, and PodsakoffNathan P. (2003), “Common Method Biases in Behavioral Research: A Critical Review of the Literature and Recommended Remedies,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 88 (October), 879–903.
38.
RaudenbushStephen W., and BrykAnthony S. (2002), Hierarchical Lineal Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods, 2d ed.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
39.
RindfleischAric, MalterAlan J., GanesanShankar, and MoormanChristine (2008), “Cross-Sectional Versus Longitudinal Survey Research: Concepts, Findings, and Guidelines,”Journal of Marketing Research, 45 (June), 261–79.
40.
RingbergTorsten, Odekerken-SchröderGaby, and ChristensenGlenn (2007), “A Cultural Models Approach to Service Recovery,”Journal of Marketing, 71 (July), 194–214.
41.
RoehmMichelle L., and BradyMichael K. (2007), “Consumer Responses to Performance Failures by High-Equity Brands,”Journal of Consumer Research, 34 (December), 537–45.
42.
SinghJagdip (1988), “Consumer Complaint Intentions and Behavior: Definitional and Taxonomical Issues,”Journal of Marketing, 52 (January), 93–107.
43.
SirdeshmukhDeepak, SinghJagdip, and SabolBarry (2002), “Consumer Trust, Value, and Loyalty in Relational Exchanges,”Journal of Marketing, 66 (January), 15–37.
44.
SkarlickiDaniel P., FolgerRobert, and TeslukPaul (1999), “Personality as a Moderator in the Relationship Between Fairness and Retaliation,”Academy of Management Journal, 42 (February), 100–108.
45.
SmithAmy K., BoltonRuth N., and WagnerJanet (1999), “A Model of Customer Satisfaction with Service Encounters Involving Failure and Recovery,”Journal of Marketing Research, 36 (August), 356–72.
TaxStephen S., BrownStephen W., and ChandrashekaranMurali (1998), “Customer Evaluations of Service Complaint Experiences: Implications for Relationship Marketing,”Journal of Marketing, 62 (April), 60–76.
48.
ThomsonMatthew, MacInnisDeborah J., and ParkC. Whan (2005), “The Ties That Bind: Measuring the Strength of Consumers' Emotional Attachments to Brands,”Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15 (1), 77–91.
49.
TrippThomas M., and BiesRobert J. (1997), “What's Good About Revenge? The Avenger's Perspective,” in Research on Negotiation in Organizations, Vol. 6, LewickiRoy J., BiesRobert J., and SheppardBlair H., eds. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 145–60.
50.
WadeSusan H. (1989), “The Development of a Scale to Measure Forgiveness,” doctoral dissertation, School of Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary.
51.
WardJames C., and OstromAmy L. (2006), “Complaining to the Masses: The Role of Protest Framing in Customer-Created Complaint Web Sites,”Journal of Consumer Research, 33 (December), 220–30.
52.
YimChin Kin (Bennett), TseDavid K., and ChanKimmy Wa (2008), “Strengthening Customer Loyalty Through Intimacy and Passion: Roles of Customer–Firm Affection and Customer–Staff Relationships in Services,”Journal of Marketing Research, 45 (December), 741–56.
53.
ZourrigHaithem, ChebatJean-Charles, and ToffoliRoy (2009), “Consumer Revenge Behavior: A Cross-Cultural Perspective,”Journal of Business Research, 62 (10), 995–1001.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
