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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to consider whether consumers can recover from a service failure by utilizing internal and external energy resources that are available to them at the time of an online complaint. Based on the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, this research conceptualizes the complainers' act of complaining through internal and external energy resources. By investing (direct utilization of resources) and mobilizing (utilizing resources to change the trajectory of a loss) these resources, this study aims to understand which resources (internal or external) and what strategies (investment or mobilization) are effective in the face of a resource loss.Design//methodology/approachStudy 1 aimed to test the impact of energy resources (motivation and affordance) on consumers' negative emotions and satisfaction with their complaints through an online panel survey. Study 2 was a between-subjects design experiment aimed to overcome the diversity of the circumstances around a service failure, complaint motivation and complaints that were captured in Study 1.FindingsThis study provides evidence of the negative and positive effects of internal and external energy resources, respectively, in altering the consumer's emotions and behavioral intentions. The findings of this study underline the role of affordances of features, specifically perceived conversationality of digital features, in improving consumers' relationship with the defaulting firm.Practical implicationsBased on the findings related to the perceived conversationality of digital features, managers are urged to explore the affordances of online features that consumers use for communications, in general, or for complaints, in particular.Originality/valueTo our understanding, this paper is the first study to employ COR theory as a conceptual background, and in turn, the first to conceptualize complaint motivations and online complaint features as internal and external resources, respectively. As such, this study is the first of its kind to examine complaint media systematically.

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This study examined the impact of shared responsibility on the relationship between marketing and other business students’ coping strategies and their satisfaction with the rapid transitioning to remote learning and academic performance expectations. COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) rapidly altered and challenged higher education to maintain pedagogical services provided to students, regardless of faculty or student readiness or experience. As such, shared responsibility can be critical in times of crisis when the university community must pull together for mutual success. Findings indicate that students’ sense of shared responsibility and healthy coping mechanisms lead to student satisfaction with the transition process and more positive academic outcomes. This study is the first to empirically examine shared responsibility in higher education during a crucial period to the authors’ knowledge. By promoting shared responsibility, marketing educators can improve student outcomes and identify those who may need additional support resources.

The physical store environment is an essential factor that contributes to the overall shopping experience of consumers (Babin and Darden 1995). Specifically, consumer behavioral outcomes are shaped by elements within retail environments that can evoke emotional responses (e.g., Chaudhuri and Ligas 2009; Dawson et al. 1990; Matilla and Wirtz 2001). The classical environment model by Mehrabian and Russell (1974) incorporates a primary emotional response that can be classified as pleasure, arousal, or dominance (PAD). The PAD dimensions are assessed with an 18-item semantic differential scale covering emotional response ranges, including happy-unhappy, stimulated-relaxed, and dominant-submissive responses. Considering the vast application of PAD in the retail literature, the overall goal of this research is to better understand the impact of PAD on atmospheric research. Furthermore, we try to clarify which dimensions are most commonly applied in atmospheric studies and provide insights into which dimension most strongly relates to outcome variables.We utilize a meta-analysis methodology to address the proposed research questions. The scope of the meta-analysis is limited to articles published in the Journal of Retailing. In total, 341 articles were reviewed with the final sample consisting of 15 articles and 33 studies. The total sample size was 3,366 consumers. Results provide evidence that emotions have a significant influence on commonly used outcome measures in retail environment studies. We contribute to the atmospheric literature by confirming stable relationships between pleasure as well as arousal dimensions and a multitude of consumer responses. Thus, PAD remains as a reliable construct in atmospheric research. Overall, the effect size for pleasure is substantially larger across all analyses. However, the effect size for arousal is larger for attitudinal outcome measures, which contradicts previous findings by Donovan and Rossiter (1982). Further research is needed to validate these findings.