Cross-national differences in complaint behavior: cultural or situational?

Abstract

Purpose Previous research indicates that dissatisfied consumers in other countries react differently as compared to those in the USA, due to their cultural orientation. These studies, however, have not recognized that retail policies (regarding returns and exchanges) in the USA are much more liberal and “consumer friendly” than in other parts of the world, and thus it is possible that their conclusions are flawed. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to determine the extent to which cross-national differences in complaint behavior are due to cultural vs situational factors. Design/methodology/approach To examine this issue, a two-part study was conducted. Study 1 compared consumers living in China, India and Mexico to cohorts who immigrated to the USA. Study 2 compared individuals from those same countries to subjects who are native to the USA. Findings The findings indicate that situational factors (i.e. consumer-oriented vs restrictive refund/return/exchange policies) have a large impact on consumer complaint behavior (i.e. redress, negative-word-of-mouth and exit), and that the effects of culture are minor. Research limitations/implications To infer cause-effect, and establish scientific theory, one must rule out alternative hypotheses. Researchers who are investigating cross-cultural complaint behavior must take situational factors into account. Practical implications With the emergence of “global consumers” consumer expectations around the world are changing. Astute retailers should institute and promote more liberal return policies, thereby mitigating consumers’ perceived risk. Originality/value This study dispels the notion that culture is responsible for differences in cross-national consumer complaint behavior.

Legitimate and illegitimate consumer complaining behavior: a review and taxonomy

“…Interestingly, most of the articles reviewed in this study ( n = 154) do not provide an operational definition of CCB before proceeding with further analysis (Blodgett et al , 2018). One of the reasons is their unidimensional nature (Richins, 1983), as the objective is to look at one of the possible complaint behaviors, e.g.…”

“…It is the sum-total of ways that human groupings use as an answer to meet biological and social needs (Matsumoto, 2007). In the CCB context, the influence of culture has been assessed at several levels, including the continental (Ngai et al , 2007), cross-national (Blodgett et al , 2018) and the individual level (Schoefer et al , 2019).…”

When do low‐power customers complain? The joint effects of chronic sense of personal power and complaint success on complaining intentions

“…Consumer complaint behavior refers to consumers' actions directed at solving their dissatisfaction by voicing their negative experiences to sellers or service providers (Berry, Tanford, Montgomery, & Green, 2018; Blodgett et al, 2018; Singh, 1988). The well‐established predictors of consumer complaint behavior include the perceived low cost of complaining (Chebat, Davidow, & Codjovi, 2005), positive attitudes toward complaining (Bodey & Grace, 2007; Thøgersen, Juhl, & Poulsen, 2009), high levels of confidence (Richins, 1982), and the perceived likelihood of success (Blodgett et al, 2018). Among the trait‐based predictors, conscientiousness and openness to new experience (Ekinci et al, 2016), along with locus of control, are all positively related to direct complaining behavior (Gursoy, McCleary, & Lepsito, 2007).…”

“…However, we excluded all those participants who replied “not dissatisfied at all,” as we were interesting in complaining behavior of dissatisfied customers. Prior research suggested that dissatisfaction may be related to one's personal sense of power (Strelan et al, 2014) and complaining intentions (Blodgett et al, 2018; Ro, 2015) so we controlled for it in order to avoid having it confound the relationships.…”

Managing negative word-of-mouth: the interplay between locus of causality and social presence

“…Managing NWOM has received great attention in service marketing (Blodgett et al , 2018; Collier et al , 2017; Noone, 2012; Chelminski and Coulter, 2011). Recently, marketers have differentiated the two most common types of NWOM: support-seeking NWOM and vindictive NWOM (Gelbrich, 2010).…”