The value disruption of uncivil other-customers during online service recovery

Abstract

Purpose Customer complaints and service recovery via virtual customer service channels (VCSCs) present unique recovery situations unlike those commonly found in traditional complaint handling channels. Some of these distinct challenges include the presence of multiple customers during a recovery, which creates the possibility for uncivil customer-to-customer (C2C) exchanges to harm a complainant’s experience. To this end, this paper aims to explore customer- and firm-level aspects as they relate to social media complaint handling. A customer-level moderator (attitude toward complaining) and a firm-level moderator (relative promptness of the response) are examined. Design/methodology/approach Data from three studies use partial least squares structural equation modeling to analyze hypothetical failure and complaining scenarios on VCSCs. Study 1A (a firm’s social media channel) and Study 1B (a firm’s online support community) investigate how a complainant’s predisposition toward complaining ultimately influences their experiential value (hedonic, pragmatic and sociability) during a virtual service recovery that includes uncivil communication from another customer. Study 2 further examines how the relative promptness of a service provider’s response either before or after uncivil C2C interactions hinders a complainant’s experiential value during the service recovery encounter. Findings The results show support for the influence of attitude toward complaining and the relative promptness of response as impactful to a complainant’s hedonic, pragmatic and social experience in virtual service encounters that involve one customer rudely interjecting into a complainant’s online service recovery encounter. Originality/value This research is one of the first to apply both customer- and firm-level moderating aspects associated with virtual service recovery encounters. The studies quantitatively assess the moderators’ influence on online dysfunctional behavior’s relationship with C2C fairness perceptions, and the subsequent experiential value a complainant receives on VCSCs. In particular, the investigation of relative promptness of a service provider’s response is a unique conceptualization that expands prior recovery studies’ focus on promptness or quickness of a recovery. The authors put forth a more prompt response that benefits the firm by purposively and symbolically closing out the encounter on VCSC, which somewhat reduces the negative effects of rude follow-up comments. This study is also novel because of the experiential focus on C2C interactions during recovery, rather than focusing on how a firm resolves a failure. In addition, this is the first service recovery study to assess multiple types of online customer service channels. Implications are put forth for service recovery theory and managers who attend to customer complaints on virtual channels.

Luxury brands join hands: building interactive alliances on social media

“…Luxury brands face the challenge of maintaining their brand integrity in the era of ubiquitous consumer-generated content; positive reviews on social media can have negative impacts on purchase intentions as they may encourage social comparison and trigger feelings of malicious envy (Feng et al, 2021), and negative word of mouth can be perilous for brand image (Gensler et al, 2013). Negative interactions such as consumer bullying or abusing other consumers on brands' social media pages may undermine the brands' value (Bacile et al, 2018(Bacile et al, , 2020. Future researchers should consider the duality of social media and explore how social media interaction can have negative effects on luxury brands and consumers.…”

Sarcastic or Assertive: How Should Brands Reply to Consumers’ Uncivil Comments on Social Media in the Context of Brand Activism?

“…But this effect can be offset by a prompt response on the part of the firm to customer online incivility. Bacile et al (2020) noticed that the presence of other customers can negatively influence a focal complainant's perceptions of justice and subsequent experiential value, with this effect also depending on the brand's promptness in responding and on the complainant's personal characteristics. When other customers interject in the complainant–service provider exchange on social media, Bacile (2020) concluded that online incivility that is perceived to be unfair diminishes customer perceptions of the service climate, especially when the service provider fails to address the incivility.…”

“…Second, our study contributes to the marketing domain with knowledge related to online incivility. Most of the existing research in this area features customer-to-customer online incivility (Bacile 2020; Bacile et al 2020). Previous research in service recovery and brand response has investigated how brands should respond to consumer complaints on social media (e.g., in an accommodative or defensive way), considering the role of observers of the communication between dissenters and brands (Johnen and Schnittka 2019).…”

“…Our results cannot be extended to cases where uncivil comments are made on non-social issues, such as a brand service failure, or more conservative social causes, such as industrial deregulation. Communication tactics on social media on causes related to the core business, such as companies’ social responsibility (e.g., Gallaugher and Ransbotham 2010; Goh, Heng, and Lin 2013; Okazaki et al 2020), and the relationship between consumer complaint, online incivility, and service recovery (e.g., Bacile et al 2018; Bacile et al 2020; Bacile 2020) have been intensively examined. Future research might thus consider investigating the effect of uncivil comments regarding non-social issues or more conservative social causes, and how brands should respond to such comments.…”

“…Marketing investigations of incivility are few and limit their focus to customer-to-customer online incivility. Previous research has provided evidence of the effects of online incivility on perceived justice (Bacile et al 2018), service climate evaluations (Bacile 2020), and experiential value (Bacile et al 2020) by exploring how brands respond to such incivility. We investigate customer-to-brand online incivility by analyzing the effect different tones (sarcastic vs. assertive) used by a brand to confront online incivility have on customers’ attitude toward the brand.…”