Web Systems Design and Online Consumer Behavior [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Online Technology as a Complaint CommunicationChannel

Consumers’ Coping Potential in the Online Environment

The main advantage of the cognitive appraisal theory as
a framework for explaining CCB is its emphasis on coping potential as an important factor in the
consumer’s complaint decision (Stephens & Gwinner, 1998). Coping potential is the extent to
which people anticipate the probable success of their coping effort, given options for coping
(Lazarus, 1991a). Companies can increase a consumer’s coping potential by instituting coping
mechanisms which minimize the expected costs of complaining from the consumer’s standpoint. By
doing so, these companies are in a good position to increase the number of individuals voicing
their displeasure and, thus, have the opportunity to remedy the problem and retain consumers
(Stephens & Gwinner, 1998).

In terms of increasing the consumer’s coping potential, online communication technology has
done more than merely adding a channel for complaint. Online communication technology has in fact
altered the perceived balance of power between the individual consumer and the company. From the
standpoint of the consumer, online communication differs from traditional means of complaint
communication such as a consumer service counter, telephone, and postal letter because it allows
consumers easy, free and almost instantaneous access to companies (Strauss & Pesce, 1998).
Further, consumers can disseminate their “word of mouse” to the global community of Internet users
with just one click.

Another potential that online communication technology has in terms of increasing the
consumer’s coping potential stems from the fact that it is a “lean” medium. Media differ in their
ability to convey information (Bodensteiner, 1970). In general, oral and synchronous media (e.g.,
face-to-face and the telephone) are believed to be richer in carrying information than written and
asynchronous media (e.g., e-mail). This is based on: (1) the medium’s ability to give immediate
feedback, (2) the variety of communication cues, (3) the personalization of the medium, and (4) the
attainable language variety (Daft & Lengel, 1986). When gauged on these criteria, online
communication as a written and asynchronous medium falls somewhere between the telephone and
non-electronic written communications in terms of richness (e.g., Trevino et al., 1990).

Although lean media have limitations in the types of information that can be carried, they
help insulate the communication initiator from possible distressing reactions of the communication
partner. Furthermore, by filtering out the social cues, lean media shield consumers from
disclosures that may undermine the initiator’s self-presentation. That is, what is missing in lean
versus rich media may be seen not as a problem, but as an opportunity to manage self-presentations
by regulating information exchanged between communication partners (O’Sullivan, 2000). Research on
mediated communication empirically showed that individuals apparently used “lean” media effectively
for social interactions (e.g., Parks & Courtright, 1996; Rice & Love, 1987).

The psychological costs of complaining such as the negative social consequences that may
result from complaining should be figured into the consumer’s overall perceived costs of
complaining (Kowalski, 1996). CCB involves the communication of something negative about a product,
service or purchase episode (Singh & Howell, 1985). People who complain may be labeled as
whiners and, sometimes, experience embarrassment when the negative information is not well received
and the receiver disapproves of the complaint and/or the complainer. Associated with the potential
negative impressions of the complainer, the effects of individual sensibility to the impressions
that others are forming of them have been studied extensively in CCB research (Marquis &
Filiatrault, 2002; Kowalski & Cantrell, 1995; Slama & Celuch, 1994; Richins, 1980).
According to these studies, consumers with high self-presentational concerns tend to feel more
reluctant to react publicly because of their greater concern for impression management. On the
other hand, Marquis and Filiatrault (2002) empirically found that subjects with high public
self-consciousness tended to report more indirect complaining intentions such as negative WOM
behavior than those with low public self-consciousness.

As a lean medium, online communication may reduce the consumer’s psychological costs of
complaining and, consequently, increasing the consumer’s intention to voice their dissatisfaction.
This is because online communication technology may be used to avoid direct confrontation and to
limit the need of personal public justification. Even those consumers who are preoccupied with
self-presentational concerns may register complaints directly to the firm using e-mail or posting
their complaints on the company’s Web site. Without the availability of online technology, these
consumers might vent their frustration, dissatisfaction and negative reactions by engaging in
private actions such as negative WOM.

Word of Mouth as a Problem-Focused Coping Strategy

Another advantage of the cognitive appraisal theory as a framework for understanding CCB is
that it brings back the disregarded role of emotion in CCB as one of the most common functions of
complaining. Kowalski (1996) suggested that complaining serves as a way for people to vent their
frustrations and dissatisfaction. Alicke et al. (1992) empirically demonstrated that the desire to
vent frustration was the most common motivation underlying complaints in social
interactions.

It should be noted that negative WOM communication tends to be non-instrumental in nature
(Marquis & Filiatrault, 2002; Nyer, 1999). Although consumers know that negative WOM
communication cannot accomplish any instrumental goal such as the focal company’s remedial actions
or redressing grievance, they nevertheless complain about their dissatisfying marketplace
experience to their friends or relatives. Complaining makes people feel better.

Online WOM activities, however, differ from those in face-to-face situations in many aspects.
From the standpoint of the consumers, WOM communication is no longer a passive coping strategy used
to vent their frustration and anger. In the online environment, WOM communication becomes a
problem-focused coping strategy used to inform other potential consumers and effectively
punish/influence a target company to take its problems seriously. It also regulates the negative
emotions that result from the transactions with the sense of influences or “making a difference.”
Furthermore, anonymity between online WOM communication participants may relax social constraints,
which results in the participant’s total willingness to vent their negative emotions.

From the standpoint of the marketers, online WOM communication may provide both opportunities
and threats. Traditionally, marketers have had some level of control over voice complaints in terms
of both preventive and recovery strategies. WOM, however, has been almost impossible to control,
difficult to measure, and represented a distinct threat to firms with dissatisfied consumers
(Halstead, 2002). Now, with online WOM communication, marketers can monitor Web sites where its
products are likely to be discussed. Companies can modify products or improve services in response
to common complaints. If companies consider the complaints unwarranted, they can try to refute
these complaints through their marketing communication efforts (Gelb & Sundaram, 2002). This is
a trend that has grown recently in the online environment and it actually helps marketers hear what
their consumers are saying. These days, some complaint sites will deliver a consumer’s complaint
letter posted on its Web site to the target company (e.g.,
www.planetfeedback.com). In this
manner, marketers can gain insights into brand performance or access to vocal consumers (Neff,
2000).

On the other hand, it may be virtually impossible to monitor the immense volume and variety
of WOM information available online. The tremendous growth of online complaint sites and online
consumer forums makes them easier for consumers to identify and access than the companies’ own Web
sites. Interestingly, it was found that a number of consumers used the Internet complaint forum as
their first attempt to lodge a formal complaint (Harrison-Walker, 2001). When marketers fail to
monitor online WOM communication properly, not only are complaining consumers still left with
unresolved issues but also the negative WOM may propagate among consumers. Kowalski (1996)
suggested that complaining is often contagious. In other words, hearing another person’s complaint
may lead to cognitive rumination on the part of the listener and often enhance the listener’s own
feelings of dissatisfaction.