The Impact of Social Closeness and Complaint-Reaction-Time on Word-of-Mouth

Zofia Hartl; Clemens Hutzinger; Wolfgang Jonas Weitzl

The Impact of Social Closeness and Complaint-Reaction-Time on Word-of-Mouth

Zofia Hartl
, Clemens Hutzinger
, Wolfgang Jonas Weitzl

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedings › Conference contribution › peer-review

Abstract

Every day, millions of consumers observe online complaints and adapt their purchase-related intentions accordingly. This work sheds light on the role of (a) social closeness to the complainant and (b) reaction time of the recovering company on observing consumers’ inclination to spread negative and positive word-of-mouth (PWOM and NWOM). We ran a 2 (social closeness: close vs. distant) x 2 (reaction time: immediate vs. delayed) between-subjects online experiment with participants observing an online complaint about a COVID-19 related service failure at a fictitious hotel. The results showed that observers show higher NWOM if they perceive high – as compared to low – closeness towards the complaining person as well as if the company has a delayed – as compared to an immediate – reaction. However, these effects do not occur for PWOM. Implications for theory and practice on the diversity of PWOM vs. NWOM are discussed.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 2023 EMAC Annual Conference
Publisher	European Marketing Academy
Publication status	Published - 2023
Event	EMAC 2023 - University of Souther Denmark, Odense, Denmark Duration: 23 May 2023 → 26 May 2023

Conference

Conference	EMAC 2023
Country/Territory	Denmark
City	Odense
Period	23.05.2023 → 26.05.2023

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production

Keywords

Service recovery
Recovery
Social closeness
Social presence
Word-of-mouth
Negative word-of-mouth
Positive word-of-mouth
Failure
Dissatisfaction

Cite this

@inproceedings{c93208a9d5eb4fef8738461e56b91f87,

title = "The Impact of Social Closeness and Complaint-Reaction-Time on Word-of-Mouth",

abstract = "Every day, millions of consumers observe online complaints and adapt their purchase-related intentions accordingly. This work sheds light on the role of (a) social closeness to the complainant and (b) reaction time of the recovering company on observing consumers{\textquoteright} inclination to spread negative and positive word-of-mouth (PWOM and NWOM). We ran a 2 (social closeness: close vs. distant) x 2 (reaction time: immediate vs. delayed) between-subjects online experiment with participants observing an online complaint about a COVID-19 related service failure at a fictitious hotel. The results showed that observers show higher NWOM if they perceive high – as compared to low – closeness towards the complaining person as well as if the company has a delayed – as compared to an immediate – reaction. However, these effects do not occur for PWOM. Implications for theory and practice on the diversity of PWOM vs. NWOM are discussed.",

keywords = "Complaining, Online service recovery, Service recovery, Service marketing, Service management, Customer experience, Webcare, Negative word-of-mouth, Social closeness, Social relationship, Relationship management, Service recovery, Recovery, Social closeness, Social presence, Word-of-mouth, Negative word-of-mouth, Positive word-of-mouth, Failure, Dissatisfaction",

author = "Zofia Hartl and Clemens Hutzinger and Weitzl, \{Wolfgang Jonas\}",

year = "2023",

language = "English",

booktitle = "Proceedings of the 2023 EMAC Annual Conference",

publisher = "European Marketing Academy",

note = "EMAC 2023 ; Conference date: 23-05-2023 Through 26-05-2023",

}

TY - GEN

T1 - The Impact of Social Closeness and Complaint-Reaction-Time on Word-of-Mouth

AU - Hartl, Zofia

AU - Hutzinger, Clemens

AU - Weitzl, Wolfgang Jonas

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Every day, millions of consumers observe online complaints and adapt their purchase-related intentions accordingly. This work sheds light on the role of (a) social closeness to the complainant and (b) reaction time of the recovering company on observing consumers’ inclination to spread negative and positive word-of-mouth (PWOM and NWOM). We ran a 2 (social closeness: close vs. distant) x 2 (reaction time: immediate vs. delayed) between-subjects online experiment with participants observing an online complaint about a COVID-19 related service failure at a fictitious hotel. The results showed that observers show higher NWOM if they perceive high – as compared to low – closeness towards the complaining person as well as if the company has a delayed – as compared to an immediate – reaction. However, these effects do not occur for PWOM. Implications for theory and practice on the diversity of PWOM vs. NWOM are discussed.

AB - Every day, millions of consumers observe online complaints and adapt their purchase-related intentions accordingly. This work sheds light on the role of (a) social closeness to the complainant and (b) reaction time of the recovering company on observing consumers’ inclination to spread negative and positive word-of-mouth (PWOM and NWOM). We ran a 2 (social closeness: close vs. distant) x 2 (reaction time: immediate vs. delayed) between-subjects online experiment with participants observing an online complaint about a COVID-19 related service failure at a fictitious hotel. The results showed that observers show higher NWOM if they perceive high – as compared to low – closeness towards the complaining person as well as if the company has a delayed – as compared to an immediate – reaction. However, these effects do not occur for PWOM. Implications for theory and practice on the diversity of PWOM vs. NWOM are discussed.

KW - Complaining

KW - Online service recovery

KW - Service recovery

KW - Service marketing

KW - Service management

KW - Customer experience

KW - Webcare

KW - Negative word-of-mouth

KW - Social closeness

KW - Social relationship

KW - Relationship management

KW - Service recovery

KW - Recovery

KW - Social closeness

KW - Social presence

KW - Word-of-mouth

KW - Negative word-of-mouth

KW - Positive word-of-mouth

KW - Failure

KW - Dissatisfaction

M3 - Conference contribution

BT - Proceedings of the 2023 EMAC Annual Conference

PB - European Marketing Academy

T2 - EMAC 2023

Y2 - 23 May 2023 through 26 May 2023

ER -

The Impact of Social Closeness and Complaint-Reaction-Time on Word-of-Mouth

Abstract

Conference

UN SDGs

Keywords

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Cite this