Attributional influences on consumers' desires to communicate about products

Three studies examined attributional antecedents of selected consumer communications about products. Study One used the critical incident technique to examine the types of attributions consumers make about product performance when they want to complain to or compliment a firm. Studies Two and Three systematically manipulated causal inferences to determine their effects on consumer desire to complain to a firm, compliment a firm, warn against, or recommend a product to other consumers. Results indicate that attributional locus (buyer-related versus seller-related), controllability (under volitional control versus uncontrolled), and stability (fluctuating versus stable) influence consumers' desires to communicate about products.

[1]  T. Dworkin,et al.  Product Liability in the ‘80s , 1985 .

[2]  V. Folkes,et al.  Beauty and the attributions of the beholder , 1984 .

[3]  M. Clark.  Record keeping in two types of relationships. , 1984, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[4]  V. Folkes.  Consumer Reactions to Product Failure: An Attributional Approach , 1984 .

[5]  C. Fornell,et al.  The Vicious Circle of Consumer Complaints , 1984 .

[6]  Marsha L. Richins.  Negative Word-of-Mouth by Dissatisfied Consumers: A Pilot Study , 1983 .

[7]  V. Hamilton,et al.  Intuitive Psychologist or Intuitive Lawyer? Alternative Models of the Attribution Process , 1980 .

[8]  Valerie A. Valle,et al.  Dissatisfaction Attributions and Consumer Complaint Behavior , 1979 .

[9]  M. Clark,et al.  Interpersonal attraction in exchange and communal relationships. , 1979 .

[10]  Ralph L. Day,et al.  Consumer satisfaction, dissatisfaction, and complaining behavior : papers from a marketing research symposium, School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington, April 20-22, 1977 , 1977 .

[11]  S. Rest.  Further Evidence Concerning the Effects of Perceptions of Effort and Ability on Achievement Evaluation. , 1973 .

[12]  William R. Darden,et al.  Mutually Adaptive Effects of Interpersonal Communication , 1971 .

[13]  B. Weiner,et al.  An attributional analysis of achievement motivation. , 1970 .

[14]  James F. Engel,et al.  Word-of-mouth Communication by the Innovator , 1969 .

[15]  F. Heider.  The psychology of interpersonal relations , 1958 .