Predicting the Likelihood of Voiced Complaints in the Self-Service Technology Context

There is considerable evidence to suggest that consumer dissatisfaction with self-service technologies is widespread. However, there has been little conceptual or empirical scrutiny of the likelihood that consumers will complain to an organization (likelihood of voice) in this context. This study contributes to the service domain by testing empirically a model of the antecedents of consumers' likelihood of voice in unsatisfactory encounters with self-service technologies. A model is tested that combines established antecedents of voice, such as likelihood of voice success, and those that have not yet been considered, including self-service technology powerlessness and need to vent. The results support the proposed model in general. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed.

[1]  L. Bove,et al.  Exploring the role of relationship variables in predicting customer voice to a service worker , 2004 .

[2]  Jonathan D. Hibbard,et al.  Examining the Impact of Destructive Acts in Marketing Channel Relationships , 2001 .

[3]  Kirk R. Karwan,et al.  The Effects of Severity of Failure and Customer Loyalty on Service Recovery Strategies , 2004 .

[4]  Ulrike Schultze,et al.  Complementing Self-Serve Technology with Service Relationships: The Customer Perspective , 2003 .

[5]  Jagdip Singh,et al.  When consumers complain: A path analysis of the key antecedents of consumer complaint response estimates , 1996 .

[6]  R. Lomax,et al.  The Effect of Varying Degrees of Nonnormality in Structural Equation Modeling , 2005 .

[7]  Marsha L. Richins.  An Investigation of Consumers' Attitudes Toward Complaining , 1982 .

[8]  James R. Baker,et al.  Distress, Coping, and Blogging: Comparing New Myspace Users by Their Intention to Blog , 2008, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[9]  Margaret Meiling Luo,et al.  Post-Adoption Behaviors of E-Service Customers: The Interplay of Cognition and Emotion , 2008, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[10]  M. L. Klotz,et al.  Complaining Behavior in Social Interaction , 1992 .

[11]  L. Harris,et al.  The Consequences of Dysfunctional Customer Behavior , 2003 .

[12]  Eve D. Rosenzweig,et al.  A Tale of Two Countries’ Conservatism, Service Quality, and Feedback on Customer Satisfaction , 2004 .

[13]  Behrang Rezabakhsh,et al.  Consumer Power: A Comparison of the Old Economy and the Internet Economy , 2006 .

[14]  Sohel Ahmad.  Service failures and customer defection: a closer look at online shopping experiences , 2002 .

[15]  Dan T. Dunn,et al.  Understanding how technology paradoxes affect customer satisfaction with self‐service technology: The role of performance ambiguity and trust in technology , 2008 .

[16]  Ruth N. Bolton,et al.  A Model of Customer Satisfaction with Service Encounters Involving Failure and Recovery , 1999 .

[17]  V. Helgeson,et al.  Sex Differences in Coping Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Review and an Examination of Relative Coping , 2002 .

[18]  Kenneth R. Evans,et al.  The effects of customer participation in co-created service recovery , 2008 .

[19]  P. Chisnall.  Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method , 2007, Journal of Advertising Research.

[20]  Stephen S. Tax,et al.  Recovering and Learning from Service Failure , 1998 .

[21]  Jagdip Singh.  Consumer Complaint Intentions and Behavior: Definitional and Taxonomical Issues , 1988 .

[22]  Kiran Karande,et al.  Recovery Voice and Satisfaction After Service Failure , 2007 .

[23]  David Horowitz,et al.  A voice from the silent masses: An exploratory and comparative analysis of noncomplainers , 2006 .

[24]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Self-Service Technologies: Understanding Customer Satisfaction with Technology-Based Service Encounters , 2000 .

[25]  Margaret A. Marshall,et al.  Expectations and Realizations: The Role of Expectancies in Achievement Settings , 2004 .

[26]  Cynthia M. Webster,et al.  Service consumption criticality in failure recovery , 1998 .

[27]  Jung-ki Lee,et al.  Effects of personal control on adoption of self‐service technology innovations , 2002 .

[28]  Ben Shneiderman,et al.  Determining Causes and Severity of End-User Frustration , 2004, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interact..

[29]  Dwayne D. Gremler,et al.  Electronic word-of-mouth via consumer-opinion platforms: What motivates consumers to articulate themselves on the Internet? , 2004 .

[30]  L. Harris,et al.  Jaycustomer behavior: an exploration of types and motives in the hospitality industry , 2004 .

[31]  M. Meuter,et al.  Self‐service technology adoption: comparing three technologies , 2005 .

[32]  D. Pujari.  Self‐service with a smile?: Self‐service technology (SST) encounters among Canadian business‐to‐business , 2004 .

[33]  Prashanth U. Nyer.  An investigation into whether complaining can cause increased consumer satisfaction , 2000 .

[34]  B. Byrne.  Structural equation modeling with EQS : basic concepts, applications, and programming , 2000 .

[35]  William B. Stiles.  "I have to talk to somebody": A fever model of disclosure. , 1987 .

[36]  Youngme Moon,et al.  Exploding the Self-Service Myth , 2000 .

[37]  Rosalind W. Picard.  Toward computers that recognize and respond to user emotion , 2000, IBM Syst. J..

[38]  B. Tronvoll.  Complainer Characteristics When Exit is Closed , 2007 .

[39]  Clay M. Voorhees,et al.  A Service Perspective on the Drivers of Complaint Intentions , 2005 .

[40]  Mahesh Gopinath,et al.  Effects of complaining versus negative word of mouth on subsequent changes in satisfaction: The role of public commitment , 2005 .

[41]  Ralph L. Day,et al.  Modeling Choices Among Alternative Responses to Dissatisfaction , 1984 .

[42]  Solomon Negash,et al.  The moderating effect of on-line experience on the antecedents and consequences of on-line satisfaction , 2005 .

[43]  V. Folkes.  Recent Attribution Research in Consumer Behavior: A Review and New Directions , 1988 .

[44]  Moshe Davidow.  Organizational Responses to Customer Complaints: What Works and What Doesn’t , 2003 .

[45]  Lukas P. Forbes,et al.  Typologies of e‐commerce retail failures and recovery strategies , 2005 .

[46]  Angelo J. Kinicki,et al.  INTERPRETING EVENT CAUSES: THE COMPLEMENTARY ROLE OF CATEGORIZATION AND ATTRIBUTION PROCESSES , 1995 .

[47]  Gilbert A. Churchill,et al.  Research Design Effects on the Reliability of Rating Scales: A Meta-Analysis , 1984 .

[48]  Steven C. Currall,et al.  Conflict Escalation: Dispute Exacerbating Elements of E-mail Communication , 2003 .

[49]  Dhruv Grewal,et al.  Consumer responses to service recovery strategies: The moderating role of online versus offline environment , 2006 .

[50]  R. Bennett.  Anger, catharsis, and purchasing behavior following aggressive customer complaints , 1997 .

[51]  H. Yen,et al.  The impact of customer participation and service expectation on Locus attributions following service failure , 2004 .

[52]  William B. Stiles,et al.  I Have to Talk to Somebody , 1987 .

[53]  Lance A. Bettencourt,et al.  Customer voluntary performance: Customers as partners in service delivery , 1997 .

[54]  Amy L. Ostrom,et al.  Complaining to the Masses: The Role of Protest Framing in Customer-Created Complaint Web Sites , 2006 .

[55]  Robin M. Kowalski,et al.  Whining, griping, and complaining: positivity in the negativity. , 2002, Journal of clinical psychology.

[56]  Laurette Dubé,et al.  Service provider responses to anxious and angry customers: different challenges, different payoffs , 2004 .

[57]  H. Bansal,et al.  Exploring consumer experience of social power during service consumption , 2007 .

[58]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Implementing successful self-service technologies , 2002 .

[59]  T. Little,et al.  On selecting indicators for multivariate measurement and modeling with latent variables: When "good" indicators are bad and "bad" indicators are good. , 1999 .

[60]  H. Yen.  An attribute-based model of quality satisfaction for Internet self-service technology , 2005 .

[61]  Ben Shneiderman,et al.  A model for computer frustration: the role of instrumental and dispositional factors on incident, session, and post-session frustration and mood , 2006, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[62]  K. Norman.  Cyberpsychology: An Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction , 2008 .

[63]  Peter M. Bentler,et al.  Practical Issues in Structural Modeling , 1987 .

[64]  B. Bushman,et al.  Do people aggress to improve their mood? Catharsis beliefs, affect regulation opportunity, and aggressive responding. , 2001, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[65]  Kenneth A. Kozar,et al.  The Impact of Computer Alienation on Information Technology INvestment Decisions: An Exploratory Cross-National Analysis , 1995, MIS Q..

[66]  Ujwal Kayande,et al.  How fine is C-OAR-SE? A generalizability theory perspective on Rossiter's procedure , 2005 .

[67]  D. McKee,et al.  Customer Self-Efficacy and Response to Service , 2006 .

[68]  John W. Huppertz,et al.  Firms' complaint handling policies and consumer complaint voicing , 2007 .

[69]  Steve Baron,et al.  Beyond Technology Acceptance: Understanding Consumer Practice , 2006 .

[70]  Deborah Compeau,et al.  Computer Self-Efficacy: Development of a Measure and Initial Test , 1995, MIS Q..

[71]  R. P. McDonald,et al.  Principles and practice in reporting structural equation analyses. , 2002, Psychological methods.

[72]  L. Harris,et al.  When service failure is not service failure: an exploration of the forms and motives of “illegitimate” customer complaining , 2005 .

[73]  Randi Priluck,et al.  Relationship marketing can mitigate product and service failures , 2003 .

[74]  Raymond Liu,et al.  Recognizing cross‐cultural differences in consumer complaint behavior and intentions: an empirical examination , 2001 .

[75]  Debra Ann Grace,et al.  Segmenting service “complainers” and “non‐complainers” on the basis of consumer characteristics , 2006 .

[76]  Jay Kandampully,et al.  Electronic retailing and distribution of services: cyber intermediaries that serve customers and service providers , 2002 .

[77]  V. Folkes,et al.  Buyers' and Sellers' Explanations for Product Failure: Who Done It? , 1986 .

[78]  Youngme Moon,et al.  Don’t Blame the Computer: When Self-Disclosure Moderates the Self-Serving Bias , 2003 .

[79]  Jonathan Klein,et al.  This computer responds to user frustration , 1999, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[80]  A. Bandura.  Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency. , 1982 .

[81]  Jonathan Klein,et al.  This computer responds to user frustration: Theory, design, and results , 2002, Interact. Comput..

[82]  A. Hirschman,et al.  Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States , 1971 .

[83]  John Hulland,et al.  Use of partial least squares (PLS) in strategic management research: a review of four recent studies , 1999 .

[84]  Nick Lee,et al.  Self-Service Technology and the Service Encounter , 2007 .

[85]  Gianfranco Walsh,et al.  Electronic Word-of-Mouth: Motives for and Consequences of Reading Customer Articulations on the Internet , 2003, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[86]  Dominique Crié,et al.  Consumers' complaint behaviour. Taxonomy, typology and determinants: Towards a unified ontology , 2003 .

[87]  M. Hui,et al.  Perceived Control and Consumer Attribution for the Service Encounter , 2002 .

[88]  Arthur Best.  When Consumers Complain , 1981 .

[89]  Chia-Chi Chang.  When service fails: The role of the salesperson and the customer , 2006 .

[90]  Kate S. Hone,et al.  Empathic agents to reduce user frustration: The effects of varying agent characteristics , 2006, Interact. Comput..

[91]  H W Marsh,et al.  Is More Ever Too Much? The Number of Indicators per Factor in Confirmatory Factor Analysis. , 1998, Multivariate behavioral research.

[92]  Kaisa Snellman,et al.  Customer complaining behaviour in technology‐based service encounters , 2003 .