Conjoint measurement experiment of consumer complaining behavior

Complaining: A function of attitude, personality, and situation

“…It is well documented that the probability that consumers will seek redress (i.e., complain) in the case of defective or deficient products or services depends on the costs and benefits involved, including the economic loss suffered by the consumer and the costs (including time and effort) of complaining (e.g., Andreasen, 1988;Didow & Barksdale, 1982;Kolodinsky, 1995;Oliver, 1997). Objective costs and benefits may be considered situational factors in a complaint context.…”

“…In recent years, complaint research has focused mostly on psychological antecedents of complaining and non-complaining (e.g., East, 2000;Harris & Mowen, 2001;Kim et al, 2003;Zeelenberg & Pieters, 2004), whereas the material reasons why people complain receive much less attention. In the early days of complaint research, two to three decades ago, there was more focus on the importance of material reasons for complaining (i.e., the size of the loss or the importance or seriousness of the defect or deficiency; e.g., Bearden & Oliver, 1985;Day, 1984;Day & Landon, 1977;Didow & Barksdale, 1982), but usually the conception of the psychological reasons why some people are more likely to complain than others under the same material circumstances were relatively simple. Ignorance with regard to both material reasons and psychological antecedents is serious, but for different reasons.…”

“…It is a weak point in extant research that it is often difficult to distinguish conceptually between the attitude toward complaining and the propensity to complain (e.g., Susskind, 2006). In particular, although "the propensity to complain" is obviously a behavioral disposition (e.g., Didow & Barksdale, 1982;Juhl, Thøgersen, & Poulsen, 2006), it is often operationalized in attitudinal terms (e.g., Bearden & Oliver, 1985;Richins & Verhage, 1985). In order to increase conceptual clarity, a new and more theoretically satisfying behavioral operationalization of the propensity to complain is proposed here, which makes both the concept and its operationalization more clearly distinct from the attitude toward complaining.…”

Apparel Product Dissatisfaction and the Post‐complaint Process

“…A large financial loss ma motivate a consumer to seek redress [17]. Redress from retailers may take several forms: full refund, exchange for the same item or another item, credit, or refusal.…”

“…The effect of the various types of redress on repurchase behaviour should be studied. Previous research [17,26] has found that the dollar value of the product affects the complaint behaviour of the consumer. The dollar values of the products tested were in a limited range from $5 to $100.…”