Differences between Black and White South Africans in product failure attributions, anger and complaint behaviour

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to extend an understanding of how Black and White South African consumers' causal attributions for major household appliance performance failures impact on their anger and subsequent complaint behaviour. A survey was administered to Black and White South African consumers who were dissatisfied with the performance of a major household appliance item.Respondents resided in a major metropolitan area. The findings showed that, compared to Whites, the Black South Africans felt a low but significantly higher external locus of causality and lower control, and experienced a higher level of anger regarding product failure. The level of anger determined the decision to take complaint action, but racial group determined the type of action taken. Blacks complained more actively to retailers and engaged more in private complaint action than Whites.These findings may show that Black South Africans are developing a more individualistic orientation as consumers. Therefore, researchers should consider the effect of cultural swapping when researching consumer behaviour in multi-cultural countries. Implications for retailers in terms of complaint handling are indicated.

Personality and well-being in Black and White South African emerging adults

“…Furthermore, it seems that the Black emerging adults shows higher probability of being guiding, advising, and having openness for new experiences which are more relevant towards collectivistic cultures. This is in line with studies done by Feldman and Msibi (2014), Govind (2015) and Donoghue, Strydom, Andrews, Pentecost, & De Klerk (2015) where they found that Black individuals in South Africa seem to encompass a combination of individualistic and collectivistic elements. It seems the White emerging adults are more sociable, caring, friendly, emotionally balanced and maintain good relations based on the findings of this study.…”

Linking self‐determined needs and word of mouth to consumer e‐waste disposal behaviour: A test of basic psychological needs theory

“…It can, therefore, be hypothesized that A growing body of research has indicated that when consumers are dissatisfied, they spread negative WOM (Grégoire, Laufer, & Tripp, 2010;Jun, Kim, & Tang, 2017). Negative WOM involves unfavourable face-to-face or customer-to-customer communication that often aimed at defaming a company (Dalzotto, Basso, Costa, & Baseggio, 2016), highlighting product complaints (Donoghue, Strydom, Andrews, Pentecost, & de Klerk, 2016), and highlighting unsatisfactory product/service experiences (Elliot & Fowell, 2000). In recent studies by Jun et al (2017), Morrongiello, Goala, and Kreziak (2017) reported that negative WOM about product/service shakes consumers' confidence and trust.…”

Consumers' corporate social responsibility and corporate ability associations as predictors of reputation: Developing countries under analysis

“…The effectiveness of PCSR on PCR (H1) was not always confirmed. In Brazil, China, and South Africa—that is, collectivistic countries (Donoghue et al, ; Morales Espinoza, ; Zhang et al, )—PCSR was found to be significant and positive when directly relating with PCR, whereas in the Russia and India—that is, individualistic countries (Mattila, ; Morgeson et al, )—it was not found to be significant.…”

“…Consequently, consumers from collectivistic cultures tend to emphasise the importance of activities that favour social responsiveness and, thus, PCSR. Conversely, individualistic cultures value personal initiatives, favouring the individual's efforts and achievement over the group's, and tend to be more concerned with personal needs and goals (Donoghue, Strydom, Andrews, Pentecost, & de Klerk, ; Liu & McClure, ). Thus, consumers from individualistic cultures tend to emphasise the importance of achievements and appropriate benefits for themselves and, thus, PSQ.…”

“…From a geographical perspective, previous authors have demonstrated that European countries, North‐American countries, and Russia have relatively individualistic cultures, whereas Latin‐American, East Asian, and African countries have more collectivistic cultures (Donoghue et al, ; Morales Espinoza, ; Morgeson et al, ). East Asian countries tend to be divided into two groups: Confucianism (e.g., China and Korea) and non‐Confucianism countries (e.g., India and Pakistan).…”