Sound and Fury: Digital Vigilantism as a Form of Consumer Voice

Abstract

The authors examine consumer activism as a form of power used by individuals when they experience a perceived failure with organizational service performance. Consumer citizens demonstrate the power of their voices through digital vigilantism consisting of injurious and constructive digital content sharing. The authors use agency theory and power concepts to study an instance in which a public service provider breached consumer performance expectations. They study digital responses to the 2017 Charlottesville Unite the Right rally because an independent review found the public service providers culpable. Tweets (n = 73,649) were analyzed utilizing qualitative thematic coding, cluster analysis, and sentiment analysis. Consumer conversations (tweets) during and after the rally yielded five types of digital vigilantism characterized by the following consumer voice clusters: “Shame on them!”, “Hear ye, hear ye…”, “Can you believe this?”, “Let’s get ‘em!”, and “Do the right thing.” The authors also present a new facet of digital vigilantism represented by the pessimistic and optimistic power of consumer voice. Several proactive and reactive responses are presented for policy and practice when responding to digital vigilantism.

Fanning the flames: understanding viral content after brand transgressions

“…Not surprisingly, around 70% of content created and shared in the three events focused exclusively on venting rather than using more disruptive tactics such as calling for action against the wrongdoing company. This finding supports similar studies that have examined message intention during perceived public service failures (Legocki et al , 2020).…”

Consumer Power and Access

“…That leads us to consider some of the definitions of power our authors use. Some look at it as more perceptual (e.g., Wang, Minton, and Zhang 2020 focus on activating consumer’s thoughts regarding their own power), whereas others focus more on attempting to modify other marketplace entities’ behavior (“relative capacity to modify other’s states by providing or withholding resources or administering punishments,” Legocki, Walker, and Kiesler 2020, pp. 170–171).…”

“…Clearly, power is multidimensional. It includes the belief that one is powerful (Wang, Minton, and Zhang 2020), power of voice (the ability to express opinions to others; Legocki, Walker, and Kiesler 2020), power of choice (the ability restrict a firm’s access to personal data and/or to vote with one’s feet; Andrews, Walker, and Kees 2020; Bornschein, Schmidt, and Maier 2020), policy power (the power to affect public policy; e.g. Baker et al 2020), and power over firms (the ability to affect firm behavior).…”

“…Voice, without the commensurate change in others’ behavior, might feel hollow to some; how is voice without choice powerful? Yet, Legocki, Walker, and Kiesler (2020) clearly argue that voice in its various forms (e.g., voice reflecting themes including, “Shame on them!” “Can you believe this?” and “Hear ye, hear ye”) can create change. Indeed, it is interesting that, as we wrote this editorial, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam declared a State of Emergency prior to a gun rights rally sponsored by Virginia Citizens Defense League held in Richmond, in an effort to reduce the possibility of malicious behavior at the event (McCammon 2020).…”

“…Voice, without the commensurate change in others' behavior, might feel hollow to some; how is voice without choice powerful? Yet, Legocki, Walker, and Kiesler (2020) clearly argue that voice in its various forms (e.g., voice reflecting themes including, "Shame on them!" "Can you believe this?"…”