When customer love turns into lasting hate: The effects of relationship strength and time on customer revenge and avoidance - Grégoire et al. (2009) - Article

What is online public complaining?

Online public complaining is a phenomenon defined as the act of using the internet to publicly complain about firms. Unlike private complaining, when customers complain directly to the firm, public complaining involves alerting the public about a failed service. Customers usually start online public complaining after their private complaints have not been addressed by the firms. There now exist many third-party organizations that offer online environments where customers can post their bad experiences. Also many user-generated content websites have areas for complaining. Online public complaining is a new and growing threat that needs managers’ attention.

What are the desire for revenge and the desire for avoidance (as characteristics of online public complaining)?

The desire for revenge and the desire for avoidance reflect the presence of a customer grudge or lack of forgiveness. They both reflect the customers’ inability to let go, but cause different customer behaviors. A desire for revenge is defined as customers’ need to punish and cause harm to the firm that has caused damaged to them. This leads to behaviors such as private complaining, public complaining, and negative word of mouth. A desire for avoidance is defined as customers’ need to withdraw themselves from any interactions with the firm. This leads to behavior that reduces support for the firm.

How does time affect the desires for revenge?

The desire for revenge is expected to decrease over time. Revenge is associated with many psychological resources and cognitions that are hard to maintain over time. The negative cognitions and retaliatory behaviors become too costly to maintain. Also, retaliatory actions require energy to plot and pursue, while there are no material gains.

How does time affect the desire for avoidance?

The desire for avoidance is expected to increase over time. After the online complaints, people may try to keep interacting with the firm to find a solution. But after time passes and no solution has been found, they will have been able to find another firm (as commercial relationships are replaceable) and they will be even more unwilling to use the services of that firm again. They will increasingly turn towards avoidance, which is less costly than revenge.

Do online complainers hold a grudge against firms over time?

Managers need to know if online complainers reduce their retaliation over time by themselves. In case online complainers persist, they may need to act to stop them. Complainers hold a grudge against firms as long as they maintain a desire for revenge and/or  desire to avoid any form of interactions with the firms. Research has shown that feelings of revenge tend to decrease over time, but feelings of avoidance may not. These feelings of avoidance may sustain complainers’ grudges.

How does a strong relationship affect the evolution of consumers’ grudge?

Research indicates that relationship strength may amplify customers’ negative responses in service contexts. Given the profitability of strong-relationship customers, it is important for firms to know whether the best customers also hold the strongest grudges. Relationship quality is defined as a second-order construct that consists of trust, commitment, and social benefits. Compared with customers who have weaker relationships, the desire for revenge of strong-relationship customers should be maintained over a longer period, and their desire for avoidance should increase more rapidly.

Why are the reactions of strong-relationship customers stronger?

Customers who perceive a high level of relationship quality are more likely to take offense if they are the victims of a service failure, even more so when they have asked for help during that period. Strong-relationship customers tend to feel more betrayed after an unfair service and it is harder for them to forget about that and let it go. Initial research indicates that the negative responses of strong-relationship customers were amplified when  service interaction was perceived as a transgression of the relational norm, when a service recovery was viewed as unfair, and when customers had sufficient time and cognitive capacity to assess the performance failure.

Can firms attenuate a love-becomes-hate effect by offering a recovery after the online complaint?

Studies have shown that the relational orientation of strong-relationship customers makes them more amenable to recovery efforts. Firms may be able to attenuate the love-becomes-hate effect by offering an apology and compensation after the complaint. This could reduce the desire of the customer for revenge. The current research however does show that a post-complaint recovery did not have any effect on the desire for avoidance.