Online Complaints in the Eye of the Beholder: Optimal Handling of Public Consumer Complaints on the Internet

Abstract:

Complaint management literature knows how to resolve a complaint in order to recover customer’s satisfaction. However, little is known about how observation of a public complaint handling process influences the observer, i.e. a person who is involved neither with the complaint nor with the person who made the complaint. In our study, we investigate how different types of organizational response to a public complaint influence the behavior and attitudes of prospective customers seeking for information about a product and/or brand on the internet prior to making their purchase decision. We also define response strategies that are beneficial for the companies.

More detailed information about Professor Marx is available at www.wiwi.uni-siegen.de/jm/.