Consumer responses to the failure of self-service banking technology: moderating role of failure stability

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of dissatisfaction and anger, driven by the failure of the self-service technology of banks, on customers' post-purchase behavioural reactions, such as complaints, negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) and supplier change. The stability of the failure is proposed to moderate these relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed research model was tested through data collected from an online survey of a Tunisian sample of 300 respondents, using the scenario method.FindingsThe study validates the positive impact of dissatisfaction on anger and negative word-of-mouth, as well as that of anger on complaint behaviour and negative word-of-mouth. The relation between dissatisfaction and negative word-of-mouth is mediated by anger. When the failure is stable, dissatisfied users of the self-service technology seek to enhance their negative word-of-mouth and supplier change. The results also show that the stability of the failure enhances the effect of anger on complaint behaviour.Practical implicationsBanks should invest efforts to accelerate the recovery of services to reduce consumer dissatisfaction and anger and prevent adverse behavioural outcomes. Further, they need to ensure that failures are not repeated, as failure stability activates some otherwise non-significant behavioural outcomes, like supplier change.Originality/valuePrevious works have focused on the impact of dissatisfaction and negative emotions for interpersonal services, but very few works have come to associate dissatisfaction, anger, complaint, negative word-of-mouth and supplier change in an integrative framework for an self-service technology failure.

Effects of CSR Messages on Apparel Consumers’ Word-of-Mouth: Perceived Corporate Hypocrisy as a Mediator

This study focused on understanding how (mis)match between a company's corporate social responsibility claims as indicated in their mission and the activities it actually undertakes to meet its CSR goals leads to consumers’ corporate hypocrisy and how consumers’ CSR-CA beliefs moderate the relationship between the two. Using the Moral Responsibility Theory of Corporate Sustainability as a framework, this research analyzed the difference in corporate hypocrisy between consumers with high versus low CSR-CA tradeoff beliefs. In addition, we examined the impact of consumers’ corporate hypocrisy on their negative word-of-mouth intention and how participants’ injunctive norm impacts the relationship between the two. A sample of 538 adult US consumers were recruited for an online experimental study. The study extends the findings of MCRS and also provides implications for apparel businesses.

Impact of Swear and Negative Texts on Social Media Users

Nowadays, the use of social media has increased exponentially. People show different behavior on social media depending on the kind of responses and behavior of people around them. It is important now to analyze the behavior of social media users and the way how they affect their friends. In this paper, behavioral analysis of people is done based on Twitter data. An algorithm is proposed which helps in finding the impact of text written by someone on social media and its effect on others. The impact of written text is calculated with the help of the number of retweets done for the same tweet. The severity of the used word is calculated based on AFINN dictionary. According to the proposed algorithm, the score of the dictionary is recalculated when a negative word is forwarded multiple times. This is done with the understanding that if a less severe negative word is used many times, it may affect the person in a highly negative manner. With this, Severity of words is recalculated and its impact on people is found with the help of the proposed algorithm. The impact of using negative words on social media affect 32 % of the total users (in their friend-list). Behavior change is demonstrated with the help of graphs week-wise, month-wise and year-wise analyses. The research helps in finding the impact of swear words on social media users depending on the frequency and severity score of the words.

Impact of Swear and Negative texts on Social Media Users

Nowadays, the use of social media has increased exponentially. People show different behavior on social media depending on the kind of responses and behavior of people around them. It is important now to analyze the behavior of social media users and the way how they affect their friends. In this paper, behavioral analysis of people is done based on Twitter data. An algorithm is proposed which helps in finding the impact of text written by someone on social media and its effect on others. The impact of written text is calculated with the help of the number of retweets done for the same tweet. The severity of the used word is calculated based on AFINN dictionary. According to the proposed algorithm, the score of the dictionary is recalculated when a negative word is forwarded multiple times. This is done with the understanding that if a less severe negative word is used many times, it may affect the person in a highly negative manner. With this, Severity of words is recalculated and its impact on people is found with the help of the proposed algorithm. The impact of using negative words on social media affect 32 % of the total users (in their friend-list). Behavior change is demonstrated with the help of graphs week-wise, month-wise and year-wise analyses. The research helps in finding the impact of swear words on social media users depending on the frequency and severity score of the words.

Exploring the Influence of Touch Points on Tourist Experiences at Crisis Impacted Destinations

Customer journeys in tourism are becoming more complex, often including multiple touch points that can influence expectations, experiences, and travel behaviors. The management of these different interactions is further complicated if tourist destinations face natural or man-made crises (e.g., financial crises, COVID-19). The current research takes a comprehensive look at how negative word-of-mouth (WOM) shapes pre-consumption expectations that drive actual tourist experiences and subsequent satisfaction behaviors. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), findings from 188 tourists confirm the influence of uncontrollable, negative WOM on destination image. Yet an actual, positive experience negates these negative pre-trip influences. Tourism managers are rewarded with satisfied and loyal tourists in response to creating positive experiences even at crisis impacted destinations.

(In)Sincere Demeanor and (In)Sincere Language in Crisis Communication

Perceptions of a crisis communicator’s sincerity drive reactions to an organization’s response amidst a scandal. However, a spokesperson can nonverbally appear sincere while deceptively evading questions and can appear insincere while actually speaking sincere truths. Applying truth-default theory to crisis communication, we assess people’s reactions to a spokesperson varying in sincerity through demeanor and language. In an experiment ( N = 801), adults from across the United States were randomly assigned to view one of four versions of a news interview. The stimuli present the spokesperson replying to questions with sincere or insincere demeanor and sincere language (conveying relevance and clarity) or insincere language (evasion and obfuscation). Results indicate that sincerity in demeanor and language interact to affect (a) account acceptance, (b) negative word-of-mouth intention, and (c) attribution of responsibility. But sincerity in language largely overrides behavioral impressions. Discussion concerns considering evasion and obfuscation as demeanor cues, when violations of relevance and clarity in language undercut a spokesperson’s believability.

Bad Intentions: Customers’ Negative Reactions to Intentional Failures and Mitigating Conditions

Intentional service failures (e.g., overbooking or overcharging) have received little scholarly attention, despite their regular occurrence and immense costs. Using a multi-method approach combining experimental and field data from online reviews, it was found that intentional (vs. unintentional) failures lead to greater negative word of mouth (nWOM) and patronage reduction. This research extends these findings by demonstrating that intentional failures are less harmful when the failure is reversible (vs. irreversible) and occurs at an employee (vs. firm) level. Further, while either psychological (e.g., apology) or monetary compensation is effective in mitigating the consequences of intentional failures at an employee level, a combined service recovery (psychological and monetary) is the best solution when the failure is at a firm level. Drawing on attribution theory, the article unveils the key role of trust (as opposed to justice) as the mechanism to explain the effects of intentionality on customers’ nWOM and patronage reduction.