complaint seasonality; service failure; third-party online complaints; electronic word of mouth; negative eWOM
Issue Date
2018-03
Publisher
SOC PERSONALITY RES INC
Citation
SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND PERSONALITY, v. 46, no. 3, page. 459-470
Abstract
We examined consumer complaining behavior on a third-party website at different times during a 1-year period, with a focus on seasonal differences in complaints made during the year. We collected 1,799 complaints as data from the website and applied both content analysis and critical incident technique to identify whether or not there were seasonal differences in reasons for reporting complaints and the frequency of complaints. Results showed that there were differences in frequency and type of complaint between the nonholiday shopping season and the holiday shopping season from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Our findings contribute to a topic on which there is a paucity of empirical research.