Investigating Individual Differences in Customer Complaint Behavior: Towards a Comprehensive Conceptual Framework

Abstract

There is little research exploring the complex psychological processes underlying individual differences in customer reactions to similar dissatisfaction situations i.e., whether to complain or not, whom to complain to and the methods used for complaining. In this research, we address these gaps by first developing a comprehensive conceptual framework incorporating two important situational variables in the CCB context – customer dissatisfaction and involvement along with two relevant consumer traits – impulsivity and self-monitoring. Based on this framework, several hypotheses are developed about the relationships among these variables. Next, we describe a survey-based study used to test these hypotheses, with a large sample of student subjects (N=489), in two different contexts – one involving dissatisfaction with a product and another with a service. Finally, the results are discussed along with some limitations and directions for future research.