E-business complaint management: perceptions and perspectives of online credibility

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate public online consumer complaint responses from three different perspectives: the complainer, the company and third party consumers. Consumer complaint behaviour and management has been studied in various streams of literature, yet the subsequent processes triggered by a company complaint response have not been studied so far. In particular, this paper seeks to divert from examining complaint participants in isolation by recognising interrelated communication effects of complaint dialogue and public media. Design/methodology/approach – Looking at credibility perceptions as a theoretical construct for measuring the utility of a complaint as well as attitude-orientation as an evaluative moderator, the paper highlights the ambiguity of meaning transfer in an online complaint forum. Findings – It is hypothesised that credibility and congruence in attitude orientation positively enhance complaint utility perceptions and strongly bias complaint dialogue evaluations. Originality/value – The paper highlights that expected relevant results for online complaint managers and marketers alike are the inclusion of post-complaint communication into corporate image and relationship management as well as using credibility perceptions as a benchmark for online customer satisfaction and potential positive electronic word-of-mouth.