Globalisation, together with increased competition amongst retailers, has applied immense pressure on retailers to become more consumer-orientated. Retailers are, consequently, trying to differentiate their offerings by providing improved services to their consumers to obtain a competitive advantage. Service failure is, however, inevitable. An unfavourable service encounter (service failure) mostly leads to dissatisfaction. A consumer’s response to dissatisfaction is referred to as “consumer complaint behaviour”. Consumers’ complaint action can be categorised into three response behaviours namely: private action, public action and taking no action. Behind each complaint action lies specific motivations. Motivation research attempts to find the underlying why of an individuals’ behaviour. Marketers need to understand consumer motives as it provides them with the opportunity to anticipate and understand consumer complaint behaviour within the South African marketplace. Studies on the motives driving consumers’ complaint behaviour following an in-store service failure in the South African clothing retail context is lacking. This is surprising given the fact that an understanding of consumer complaint motives is critical in recovering service failures and handling complaints. An understanding of the motives for consumer complaint behaviour could help clothing retailers to understand the value of paying attention to and dealing with consumer complaints, specifically in a South African context. This research study, therefore, primarily focused on exploring and describing South African consumers non-complaint motives and complaint motives following an in-store service failure. The study used an explorative, quantitative research approach. A survey was conducted in South Africa which included consumers 19 years and older who reside in major urban areas across South Africa. Respondents completed an online self-administered questionnaire which included adapted versions of established scales. Lastly, the data was captured and coded and then analysed by statisticians of the University of Pretoria by making use of descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of this study indicated that the respondents were motivated to take action following an in-store service failure, rather than deciding to take no-action. Respondents would also rather partake in private action as opposed to public action. The EFA on the non complaint motives indicated that three factors are the underlying driving forces that keep consumers from taking action. These include protecting the self and convenience, the facto that it is not worth complaining, and willingness and ability to handle CCB. Through the descriptive statistical analysis, as well as the inferential statistical analysis (EFA), it became evident that the most important motive for deciding to partake in action, either private or public, were altruistic motives. Anger and the intention to harm the retailer appeared to be the least important motives for deciding to take action. From this study, it is recommended that clothing retailers and marketers in South Africa pay specific attention to use these motives, specifically altruism, to encourage customers to partake in public complaint behaviour. Apart from the useful considerations this study elicited for the industry, it also makes a valuable contribution towards the literature. / Dissertation (MConsumer Science)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Consumer Science / MConsumer Science (Clothing Management) / Unrestricted

This paper attempts to explore the nature of the online anti-brand communities in South Korea. The current state of the online anti-brand communities is discovered with regards to different kinds of online platforms and the categories of targeted products and services. Case analyses of three popular anti-brand communities were conducted to discover how dissatisfied consumers form a group, interact with other consumers, and generate group actions. Specific details of consumer interactions and collective actions in the online anti-brand communities provide some managerial implications of how to effectively react to the anti-brand movement. / text

In this study, three lines of consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction and complaint behaviour research were integrated, namely the expectancy disconfirmation model (Churchill&Suprenant, 1982; Bearden&Teel, 1983) (satisfaction/dissatisfaction research), Weiner’s (1986) causal dimensions (attribution theory), and Day and Landon’s (1977) taxonomy of complaint behaviour Traditional thinking concerning the disconfirmation of expectations only recognises a direct link from disconfirmation to satisfaction/dissatisfaction. However, evidence suggests that the disconfirmation of expectations acts as an important causal agent for generating attributional processing. In a consumer behaviour context, the performance failure of major household appliances often brings about a causal search. Consumers' affective reactions (generated by their causal attributions and the underlying properties of locus, stability and controllability) and their expectations for future product failure were found to determine their complaint behaviour The unit of analysis for this study was consumers who had recently purchased major household appliances (within the prior four-year period) and who could recall an unsatisfactory experience concerning the performance of such appliance. Attributes for the demographic variables were: gender, age, level of education, level of income and culture. A convenience sampling technique was employed, with 216 respondents having completed a self-administered questionnaire. This study showed that consumers’ complaint behaviour concerning dissatisfactory major household appliances was directed by a combination of functional and symbolic performance failures. A profile of complainers engaging in private versus public complaint action in terms of differences in gender, age and level of education could not be determined. However, respondents’ race and household monthly income were important factors in their complaint behaviour. Relatively fewer formal complaints (i.e. complaints to retailers or manufacturers) were made than one would expect, based on the expressed levels of dissatisfaction. A large number of respondents engaged in a variety of “hidden” or indirect complaint activities such as adverse word-of-mouth marketing, boycotting the retailer and switching brands. The majority of the respondents avoided more formal complaint actions such as contacting a consumer protection organisation/department or writing a letter – activities which would require more effort and inconvenience. Irrespective of respondents' taking complaint action or not, they attributed the causes for product failure to the manufacturer, retailer or some outside agent in the situation. However, they seemed undecided about the stability and controllability dimensions for the causes of product failure in terms of their complaint action. Anger was a significant predictor of negative word-of-mouth. Deciding whether to take action or not appeared to be determined by consumers' perception of the severity of the product problem. Researchers can gain valuable insights into the reasons for consumers’ specific complaint behaviour by looking at the coping strategies (in terms of the related behaviours and cognitions) that consumers employ to reduce the stress caused by product failures. This study clearly has practical implications for manufacturers, retailers and policy makers. / Thesis (PhD (Interior Merchandise Management))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Consumer Science / unrestricted

[pt] A presente dissertação busca colaborar para o estudo da insatisfação de consumo, principalmente para áreas de saúde suplementar e mercados regulados por órgão governamental, contribuindo para estudos acadêmicos e ações empresariais. Para isso, buscou compreender os fatores envolvidos na formação de insatisfação com os serviços de gerenciamento das ações de saúde de uma operadora de saúde suplementar brasileira. O levantamento se baseou em uma pesquisa qualitativa com vinte entrevistas em profundidade com beneficiários da operadora em questão, que formalizaram reclamação em canais da própria organização, do órgão regulador do setor (ANS) ou repercutiram negativamente com conhecidos. A partir dos dados coletados, foi possível encontrar cinco categorias de análise: expectativa do consumidor antes do uso do serviço, o conhecimento prévio do consumidor, os aspectos da prestação de serviço de maior influência na insatisfação de consumo, a forte presença de sentimentos dos consumidores sobre o serviço e as influências nos comportamentos pós-insatisfação. / [en] The present dissertation aims to contribute to the study of consumption dissatisfaction, mainly to supplement the areas of health and markets regulated by government agency, contributing to academic studies and business actions. To do so, it sought to understand the factors involved in the formation of dissatisfaction with the management services of health actions of a Brazilian supplementary health care provider. The survey was based in a qualitative research with 20 in-depth interviews with the beneficiaries from the chosen health care provider, which have formalized complaint in the organization s own communication channels or industry regulator (ANS). From the collected data, it was possible to find five categories of analysis: consumer expectation before usage of the service, prior knowledge of the consumer, the service s aspects that influence the most on consumer dissatisfaction, the strong presence of consumers feelings on the perception of the service and the influence on post-dissatisfaction behaviors.