When people experience dissatisfaction or frustration, they often express their feelings through complaining. However, very little is known about everyday complaints. In order to understand how people make complaints, this project proposed a two-factor model of complaint expression, with the factors of certainty and emotional involvement. There were two primary goals for this project. First, this project examined how people make complaints with different expectations, particularly in language use. Second, this project explored whether listeners understand individuals' expectations behind complaints. Four major complaint expectations were identified by content analysis in the pilot study (N = 276). Computerized text analysis was used to examine the relationships between language markers and the four complaint expectations. The factor of certainty was assessed by personal pronoun use and certainty words, whereas the factor of emotional involvement was assessed by the use of negative emotion words. Study 1 (N = 272) used multiple-choice questions to measure complaint expectations and replicated the language findings from the pilot study. Study 2 (N = 247) manipulated complaint expectations by experimental instructions to investigate language usage. The results suggested weak associations between manipulated expectations and language use. Study 3 (N = 204) focused on listeners and examined if they could identify the accurate expectations behind complaints. The results confirmed previous findings about the overconfidence effect in social behavior. An additional analysis examined the accuracy rate of computerized detection methods and then compared the computer's performance to human judges' accuracy. The results showed that the accuracy rate from the computerized text analysis was around 25% to 30%. Human judges performed slightly better than computerized text analysis with a 30% to 35% of accuracy rate. This is one of the first research projects that has attempted to detect and recognize human intentions surrounding complaining using language modeling. / text

It is vital for every service provider to get feedback from its customers. This is especially important when a customer has perceived an unfavourable service experience. One way to receive feedback from these customers is to encourage and make it easy for them to complain. Scholarly knowledge about complaint behaviour gives the service provider valuable insight about service problems and how to improve e.g. service offerings, service processes and interactions, to increase customer satisfaction, loyalty and profit. For that reason it is argued that customers who have an unfavourable service experience should be encouraged to complain, because if not, the provider risks losing the customer and thus future revenue. Previous research within complaint behaviour has mainly focused on the static description of motivation, antecedents, or the outcome response of complaint behaviour. The research has mainly explored different features linked to the market, the provider, the service and/or individual customer’s issues. To learn more about the customer’s complaint behaviour there is a need to take a dynamic and processual approach. This may help providers to serve customers more correctly and prevent unfavourable service experiences. The main aim of this dissertation is to enhance the knowledge of the dynamic behavioural processes in customer complaint behaviour. The dissertation will contribute to conceptualise different aspects of customer complaint behaviour. In addition, the dissertation will give an empirical grounded understanding of contextual and emotional aspects that may help to recognize the complexity of the complaint behaviour process. The contribution is a portrayal of different models describing the dynamic process of complaint behaviour including a new customer complaint behaviour model. Customer complaint behaviour is viewed as action and reaction - as a dynamic adjustment process that occurs during and/or after the service interaction, rather as a post-purchase activity. In order to capture these adjustments, a new conceptual complaint model is suggested which holds three thresholds for complaint behaviour and emphasis three different behavioural categories in the complaint process. Further, the dissertation gives an explanation of contextual and emotional issues that influence the complaint behaviour. The dissertation also includes an epistemological framework to anchor the paradigmatic belongings of service research as a basis for the design of studies in the area of customer complaint behaviour.

<p>It is vital for every service provider to get feedback from its customers.</p><p>This is especially important when a customer has perceived an unfavourable service experience. One way to receive feedback from these customers is to encourage and make it easy for them to complain.</p><p>Scholarly knowledge about complaint behaviour gives the service provider valuable insight about service problems and how to improve e.g. service offerings, service processes and interactions, to increase customer satisfaction, loyalty and profit. For that reason it is argued that customers who have an unfavourable service experience should be encouraged to complain, because if not, the provider risks losing the customer and thus future revenue.</p><p>Previous research within complaint behaviour has mainly focused on the static description of motivation, antecedents, or the outcome response of complaint behaviour. The research has mainly explored different features linked to the market, the provider, the service and/or individual customer’s issues. To learn more about the customer’s complaint behaviour there is a need to take a dynamic and processual approach. This may help providers to serve customers more correctly and prevent unfavourable service experiences.</p><p>The main aim of this dissertation is to enhance the knowledge of the dynamic behavioural processes in customer complaint behaviour. The dissertation will contribute to conceptualise different aspects of customer complaint behaviour. In addition, the dissertation will give an empirical grounded understanding of contextual and emotional aspects that may help to recognize the complexity of the complaint behaviour process.</p><p>The contribution is a portrayal of different models describing the dynamic process of complaint behaviour including a new customer complaint behaviour model. Customer complaint behaviour is viewed as action and reaction - as a dynamic adjustment process that occurs during and/or after the service interaction, rather as a post-purchase activity. In order to capture these adjustments, a new conceptual complaint model is suggested which holds three thresholds for complaint behaviour and emphasis three different behavioural categories in the complaint process. Further, the dissertation gives an explanation of contextual and emotional issues that influence the complaint behaviour. The dissertation also includes an epistemological framework to anchor the paradigmatic belongings of service research as a basis for the design of studies in the area of customer complaint behaviour.</p>

Complaint handling encounters represent useful opportunities for retailers to rectify problems, salvage the relationship between the retailer and the customer, and increase customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Service recovery (complaint handling) therefore becomes critical “moments of truth” for organisations in their efforts to satisfy and retain customers. The purpose of the research was to explore and describe complainants’ evaluations of appliance retailers’ complaint handling procedures in terms of their perceptions of justice. In addition, the relationships between perceived justice and emotions and perceive justice and post-complaint behavioural intentions were explored. The unit of analysis was consumers who had encountered an appliance failure and had sought redress from the appliance retailer where the appliance was originally purchased (within a oneyear recall period). This study used a cross-sectional survey approach to capture real perceptions of justice, emotions and behavioural intentions. Convenience sampling was employed in Tshwane, a major metropolitan area of South Africa. Data was collected via a self-administered questionnaire. A total of 198 usable questionnaires were collected. The results of the exploratory factor analysis showed that respondents had specific expectations about retailers’ complaint handling. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the respondents indeed judged complaint handling in terms of procedural, interactional and distributive justice. They experienced procedural justice when complaint handling personnel followed company policy and the correct procedures in handling their complaints, when the employees were competent, when they resolved complaints in a timely manner and made it easy for the dissatisfied consumers to voice their complaints. The respondents experienced interactional justice when complaint handling personnel treated them with respect (were polite), made it easy for them to determine where to lodge their complaints (i.e. to whom they should complain in the company), communicated clearly (with adequate use of language), were appropriately concerned about the problem, took great effort in resolving the complaint, and provided them with an appropriate explanation as to why the appliance has failed. Verbal communication about where to complain forms part of respondents’ perception of the fairness of the interpersonal communications used in settling complaints factor, rather than the procedural justice factor. The respondents experienced distributive justice when they perceived that the redress (i.e. compensation: free repairs, product exchange, refund, voucher etc.) offered by the retailers was more they expected, was fair, was what they deserved or was what they needed. Respondents perceived that retailers’ were fair concerning procedural justice and distributive justice, but unfair concerning interactional justice. The strongest positive emotions that respondents experienced were gratitude, happiness, being valued and joyfulness, while lower levels of warm feelings and pride were experienced. The strongest negative emotions that respondents experienced were anger, annoyance, being upset and being in a bad mood, while lower levels of guilt and sadness were experienced. Relationships exist between respondents’ perceptions of justice and their emotions, and between their emotions and post-complaint behavioural intentions (repurchase intentions, word-of-mouth intentions and third-party complaint intentions). The study has important practical implications for appliance retailers / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2014 / Consumer Science / Unrestricted

Service providers must understand that they have to provide customer-perceived value, if they want to stay in business. One of the best ways to determine customer-perceived value is to encourage customer complaint. This will make it easier to identify areas of the service process which the consumer believes must be improved. The ultimate goal of our thesis is to identify and establish the patterns of customer complaint behaviour in public transportation which is a part of the service sector. If patterns are identified, it will be much easier to encourage and predict customers‘ abilities and willingness to complain during a service process. Hence, service providers will be able to create an environment that can encourage and facilitate customer complaint processes. In this regard, service providers will obtain more information that will enable them to improve the quality of their services in order provide customer-perceived value. In addition, due to the fact that services are offered at the same time when the customer is there, this increases chances of customers seeing failures. Therefore, it is vital to make it easier for customers to be able to complain as soon as they perceive these failures so that they leave the service environment satisfied. Thus, understanding the pattern of customer complaint behaviour will make this process easier. By pattern, we mean sequence and therefore, there must be factors that influence this sequence. Our thesis shall focus on three main factors; cost, contextual resources and customer‘s competence, that influence the ability, willingness and the extent to which customers will engage in a complain process. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the following: What is the pattern of customer complaint behaviour in public transportation and how do cost, contextual resources and customer‘s competence impact this pattern?However, we shall also mention other external factors that may influence the pattern of customer complaint behaviour like market structure and service characteristics. It is imperative to understand customer complaint behaviour in service because through customer complaint, customers‘ quality expectations can be determined and met. Studies reveal that, although complaint channels may exist, some customers still do not complaint. In our survey, only 21.6% of respondents who encountered a service failure actually complained implying that 78.4% of the respondents who encountered an unfavourable service experience did not complain. What could be the reasons that customers who encounter problems do not complaint, although they would want to complain?2Above all, if there is something to be learnt from customer complaint behaviour, we think that it should be the patterns of customer complaint behaviour. This is because if patterns can be identified, then the right channels can be put in place by service providers in order to encourage and facilitate the complaint process. This will enable much information to be obtained from the customers and then used to make improvements in the service offerings and processes. In this regard service quality and customer satisfaction can be increased. This will lead to customer retention and higher profits for the company as well as prevent negative word-of-mouth.In this thesis, we identified patterns of customer complaint behaviour in service with a focus in public transportation by using data from the passengers of the public bus companies of Karlstad city and the intercity bus company (SWEBUS) as bases of our research. In our questionnaire we asked customers to indicate the strength of preference for a complaint channel they would use in order to make a complaint to the bus company in the event of a negative service experience. The results were ranked in order to determine the pattern of customer complaint behaviour in public transportation. We approached this topic by revealing the importance of understanding customer complaint behaviour and using this knowledge to improve service development. We proceeded by emphasising on the importance of viewing customer complaint behaviour from the perspective of service dominant logic. / The Service and Market Oriented Transport Research Group

The Millennial Generation, typically agreed upon by researchers to be those born from 1982 through 2000, displays exclusive characteristics making it truly different from other previous generations. As of 2000, this generation comprised about one fourth of the total US population, making this cohort's attributes demand consideration. The Millennials are quickly becoming a large factor in the workforce, now finishing college and becoming active consumers in the economy; hence, rapidly becoming a large portion of the traveling population as well. Because this generation is the first to be exposed to the Internet from birth, generally retain positive, trusting views of companies, and have a constant need to congregate with friends and family, questions arise regarding how and to whom Millennials complain, possibly engaging in negative electronic word-of-mouth. Negative e-WOM is especially pertinent to the travel industry due to the potentially extensive harmful outcomes it can cause for practitioners. Therefore, an explanatory study was conducted with a research design that applied a qualitative approach in efforts to gain further insight to the complaint behaviors of the Millennial Generation. Research questions to whom Millennials complain were asked, as well as how and why Millennials complain in certain ways. Findings indicate Millennials typically voice complaints to friends and parents in efforts to discuss their emotions concerning the complaint and obtain their advice on the complaint. In the rare cases where Millennials do complain directly to the company, the relational aspects, convenience, and quickness of response the media offers influence which media Millennials use to issue the compliant.

This thesis is divided into two parts. First part includes simple analyse of recieved complaints in 2005 - 2008. Target of this tehsis is finding of the most problematic places in system of quality management by the way of complaints. In second part are solved individual complaints taken in 2008. Effect of this thesis is formulation of proposals and actions for improvement of whole quality management system in Black and Decker.

The diploma thesis deals with finding an answer to how socialistic complaints worked as an instrument of remedy and also as an instrument of governance. It proceeds from the theory of Albert O. Hirschman that explains strategies of solution in the area of firms, organizations and states and that also includes complaining. The other theoretical sources are the theory of bureaucratic organizations of Michel Crozier and Michel Foucault's conception of power and discipline. The issues of complaining are put into period context in the diploma thesis and it is supplemented about a brief elucidation of ruling manners considering the district level. The empirical part is based on qualitative and quantitative content analysis of complaints that were solved by the leading secretary at the District Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in Beroun from 1985 till 1989. It is not only focused on a survey of complaints but also interprets the procedures of solving that are related to the chosen theoretical findings. The thesis also explains the relationship between the communist party and its critics with their objections and the relationship between the party and people that were criticized in the complaints.

This study examined the impacts of service guarantees in terms of consumers' perceived risks, loyalty, and word-of-mouth intent in the casual dining restaurant segment. In addition, the study investigated what type of service guarantee consumers preferred. A total of seven research hypotheses were developed on the basis of relevant literature review. In an effort to test the research hypotheses, a scenario method was developed. A total of seven research scenarios were created based on the Virginia Tech web survey system, which allows subjects to complete the survey online. The subjects of the study were Virginia Tech Faculty. The scenarios were sent to faculty members via e-mail during the month of September. The results of the study are striking: 5 research hypotheses are supported, 1 research hypothesis is partially supported, and only 1 research hypothesis is rejected. The results of the study suggest that a well-executed service guarantee could reduce consumers' perceived risks, raise consumers' intent to complain, and increase positive word-of-mouth and loyalty. Furthermore, the results of the study indicate that a specific service guarantee is much more effective in reducing consumers' perceived risks, and increasing consumers' intent to claim initial service failures, in comparison to those of an unconditional service guarantee in the casual dining restaurant industry. On the other hand, a service guarantee which was executed poorly resulted in reducing consumers' loyalty and increasing consumers' negative word-of-mouth. In addition, the results of the study suggest that a service guarantee offered by independent restaurants could be a competitive advantage over a brand restaurant not offering a service guarantee. Overall, the results of the study suggest that a carefully designed, specific service guarantee could be a competitive advantage for independent restaurant operators in the competitive business environment. / Ph. D.

Complaint handling is an effective tool for public sector governance. Effective complaint handling improves relationships between organizations and citizens by fostering trust and accountability, helps address gaps in public service delivery, and supports innovation in public service design. Despite these benefits, complaint handling practices at the local government level in British Columbia (BC) is often ad hoc, poorly designed, or non-existent. This thesis asks: what are the drivers and barriers for effectively handling complaints at the local government level in BC? The thesis argues that complaint handling occurs within a context of limited resources, which informs the drivers and barriers for effectively handling complaints. The thesis explores the drivers and barriers of complaint handling through a reflexive thematic analysis of interviews with senior-level local government administrators. The analysis revealed that operating in a context of limited resources led to the emergence of creative practices for handling complaints, including preventing complaints before they arise and handling complaints informally. Additionally, complaint handling is characterized by a tension between its private sector roots and public sector values like equality and fairness. The thesis concludes by making recommendations to improve complaint handling at the BC local government level. / Graduate