Customer Dissatisfaction and Responses: Moderator Roles of Blame Attribution and Negative Word of Mouth

Abstract

The present research investigates the moderating role of blame attribution in dissatisfaction-doing nothing and negative word of mouth on the dissatisfaction-switching relationships. The proposed model is tested using data collected face-to-face from 188 airline passengers who have encountered an airline service failure by the convenience sampling method. Process analysis tests the hypotheses on the moderator roles of blame attribution and negative word of mouth. The results reveal that the dissatisfaction-doing nothing link is negatively moderated by blame attribution. The dissatisfaction-switching relationship is positively moderated by negative word of mouth. With the moderation of negative word of mouth and blame attribution, this study provides a deeper understanding of the consequences of customer dissatisfaction on customer reactions such as switching and doing nothing.