Consumer private product complaint ripple effect: A theoretical analysis

Abstract

Consumer complaint behavior (CCB) attracts increasing attention from most marketing scholars recently, but there are still few research focus on consumer private product complaint behavior (CPPCB) with its interpersonal influence and the influence on the brand of product to company. We attempted to analyze the influence caused by CPPCB. Through interview method and theoretical analysis based on word-of-mouth (WOM) and spillover effect, this study indicates that CPPCB could generate negative influence which can reach far beyond its proximate impact on the product. Then we introduce the CPPCB ripple effect construct and define it as the transverse effect which enlarges the influencing scale and the longitudinal effect which generates negative consumer perception from product brand to company brand. The paper proposes the CPPCB Ripple Effect Model (CRE Model) and provides some suggestion to companies on minimizing the negative influence caused by CPPCB. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.