Taxonomy of Consumer Complaint Behavior: Replication and Extension

Abstract

Understanding consumer dissatisfaction and its outcomes plays a key role in post-purchase satisfaction, customer retention, and long-term customer relationships. The research in outcomes of customer dissatisfaction , or tt consumer complaint behaviors" (CCB), grows primarily out of the U.S.- based consumer satisfaction/ dissatisfaction research  and  may  have  a  strong U .S. domestic (vs. international) orientation . The authors analyze the cross-cultural impact on CCB, and then empirically investigate ( l ) the robustness of Singh's (1988) taxonomy of CCB across different geographic regions in the U.S. and with different product types, and (2) the extension of the taxonomy in different cultures. The findings from both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis indicate that, while data from individualistic or similar culture countries or regions fit well  into Singh's three-factor  model (i .e., voice/private/third-party responses), data from a typical collectivist culture country such as Korea fit well into the two-factor model (i .e. , public/private responses) . The implications of results and further research are discussed.