Cathartic Complaining as a Means of Reducing Consumer Dissatisfaction

Abstract

Though catharsis (venting) plays a major role in psychotherapy, and has been reported to be the single most common reason for complaining in social interactions (Alicke et al. 1992), the effects of venting in consumer complaining situations has not previously been studied. An experiment conducted to test the effects of complaining by dissatisfied consumers on changes in consumer satisfaction, perceived product performance and purchase intention found that though complaining tends to cause decreased satisfaction in the short run, it increases satisfaction in the long run. The study also found that complaining benefits both the highly dissatisfied as well as the moderately dissatisfied individuals. The role of intensity of complaining in influencing the resulting improvements in satisfaction was also investigated.