Events of 9/11/2001: Crisis and Consumer Dissatisfaction Response Styles

Abstract

Research investigating customer complaining behavior has typically focused on the customer's reactions to a dissatisfying purchase. The current study focused on measuring - within three weeks - actual complaining behavior that occurred following purchase or non-purchase in an unusual or crisis situation (gas price gouging and the events of 9/11) and compared the types of complaining behaviors to the types of complaining behaviors reported by Singh (1990). Results indicate that complaining response styles are indeed different given such a situation. For example, the sample indicated a larger percentage of passives and voicers and a lower percentage of irates and activists than did the Singh (1990) study. In general, it would appear that an unusual or crisis situation does result in a different dissatisfaction response style.