IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bushor/v58y2015i2p173-182.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Managing social media crises with your customers: The good, the bad, and the ugly

Author

Listed:
  • Grégoire, Yany
  • Salle, Audrey
  • Tripp, Thomas M.

Abstract

Social media (SM) are transforming the ways in which customers communicate with firms following service failures. While there is a positive side to this phenomenon, there is also a negative side, which can lead to serious social media crises. In light of this duality, the current article addresses the good, the bad, and the ugly uses of SM in the customer complaining process. Herein, we identify six different types of SM complaining situations. The good represent opportunities: (1) when customers complain to the company online immediately after a first-service failure, or (2) when consumers publicize extraordinary recoveries. The bad involve risks: (3) when customers discuss a failure without complaining to the firm, or (4) when consumers reach out to online third-party complaint intercessors. The truly ugly represent the peak of online threats and public crises: (5) when customers spread negative publicity through user-generated content SM following a double deviation, or (6) when competitors respond to this content to steal customers. As a takeaway for managers, we formulate specific recommendations to deal with each type of online complaining.

Suggested Citation

  • Grégoire, Yany & Salle, Audrey & Tripp, Thomas M., 2015. "Managing social media crises with your customers: The good, the bad, and the ugly," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 173-182.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:58:y:2015:i:2:p:173-182
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2014.11.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681314001566
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bushor.2014.11.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joireman, Jeff & Grégoire, Yany & Devezer, Berna & Tripp, Thomas M., 2013. "When do customers offer firms a “second chance” following a double deviation? The impact of inferred firm motives on customer revenge and reconciliation," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 89(3), pages 315-337.
    2. Laufer, Daniel & Coombs, W. Timothy, 2006. "How should a company respond to a product harm crisis? The role of corporate reputation and consumer-based cues," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 49(5), pages 379-385.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chen Zhou & Shrihari Sridhar & Rafael Becerril-Arreola & Tony Haitao Cui & Yan Dong, 2019. "Promotions as competitive reactions to recalls and their consequences," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 702-722, July.
    2. Obeidat, Zaid Mohammad & Xiao, Sarah Hong & Qasem, Zainah al & dweeri, Rami al & Obeidat, Ahmad, 2018. "Social media revenge: A typology of online consumer revenge," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 239-255.
    3. Haase, Janina & Wiedmann, Klaus-Peter & Labenz, Franziska, 2022. "Brand hate, rage, anger & co.: Exploring the relevance and characteristics of negative consumer emotions toward brands," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 1-16.
    4. Cambra-Fierro, Jesus & Melero, Iguacel & Sese, F. Javier, 2015. "Managing Complaints to Improve Customer Profitability," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 109-124.
    5. H. L. Zou & R. C. Zeng & S. X. Zeng & Jonathan J. Shi, 2015. "How Do Environmental Violation Events Harm Corporate Reputation?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(8), pages 836-854, December.
    6. Miranda J. Welbourne Eleazar, 2022. "Immoral Entrenchment: How Crisis Reverses the Ethical Effects of Moral Intensity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 71-89, September.
    7. Chebat Elise & Roth Yefim & Chebat Jean Charles, 2020. "How Culture Moderates the Effects of Justice in Service Recovery," Review of Marketing Science, De Gruyter, vol. 18(1), pages 21-41, September.
    8. Shao‐Chi Chang & Heng‐Yu Chang, 2015. "Corporate Motivations of Product Recall Strategy: Exploring the Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Stakeholder Engagement," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(6), pages 393-407, November.
    9. Tao Zhang & Chao Feng & Hui Chen & Junjie Xian, 2022. "Calming the customers by AI: Investigating the role of chatbot acting-cute strategies in soothing negative customer emotions," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(4), pages 2277-2292, December.
    10. Alhouti, Sarah & Wright, Scott A. & Baker, Thomas L., 2021. "Customers need to relate: The conditional warm glow effect of CSR on negative customer experiences," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 240-253.
    11. Yang, Zhilin & Jiang, Ling (Alice), 2015. "Managing corporate crisis in China: Sentiment, reason, and law," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 193-201.
    12. Paolo Antonetti & Stan Maklan, 2016. "An Extended Model of Moral Outrage at Corporate Social Irresponsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 429-444, May.
    13. Balaji, M.S. & Jha, Subhash & Sengupta, Aditi Sarkar & Krishnan, Balaji C., 2018. "Are cynical customers satisfied differently? Role of negative inferred motive and customer participation in service recovery," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 109-118.
    14. Amélie Guèvremont & Bianca Grohmann, 2018. "Does brand authenticity alleviate the effect of brand scandals?," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(4), pages 322-336, July.
    15. Hill Cummings, Krista & Seitchik, Allison E., 2020. "The differential treatment of women during service recovery: How perceived social power affects consumers’ postfailure compensation," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 63(5), pages 647-658.
    16. Patel, Pankaj C. & Pearce, John A. & Bachrach, Daniel G., 2018. "Psychological Distress is increasing among customer-facing retail employees: Evidence from 1997 to 2015," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 21-26.
    17. Hsu, Liwu & Lawrence, Benjamin, 2016. "The role of social media and brand equity during a product recall crisis: A shareholder value perspective," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 59-77.
    18. Yany Grégoire & Renaud Legoux & Thomas M. Tripp & Marie-Louise Radanielina-Hita & Jeffrey Joireman & Jeffrey D. Rotman, 2019. "What Do Online Complainers Want? An Examination of the Justice Motivations and the Moral Implications of Vigilante and Reparation Schemas," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 167-188, November.
    19. Surachartkumtonkun, Jiraporn (Nui) & Grace, Debra & Ross, Mitchell, 2021. "Unfair customer reviews: Third-party perceptions and managerial responses," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 631-640.
    20. Malhotra, Neeru & Sahadev, Sunil & Purani, Keyoor, 2017. "Psychological contract violation and customer intention to reuse online retailers: Exploring mediating and moderating mechanisms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 17-28.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:58:y:2015:i:2:p:173-182. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.