IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ininma/v37y2017i3p214-228.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding the effects of a social media service failure apology: A comparative study of customers vs. potential customers

Author

Listed:
  • Manika, Danae
  • Papagiannidis, Savvas
  • Bourlakis, Michael

Abstract

Service failure apologies on social media are a new crisis communication outlet trend used by companies to apologise to affected customers quickly and offer solutions, ultimately to restore customers' trust and brand loyalty. This paper contributes to the nascent literature on companies' social media service failure apologies and fills a gap in the social commerce literature by recognising that due to the open and public nature of social media, these apologies may reach not just affected customers, but also unintended audiences such as potential customers among the general public, which could potentially damage a company's reputation and market share. An online survey administered to 241 customers and 271 non-customers of a famous mobile phone brand, which used YouTube to apologise to its customers for a service failure incident, is used to explore potential behavioural outcomes, after exposure to the apology. Findings confirm that both customers and non-customers of the service provider may become exposed to a social media service failure apology. The hypothesised model predicts behavioural intentions to remain a customer after exposure to the social media service apology better than behavioural intentions to become a customer, even though relationships hold for both groups. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Manika, Danae & Papagiannidis, Savvas & Bourlakis, Michael, 2017. "Understanding the effects of a social media service failure apology: A comparative study of customers vs. potential customers," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 214-228.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ininma:v:37:y:2017:i:3:p:214-228
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2016.01.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268401216000050
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2016.01.004?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. Alba, Joseph W & Hutchinson, J Wesley, 2000. "Knowledge Calibration: What Consumers Know and What They Think They Know," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 27(2), pages 123-156, September.
    2. Brucks, Merrie, 1985. "The Effects of Product Class Knowledge on Information Search Behavior," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 12(1), pages 1-16, June.
    3. Gurhan-Canli, Zeynep, 2003. "The Effect of Expected Variability of Product Quality and Attribute Uniqueness on Family Brand Evaluations," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 30(1), pages 105-114, June.
    4. Friestad, Marian & Wright, Peter, 1994. "The Persuasion Knowledge Model: How People Cope with Persuasion Attempts," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 21(1), pages 1-31, June.
    5. Kaplan, Andreas M. & Haenlein, Michael, 2010. "Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 59-68, January.
    6. Kuo, Ying-Feng & Wu, Chi-Ming, 2012. "Satisfaction and post-purchase intentions with service recovery of online shopping websites: Perspectives on perceived justice and emotions," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 127-138.
    7. Pham, Michel Tuan & Avnet, Tamar, 2004. "Ideals and Oughts and the Reliance on Affect versus Substance in Persuasion," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 30(4), pages 503-518, March.
    8. Alice M. Tybout & Brian Sternthal & Prashant Malaviya & Georgios A. Bakamitsos & Se-Bum Park, 2005. "Information Accessibility as a Moderator of Judgments: The Role of Content versus Retrieval Ease," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 32(1), pages 76-85, June.
    9. Campbell, Margaret C & Keller, Kevin Lane, 2003. "Brand Familiarity and Advertising Repetition Effects," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 30(2), pages 292-304, September.
    10. Jay P. Carlson & Leslie H. Vincent & David M. Hardesty & William O. Bearden, 2009. "Objective and Subjective Knowledge Relationships: A Quantitative Analysis of Consumer Research Findings," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 35(5), pages 864-876, October.
    11. Arthur Schram, 2005. "Artificiality: The tension between internal and external validity in economic experiments," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 225-237.
    12. Hajli, M. Nick, 2014. "The role of social support on relationship quality and social commerce," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 17-27.
    13. Kim, Angella J. & Ko, Eunju, 2012. "Do social media marketing activities enhance customer equity? An empirical study of luxury fashion brand," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(10), pages 1480-1486.
    14. Mattila, Anna S. & Cho, Wonae & Ro, Heejung (Cheyenne), 2011. "The role of self-service technologies in restoring justice," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(4), pages 348-355, April.
    15. Deng, Zhaohua & Lu, Yaobin & Wei, Kwok Kee & Zhang, Jinlong, 2010. "Understanding customer satisfaction and loyalty: An empirical study of mobile instant messages in China," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 289-300.
    16. Lopez-Nicolas, Carolina & Molina-Castillo, Francisco José, 2008. "Customer Knowledge Management and E-commerce: The role of customer perceived risk," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 102-113.
    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. Erjon Nexhipi, 2022. "The difference in consumer attitudes of locally grown apples with imported apples. the case of Korca Region, Albania:," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 37(1), pages 250-264, November.
    2. Zaheer Ahmed & Umara Noreen & Suresh A.L. Ramakrishnan & Dewi Fariha Binti Abdullah, 2021. "What explains the investment decision-making behaviour? The role of financial literacy and financial risk tolerance," Afro-Asian Journal of Finance and Accounting, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 11(1), pages 1-19.
    3. Catherine Viot, 2012. "Subjective knowledge, product attributes and consideration set : the wine case," Post-Print hal-01803724, HAL.
    4. Hannu Kuusela & Mark T. Spence & Pallab Paul, 2017. "How objective and subjective knowledge affect insurance choices," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(4), pages 161-172, December.
    5. Angshuman Ghosh & Sanjeev Varshney & Pingali Venugopal, 2014. "Social Media WOM: Definition, Consequences and Inter-relationships," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 39(3), pages 293-308, August.
    6. Hochstein, Bryan & Bolander, Willy & Christenson, Brett & Pratt, Alexander B. & Reynolds, Kristy, 2021. "An Investigation of Consumer Subjective Knowledge in Frontline Interactions," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 97(3), pages 336-346.
    7. Audrezet, Alice & de Kerviler, Gwarlann & Guidry Moulard, Julie, 2020. "Authenticity under threat: When social media influencers need to go beyond self-presentation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 557-569.
    8. Tegegne Tesfaye Haile & Mincheol Kang, 2020. "Mobile Augmented Reality in Electronic Commerce: Investigating User Perception and Purchase Intent Amongst Educated Young Adults," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-26, November.
    9. Yulin Chen, 2019. "Information Clues and Emotional Intentions: A Case Study of the Regional Image of the Cultural and Creative Community," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-27, May.
    10. Kamboj, Shampy & Sarmah, Bijoylaxmi & Gupta, Shivam & Dwivedi, Yogesh, 2018. "Examining branding co-creation in brand communities on social media: Applying the paradigm of Stimulus-Organism-Response," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 169-185.
    11. Bernd Hayo & Edith Neuenkirch, 2015. "The Influence of Media Use on Laymen’s Monetary Policy Knowledge in Germany," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201511, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    12. Manika, Danae & Dickert, Stephan & Golden, Linda L., 2021. "Check (it) yourself before you wreck yourself: The benefits of online health information exposure on risk perception and intentions to protect oneself," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    13. Qian, Lixian & Soopramanien, Didier & Daryanto, Ahmad, 2017. "First-time buyers' subjective knowledge and the attribute preferences of Chinese car buyers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 189-196.
    14. Inwon Kang & Deokhee Cheon & Matthew Shin, 2011. "Advertising strategy for outbound travel services," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 5(4), pages 361-380, December.
    15. Cade, Nicole L., 2018. "Corporate social media: How two-way disclosure channels influence investors," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 68, pages 63-79.
    16. Bernd Hayo & Edith Neuenkirch, 2018. "Survey on Germans’ Attitudes Towards and Knowledge of Monetary Policy Issues: Documentation of Survey Methodology and Descriptive Results," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201821, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    17. Raed S. Algharabat & Nripendra P. Rana, 0. "Social Commerce in Emerging Markets and its Impact on Online Community Engagement," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-22.
    18. Ozer, Muammer, 2011. "Understanding the impacts of product knowledge and product type on the accuracy of intentions-based new product predictions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 211(2), pages 359-369, June.
    19. Bastos, Wilson, 2020. "“Speaking of Purchases”: How Conversational Potential Determines Consumers' Willingness to Exert Effort for Experiential Versus Material Purchases," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-16.
    20. Kizgin, Hatice & Jamal, Ahmad & Dwivedi, Yogesh K. & Rana, Nripendra P., 2021. "The impact of online vs. offline acculturation on purchase intentions: A multigroup analysis of the role of education," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 724-735.

    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:ininma:v:37:y:2017:i:3:p:214-228. 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: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-information-management .

    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.