IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joinma/v47y2019icp35-52.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Dark Side of Good Reputation and Loyalty in Online Retailing: When Trust Leads to Retaliation through Price Unfairness

Author

Listed:
  • Riquelme, Isabel P.
  • Román, Sergio
  • Cuestas, Pedro J.
  • Iacobucci, Dawn

Abstract

This research examines price variations that are perceived to be unfair which then induce consumers to retaliate online. These phenomena are growing in online retailing given the data-based means for companies to set differential pricing, and the social media venues for consumer complaints. In this research, data from 997 respondents are used to test moderated mediation relationships integrating: (1) the influence of trust (i.e., competence and benevolence) on perceived price unfairness, and its mediating role on subsequent online revenge intentions; (2) the moderating role of (a) retailer reputation and (b) customer loyalty. We find that pricing practices seen as unfair can lead to a “dark side” or a “love becomes hate” effect for loyal customers of retailers with good reputations. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Riquelme, Isabel P. & Román, Sergio & Cuestas, Pedro J. & Iacobucci, Dawn, 2019. "The Dark Side of Good Reputation and Loyalty in Online Retailing: When Trust Leads to Retaliation through Price Unfairness," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 35-52.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joinma:v:47:y:2019:i:c:p:35-52
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intmar.2018.12.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1094996818300732
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intmar.2018.12.002?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. Malhotra, Deepak & Lumineau, Fabrice, 2011. "Trust and collaboration in the aftermath of conflict: the effects of contract structure," MPRA Paper 38358, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Riquelme, Isabel P. & Román, Sergio & Iacobucci, Dawn, 2016. "Consumers' Perceptions of Online and Offline Retailer Deception: A Moderated Mediation Analysis," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 16-26.
    3. Isabell Lenz & Hauke A. Wetzel & Maik Hammerschmidt, 2017. "Can doing good lead to doing poorly? Firm value implications of CSR in the face of CSI," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(5), pages 677-697, September.
    4. Funches, Venessa & Markley, Melissa & Davis, Lenita, 2009. "Reprisal, retribution and requital: Investigating customer retaliation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 231-238, February.
    5. Kelly L. Haws & William O. Bearden, 2006. "Dynamic Pricing and Consumer Fairness Perceptions," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 33(3), pages 304-311, October.
    6. Kim, Yeolib & Peterson, Robert A., 2017. "A Meta-analysis of Online Trust Relationships in E-commerce," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 44-54.
    7. Johnson, Devon & Grayson, Kent, 2005. "Cognitive and affective trust in service relationships," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 500-507, April.
    8. Adam Nguyen & Juan Meng, 2013. "Whether and to What Extent Consumers Demand Fair Pricing Behavior for Its Own Sake," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 114(3), pages 529-547, May.
    9. Tuzovic, Sven & Simpson, Merlin C. & Kuppelwieser, Volker G. & Finsterwalder, Jörg, 2014. "From ‘free’ to fee: Acceptability of airline ancillary fees and the effects on customer behavior," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 98-107.
    10. Mooweon Rhee & Pamela R. Haunschild, 2006. "The Liability of Good Reputation: A Study of Product Recalls in the U.S. Automobile Industry," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(1), pages 101-117, February.
    11. Jones, Michael A. & Mothersbaugh, David L. & Beatty, Sharon E., 2002. "Why customers stay: measuring the underlying dimensions of services switching costs and managing their differential strategic outcomes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 55(6), pages 441-450, June.
    12. Caruana, Albert & Ewing, Michael T., 2010. "How corporate reputation, quality, and value influence online loyalty," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(9-10), pages 1103-1110, September.
    13. Gelbrich, Katja, 2011. "I Have Paid Less Than You! The Emotional and Behavioral Consequences of Advantaged Price Inequality," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 207-224.
    14. Bolton, Lisa E & Warlop, Luk & Alba, Joseph W, 2003. "Consumer Perceptions of Price (Un)Fairness," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 29(4), pages 474-491, March.
    15. Ashworth, Laurence & McShane, Lindsay, 2012. "Why Do We Care What Others Pay? The Effect of Other Consumers’ Prices on Inferences of Seller (Dis)Respect and Perceptions of Deservingness Violation," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 145-155.
    16. Zourrig, Haithem & Chebat, Jean-Charles & Toffoli, Roy, 2009. "Consumer revenge behavior: A cross-cultural perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(10), pages 995-1001, October.
    17. Tarrahi, Farid & Eisend, Martin & Dost, Florian, 2016. "A meta-analysis of price change fairness perceptions," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 199-203.
    18. James C. Ward & Amy L. Ostrom, 2006. "Complaining to the Masses: The Role of Protest Framing in Customer-Created Complaint Web Sites," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 33(2), pages 220-230, July.
    19. Garbarino, Ellen & Maxwell, Sarah, 2010. "Consumer response to norm-breaking pricing events in e-commerce," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(9-10), pages 1066-1072, September.
    20. Theotokis, Aristeidis & Pramatari, Katerina & Tsiros, Michael, 2012. "Effects of Expiration Date-Based Pricing on Brand Image Perceptions," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 72-87.
    21. Martin, William C. & Ponder, Nicole & Lueg, Jason E., 2009. "Price fairness perceptions and customer loyalty in a retail context," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(6), pages 588-593, June.
    22. Albert Satorra & Peter Bentler, 2010. "Ensuring Positiveness of the Scaled Difference Chi-square Test Statistic," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 75(2), pages 243-248, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Li, Jinhua & Liu, Li & Qing, Qiankai, 2022. "Differentiated consumer forgiveness for different corporate social irresponsibility domains: The moderating role of corporate reputation and patriotism," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    2. Aboul-Dahab, Sameh & Agag, Gomaa & Hassan Abdelmoety, Ziad, 2021. "Examining the influence of cultural and ethical ideology on consumers’ perceptions about the ethics of online retailers and its effects on their loyalty," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    3. Xia, Lan & Roggeveen, Anne L., 2020. "When it’s too good to be true: Consumers’ reactions and firms’ responses to unintended price mistakes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 16-29.
    4. Irfan Hameed & Zeeshan Hyder & Muhammad Imran & Kashif Shafiq, 2021. "Greenwash and green purchase behavior: an environmentally sustainable perspective," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(9), pages 13113-13134, September.
    5. Japutra, Arnold & Ekinci, Yuksel & Simkin, Lyndon, 2022. "Discovering the dark side of brand attachment: Impulsive buying, obsessive-compulsive buying and trash talking," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 442-453.
    6. Dubey, Prince & Bajpai, Naval & Guha, Sanjay & Kulshreshtha, Kushagra, 2020. "Mapping gender and marital roles on customer delight by value perception for mobile technology in India," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    7. Talwar, Shalini & Dhir, Amandeep & Scuotto, Veronica & Kaur, Puneet, 2021. "Barriers and paradoxical recommendation behaviour in online to offline (O2O) services. A convergent mixed-method study," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 25-39.

    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. Richards, Timothy J. & Liaukonyte, Jura & Streletskaya, Nadia A., 2016. "Personalized pricing and price fairness," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 138-153.
    2. Richards, Timothy & Liaukonyte, Jura & Nadia, Streletskya, 2016. "Personalized Pricing and Price Fairness," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235809, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Fernandes, Teresa & Calamote, Ana, 2016. "Unfairness in consumer services: Outcomes of differential treatment of new and existing clients," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 36-44.
    4. Kanupriya Katyal & Vinay Kanetkar & Sanjay Patro, 2019. "What is a fair fare? Exploring the differences between perceived price fairness and perceived price unfairness," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(2), pages 133-146, April.
    5. Anna Priester & Thomas Robbert & Stefan Roth, 2020. "A special price just for you: effects of personalized dynamic pricing on consumer fairness perceptions," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(2), pages 99-112, April.
    6. Isabel P. Riquelme & Sergio Román, 2023. "Personal antecedents of perceived deceptive pricing in online retailing: the moderating role of price inequality," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 739-783, June.
    7. Wamsler, Julia & Natter, Martin & Algesheimer, René, 2022. "Transitioning to dynamic prices: Should pricing authority remain with the company or be delegated to the service employees instead?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1476-1488.
    8. White, Allyn & Breazeale, Michael & Collier, Joel E., 2012. "The Effects of Perceived Fairness on Customer Responses to Retailer SST Push Policies," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 250-261.
    9. Hufnagel, Gerrit & Schwaiger, Manfred & Weritz, Louisa, 2022. "Seeking the perfect price: Consumer responses to personalized price discrimination in e-commerce," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 346-365.
    10. Keller, Alisa & Vogelsang, Mila & Totzek, Dirk, 2022. "How displaying price discounts can mitigate negative customer reactions to dynamic pricing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 277-291.
    11. Nguyen, Bang & Klaus, Philipp “Philâ€, 2013. "Retail fairness: Exploring consumer perceptions of fairness towards retailers’ marketing tactics," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 311-324.
    12. 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.
    13. Fennell, Patrick B. & Coleman, Joshua T. & Kuo, Andrew, 2020. "The moderating role of donation quantifiers on price fairness judgments," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 464-473.
    14. Viglia, Giampaolo & Abrate, Graziano, 2014. "How social comparison influences reference price formation in a service context," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 168-180.
    15. Sayanti SHAW, 2018. "Role Of Need For Closure On Perceived Price Fairness," Proceedings of the INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 12(1), pages 797-806, November.
    16. Li, Shaobo (Kevin) & Kokkoris, Michail D. & Savani, Krishna, 2020. "Does everyone have the potential to achieve their ideal body weight? Lay theories about body weight and support for price discrimination policies," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 129-142.
    17. Sojin Jung & Hyeon Jeong Cho & Byoungho Ellie Jin, 2020. "Does effective cost transparency increase price fairness? An analysis of apparel brand strategies," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(5), pages 495-507, September.
    18. Golovacheva, K., 2015. "Consumer response to unit price increase: The role of pricing tactics and consumer knowledge," Working Papers 6421, Graduate School of Management, St. Petersburg State University.
    19. Nathan Chubaka Mushagalusa & Eddy Balemba Kanyurhi & Deogratias Bugandwa Mungu Akonkwa & Patrick Murhula Cubaka, 2022. "Measuring price fairness and its impact on consumers’ trust and switching intentions in microfinance institutions," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(2), pages 111-135, June.
    20. Rui Qi & Dan Jin & Han Chen & Xichen Mou & Faizan Ali, 2024. "Strategic-level perceived fairness of hotel dynamic pricing: the role of cues and the asymmetric moderating effect of inflation attribution," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(3), pages 249-261, June.

    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:joinma:v:47:y:2019:i:c:p:35-52. 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/journal-of-interactive-marketing/ .

    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.