IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v126y2016i1p309-330.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Status, National Culture and Customers’ Propensity to Complain

Author

Listed:
  • Gil Luria
  • Asaf Levanon
  • Dana Yagil
  • Iddo Gal

Abstract

People’s ability to express their voice in different situation is an important facet of their quality of life. This study examines the relationship between social status, cultural characteristics and customers’ voice behavior in multiple cultures. We hypothesized that social status would be positively related to customers’ voice expression. The cultural dimensions of power distance and uncertainty avoidance were expected to affect that behavior and to moderate the status–voicing relationship. Analysis of data concerning 8,479 customers from 12 countries showed that, as expected, customers with high status tended to register more service failures and to complain more frequently than customers of lower social status. All three social status distinctions explored in this study (gender, education, and age) correlated negatively with formal complaint, but only age correlated negatively with informal complaint. In addition, the two cultural dimensions had the expected negative effect on intention to complain, and moderated the relationship between social status and intention to complain. Theoretical contributions and applied implications are discussed. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016

Suggested Citation

  • Gil Luria & Asaf Levanon & Dana Yagil & Iddo Gal, 2016. "Status, National Culture and Customers’ Propensity to Complain," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 126(1), pages 309-330, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:126:y:2016:i:1:p:309-330
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-015-0884-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11205-015-0884-y
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-015-0884-y?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. Claes Fornell & Birger Wernerfelt, 1988. "A Model for Customer Complaint Management," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 7(3), pages 287-298.
    2. House, Robert & Javidan, Mansour & Hanges, Paul & Dorfman, Peter, 2002. "Understanding cultures and implicit leadership theories across the globe: an introduction to project GLOBE," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 3-10, April.
    3. Ladhari, Riadh & Pons, Frank & Bressolles, Grégory & Zins, Michel, 2011. "Culture and personal values: How they influence perceived service quality," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(9), pages 951-957, September.
    4. Deepa Narayan, 2002. "Empowerment and Poverty Reduction : A Sourcebook," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15239.
    5. Riccardo Abbate & Ornella Giambalvo & Anna Milito, 2001. "Service and Life Quality: The Case of Palermo," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 275-308, June.
    6. Rhys Andrews & Steven Van de Walle, 2013. "New Public Management and Citizens' Perceptions of Local Service Efficiency, Responsiveness, Equity and Effectiveness," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(5), pages 762-783, June.
    7. Soares, Ana Maria & Farhangmehr, Minoo & Shoham, Aviv, 2007. "Hofstede's dimensions of culture in international marketing studies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 277-284, March.
    8. Andreasen, Alan R, 1985. "Consumer Responses to Dissatisfaction in Loose Monopolies," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 12(2), pages 135-141, September.
    9. Sofie Vanassche & Gray Swicegood & Koen Matthijs, 2013. "Marriage and Children as a Key to Happiness? Cross-National Differences in the Effects of Marital Status and Children on Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 501-524, April.
    10. Linn Van Dyne & Soon Ang & Isabel C. Botero, 2003. "Conceptualizing Employee Silence and Employee Voice as Multidimensional Constructs," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(6), pages 1359-1392, September.
    11. Ambe Njoh, 1994. "A client-satisfaction-based model of urban public service delivery organizational effectiveness," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 263-296, July.
    12. Bitner, Mary Jo & Brown, Stephen W., 2008. "The service imperative," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 39-46.
    13. Nardo, Michela & Loi, Massimo & Rosati, Rossana & Manca, Anna Rita, 2011. "The consumer empowerment index. A measure of skills, awareness and engagement of European consumers," MPRA Paper 30711, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    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. Dana Yagil & Hana Medler-Liraz, 2019. "The effect of customer social status and dissatisfaction on service performance," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 13(1), pages 153-169, March.
    2. Gustavo De Santis & Mauro Maltagliati & Alessandra Petrucci, 2021. "So Close, So Far. The Cultural Distance of Foreigners in Italy," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 81-106, November.

    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. Barreto, Tais S. & Lanivich, Stephen E. & Cox, Kevin C., 2022. "Temporal orientation as a robust predictor of innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 287-300.
    2. Flatten, Tessa & Adams, Daniel & Brettel, Malte, 2015. "Fostering absorptive capacity through leadership: A cross-cultural analysis," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 519-534.
    3. Justin Paul & Philippe Hermel & Archana Srivatava, 2017. "Entrepreneurial intentions—theory and evidence from Asia, America, and Europe," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 324-351, September.
    4. Baudier, Patricia & Ammi, Chantal & Hikkerova, Lubica, 2022. "Impact of advertising on users’ perceptions regarding the Internet of things," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 355-366.
    5. Anneli Kaasa & Maaja Vadi & Urmas Varblane, 2014. "Regional Cultural Differences Within European Countries: Evidence from Multi-Country Surveys," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 54(6), pages 825-852, December.
    6. Serravalle, Francesca & Vannucci, Virginia & Pantano, Eleonora, 2022. "“Take it or leave it?†: Evidence on cultural differences affecting return behaviour for Gen Z," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    7. Kaasa, Anneli & Vadi, Maaja & Varblane, Urmas, 2016. "A new dataset of cultural distances for European countries and regions," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 231-241.
    8. Xu, Shichun & Hao, Andy, 2021. "Understanding the impact of national culture on firms’ benefit-seeking behaviors in international B2B relationships: A conceptual model and research propositions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 27-37.
    9. Diallo, Mbaye Fall & Seck, Anne Marianne, 2018. "How store service quality affects attitude toward store brands in emerging countries: Effects of brand cues and the cultural context," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 311-320.
    10. Bartikowski, Boris & Walsh, Gianfranco & Beatty, Sharon E., 2011. "Culture and age as moderators in the corporate reputation and loyalty relationship," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(9), pages 966-972, September.
    11. T. Randolph Beard & Jeffrey T. Macher & John W. Mayo, 2015. "'Can you Hear Me Now?' Exit, Voice and Loyalty Under Increasing Competition," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(3).
    12. Helen M. Haugh & Alka Talwar, 2016. "Linking Social Entrepreneurship and Social Change: The Mediating Role of Empowerment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(4), pages 643-658, February.
    13. James R. Detert & Linda K. Treviño, 2010. "Speaking Up to Higher-Ups: How Supervisors and Skip-Level Leaders Influence Employee Voice," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(1), pages 249-270, February.
    14. Radziszewska Aleksandra, 2014. "Intercultural dimensions of entrepreneurship," Journal of Intercultural Management, Sciendo, vol. 6(2), pages 35-47, April.
    15. Florian M. Artinger & Sabrina Artinger & Gerd Gigerenzer, 2019. "C. Y. A.: frequency and causes of defensive decisions in public administration," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 12(1), pages 9-25, April.
    16. Alkire, Sabina & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Peterman, Amber & Quisumbing, Agnes & Seymour, Greg & Vaz, Ana, 2013. "The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 71-91.
    17. Blocker, Christopher P. & Ruth, Julie A. & Sridharan, Srinivas & Beckwith, Colin & Ekici, Ahmet & Goudie-Hutton, Martina & Rosa, José Antonio & Saatcioglu, Bige & Talukdar, Debabrata & Trujillo, Carlo, 2013. "Understanding poverty and promoting poverty alleviation through transformative consumer research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1195-1202.
    18. Carolyn‐Dung Thi Thanh Tran & Brian Dollery, 2021. "All in the Mind: Citizen Satisfaction and Financial Performance in the Victorian Local Government System," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 31(1), pages 51-64, March.
    19. Deininger, Klaus W. & Liu, Yanyan, 2008. "Economic and Social Impacts of Self-Help Groups in India," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6482, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    20. Saad, Mohsen & Samet, Anis, 2020. "Collectivism and commonality in liquidity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 137-162.

    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:spr:soinre:v:126:y:2016:i:1:p:309-330. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.