Cue the complaint: the visual cues of Facebook business pages and their influence on consumer complaint behaviour

ABSTRACT

The visual cues of websites have been found to affect consumer attitudes and behaviours. Facebook business pages (FBPs) also exhibit visual cues, several of which are pertinent to consumers considering whether to make a complaint on a FBP. Drawing on social cognitive theory (SCT), we explore the role of these visual cues in consumers’ social learning and reveal their influence on consumers’ likelihood to complain and attitude towards the firm. Four experiments examine the influence of three visual cues: the presence of complaints by other consumers, firm responsiveness, and evidence of redress. Results indicate that consumers are more likely to complain when complaints of others are present on a FBP, and any form of redress has a greater positive effect than firm responsiveness. Moreover, a consumer’s perceived likelihood of a successful complaint was found to explain the impact of visual cues on their likelihood to complain and attitude towards the firm.

KEYWORDS:

• Complaint management
• consumer complaint behaviour
• social media
• social cognitive theory
• social learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christine Armstrong

Christine Armstrong is a current PhD candidate at the University of Newcastle (UoN), Australia, undertaking research in the area of complaints behaviour and management on social media platforms. Her qualifications include a Masters of Business Administration (with Merit), for which she was awarded an industry scholarship, and a Class 1 Honours Arts degree. A sessional lecturer for the Newcastle Business School since 2011, within the Marketing discipline, Christine has also worked as senior researcher for a UoN interdisciplinary study into the return on investment of effective complaint management, working in collaboration with the industry association for Australian complaint management professionals, the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals (SOCAP). 

Alicia Kulczynski

Alicia Kulczynski holds a PhD in Management (Marketing), and is an Associate Professor of Marketing for the Newcastle Business School at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Alicia investigates consumer response to brand stimuli and advertising messages, and has expertise in understanding consumer attitudes and behavior using experimental design. She has published in international academic journals such as the International Journal of Research in Marketing, European Journal of Marketing, Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Advertising Research, Marketing Letters, Journal of Brand Management and Journal of Advertising.

Stacey Brennan

Stacey Brennan a holds a PhD in Management (Marketing) from the University of Newcastle (Australia), and is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Sydney Business School. Stacey's research focused on the design and development of brand elements along with consumers responses to marketing communications. She has published in international academic journals such as the International Journal of Research in Marketing, European Journal of Marketing, Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Advertising Research, Marketing Letters, Journal of Brand Management and Journal of Advertising.