Corporate conflict management on social media brand fan pages

ABSTRACT

A recent development in the literature on social media brand fan pages is the investigation of hostile consumer-to-consumer interactions. Existing research has thus far concentrated on the reasons why consumers engage in such online conflicts. In comparison, this study focuses on how online conflicts can be best managed. Based on direct observations of six brand fan pages on Facebook, we offer a first conceptualisation of corporate conflict management strategies. Our results reveal five main conflict management strategies: non-engaging, censoring, bolstering, informing and pacifying. By drawing on existing suggestions from the marketing literature, we provide managerial implications and suggest avenues for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Conflict resolution
• brand community
• corporate governance
• social media
• consumer aggression

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Denitsa Petrova Dineva

Denitsa Petrova Dineva is a PhD candidate in Marketing at the Aberystwyth Business School, Aberystwyth University (UK). Her research interests include online marketing, consumer-to-consumer communications and corporate conflict management.

Jan Christian Breitsohl

Dr Jan Christian Breitsohl is a Lecturer in Marketing Psychology at Aberystwyth Business School, Aberystwyth University (UK). His academic interests focus on online consumer behaviour and in particular negative communication and corporate response strategies.

Brian Garrod

Professor Brian Garrod is Professor of Tourism Management at Aberystwyth Business School, Aberystwyth University (UK). His research interests span all aspects of tourism but focus particularly on sustainable tourism, ecotourism and heritage tourism. He has written widely in the area of tourism management, including seven text books, and he is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Destination Marketing & Management.