Do Individualists Complain More than Collectivists? A Four-Country Analysis on Consumer Complaint Behavior

ABSTRACT

Understanding the consumer complaint patterns of response and the cultural underpinnings of their characteristics may facilitate the customization and timing of response to such consumer demands. We investigated complaint behavior differences between collectivist and individualist societies. Specifically, our study compared three consumer complaint patterns of response (voice, private response, and third party) across the individualism/collectivism continuum. We opted for the mall intercept technique in surveying our participants in four countries (United States, Egypt, Mexico, and Turkey). Our most salient findings revealed that the individualist consumer is very likely to demand redress and very likely practice speaking to others about their dissatisfaction. Collectivists would avoid the product before switching companies. All participants who voiced their dissatisfaction privately showed significant exit intentions. Interesting differences were also found among collectivist countries. Managerial implications are annotated.

Keywords:

• Consumer complaint behavior
• cross-cultural behavior
• individualism
• collectivism