IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bushor/v61y2018i1p157-167.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Consumer social voice in the age of social media: Segmentation profiles and relationship marketing strategies

Author

Listed:
  • Melancon, Joanna Phillips
  • Dalakas, Vassilis

Abstract

Service failures, once handled quietly by customer service departments, are now played out on a highly public social media stage. These failures can result in not only the loss of a loyal consumer but also can negatively affect relationships with those watching the dialogue between disgruntled customers and organizations. The phenomenon of seeking resolution to service failures online is distinct from both traditional word-of-mouth and voice behaviors. This article introduces social voice: public complaining behavior that aims to change the behavior of the organization. A qualitative methodology defines eight dimensions of social voice and categorizes them by the strength of the relationship to the organization. Results indicate that appropriate response strategies differ based on social voice segment.

Suggested Citation

  • Melancon, Joanna Phillips & Dalakas, Vassilis, 2018. "Consumer social voice in the age of social media: Segmentation profiles and relationship marketing strategies," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 157-167.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:61:y:2018:i:1:p:157-167
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2017.09.015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681317301362
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bushor.2017.09.015?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Grégoire, Yany & Salle, Audrey & Tripp, Thomas M., 2015. "Managing social media crises with your customers: The good, the bad, and the ugly," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 173-182.
    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. Magdalena Rzemieniak & Joanna Wyrwisz & Katarzyn Toborek, 2021. "The Relationship between Consumers‘ Characteristics and the Expectations towards a Brand‘s Value," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 1), pages 264-277.
    2. repec:ers:journl:v:xxiv:y:2021:i:special2:p:264-277 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Manisha Mathur, 2020. "Improving the value of the retailer brand through social media equity," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(5), pages 508-530, September.
    4. Zulal Isler & Meltem Kiygi-Calli & Maryam Oraiby, 2023. "Babbling through social media: A cross-country study mapping out social networks using eWOM intentions," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 33(1), pages 1-20, December.
    5. Frasquet, Marta & Ieva, Marco & Ziliani, Cristina, 2019. "Understanding complaint channel usage in multichannel retailing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 94-103.
    6. Morsi, Nada & Sá, Elisabete & Silva, Joaquim, 2025. "Walking away: Investigating the adverse impact of FOMO appeals on FOMO-prone consumers," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 197-212.
    7. Bruning, Patrick F. & Alge, Bradley J. & Lin, Hsin-Chen, 2020. "Social networks and social media: Understanding and managing influence vulnerability in a connected society," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 749-761.
    8. Swapan Deep Arora, 2024. "Consumer proactive empowerment: A systematic review and taxonomy development," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 14(1), pages 104-121, June.

    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. Xiong, Feng & Chapple, Larelle & Yin, Haiying, 2018. "The use of social media to detect corporate fraud: A case study approach," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 61(4), pages 623-633.
    2. Patel, Pankaj C. & Pearce, John A. & Bachrach, Daniel G., 2018. "Psychological Distress is increasing among customer-facing retail employees: Evidence from 1997 to 2015," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 21-26.
    3. Dewi Anggraeni & Serena Ghean Niagara & Mohammad Anwar, 2018. "Legal Protection Againts Buyers due to not Performing Seller in Electronic Transaction," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 8(5), pages 168-171.
    4. Liebrecht, Christine & Tsaousi, Christina & van Hooijdonk, Charlotte, 2021. "Linguistic elements of conversational human voice in online brand communication: Manipulations and perceptions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 124-135.
    5. Gerrath, Maximilian H.E.E. & Mafael, Alexander & Ulqinaku, Aulona & Biraglia, Alessandro, 2023. "Service failures in times of crisis: An analysis of eWOM emotionality," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    6. Steven Chen, 2023. "A counterinsurgent (COIN) framework to defend against consumer activists," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 30(4), pages 275-301, July.
    7. Istanbulluoglu, Doga & Sakman, Ezgi, 2024. "Successful complaint handling on social media predicts increased repurchase intention: The roles of trust in company and propensity to trust," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 11-22.
    8. Weitzl, Wolfgang J. & Einwiller, Sabine A., 2020. "Profiling (un-)committed online complainants: Their characteristics and post-webcare reactions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 740-753.
    9. Rehan Bhatia & Agam Gupta & M. Vimalkumar & Divya Sharma, 2025. "Factors affecting Consumer Brand Sabotage virality: a study of an Indian brand #boycott," Information Systems and e-Business Management, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 41-68, March.
    10. Jiayang Zhang & Xin Huang, 2024. "The Effect of Distrust Regulation and Trustworthiness Demonstration on Trust Repair in Responding to Online Negative Reviews," International Journal of English and Cultural Studies, Redfame publishing, vol. 7(1), pages 15-30, May.
    11. Vermeer, Susan A.M. & Araujo, Theo & Bernritter, Stefan F. & van Noort, Guda, 2019. "Seeing the wood for the trees: How machine learning can help firms in identifying relevant electronic word-of-mouth in social media," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 492-508.
    12. Bacile, Todd J. & Wolter, Jeremy S. & Allen, Alexis M. & Xu, Pei, 2018. "The Effects of Online Incivility and Consumer-to-Consumer Interactional Justice on Complainants, Observers, and Service Providers During Social Media Service Recovery," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 60-81.
    13. Cheng, Yang & Jin, Weikai & Zhang, Kaijie & Bai, Xintong & Zhang, Yinghang & Shi, Binyuan, 2025. "Managing contingent relationships with customers: Examining MNCs’ social media crises in Mainland China," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 165-180.
    14. Hashmi, Nada & Worthington, Conwell S. & Bal, Anjali S. & Weidner, Kelly & Ottley, Gary, 2025. "Too woke or not too woke, that is the question: Brand responses to culture wars," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 153-164.
    15. Gabriela Almeida Marcon Nora & Anete Alberton & Diego Hernando Florez Ayala, 2023. "Stakeholder theory and actor‐network theory: The stakeholder engagement in energy transitions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 673-685, January.
    16. Yuan, Denghua & Lin, Zhibin & Filieri, Raffaele & Liu, Ran & Zheng, Mengqin, 2020. "Managing the product-harm crisis in the digital era: The role of consumer online brand community engagement," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 38-47.
    17. Hettiarachchi Maha Hettiarachchige, Asheen Heranga & Cabiddu, Francesca & Moi, Ludovica, 2025. "Preparing for the inevitable: Strategically navigating negative publicity in the contemporary business landscape," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 139-151.
    18. Huang, Ran & Ha, Sejin, 2020. "The effects of warmth-oriented and competence-oriented service recovery messages on observers on online platforms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 616-627.
    19. de Campos Ribeiro, Gisèle & Butori, Raphaëlle & Le Nagard, Emmanuelle, 2018. "The determinants of approval of online consumer revenge," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 212-221.
    20. M. S. Balaji & Subhash Jha & Marla B. Royne, 2015. "Customer e-complaining behaviours using social media," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(11-12), pages 633-654, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bushor:v:61:y:2018:i:1:p:157-167. 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: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor .

    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.