Social media have become widely used platforms for dissatisfied customers to express disappointment with failed goods and services. Referred to as an online “firestorm,” negative eWOM spreads instantly and exponentially through people’s social networks (Pfeffer, Zorbach, & Carley, 2014). Marketers may worry that strong emotional expression of a complaint would lead to negative brand consequences, but that is an empirical question. Guided by Attribution theory and Accessibility-Diagnosticity model, this study examined how tie-strength and diagnostic information influence consumers’ inference-making of intense negative eWOM sender motives which in turn leads to credibility perceptions. An online experiment manipulated tie strength and the behavioral patterns of diagnostic cues to address the as yet unstudied effects of negative eWOM on credibility perception, attitude toward the brand, and sharing intention.This study used a 3 (Tie-strength: strong vs. weak vs. none) x 4 (Cues Present [high consistency/ medium consistency/ low consistency], Not Present) between-subjects, posttest only random assignment factorial experimental design. The results showed that the consistency of behavioral pattern manifested in previous posts of the eWOM sender influences attribution of sender’s motives. That is, when the original negative eWOM and the previous posts show consistently high consistency (i.e., negative valence posts), receivers made more dispositional attributions compared to when the previous posts showed low consistency (i.e., positive valence posts). Such impact of the previous posts was moderated by the tie-strength between the sender and the receiver. When the source is a close friend, receivers did not consider the cues of past behavioral pattern, unlike receivers who viewed a post from an acquaintance or a stranger as a sender of intense negative eWOM. Furthermore, indirect effects suggest that attribution of sender motives further influences persuasive outcomes such as brand attitude and sharing intention. The results give some implications for brand managers and eWOM platform developers. First, those who manage social media consumer complaints should consider the network of eWOM senders. Second, eWOM platforms should consider ways to highlight diagnostic cues such as previous posts. Previous posts can be emphasized by showing the previous rating history of the reviewer. In this way, receivers would not necessarily visit the eWOM sender’s profile page to gather more information on previous eWOM behaviors.
Read
