Why and When Consumers Post Complaint Messages on Social Media? Conceptualizing Social Voice as a Distinct Complaining Behaviour

Arora, Swapan Deep, Chakraborty, Anirban and Narayanamurthy, Gopalakrishnan ORCID: 0000-0002-3119-5248 (2025) Why and When Consumers Post Complaint Messages on Social Media? Conceptualizing Social Voice as a Distinct Complaining Behaviour BRITISH JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, 36 (4). pp. 1746-1766. ISSN 1045-3172, 1467-8551

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Abstract

Whereas extant literature treats social voice, that is, complaining via brand-managed social media pages, as a mere channel for existing consumer complaining behaviours (CCBs), like voice and negative word of mouth, this research aims to assess it as a distinct CCB. We draw from CCB theory and its associated taxonomies towards this goal. To identify the unique palette of motives and antecedents of social voice, we adopt a mixed-method research design by extracting archival social voice posts and interviewing social voicers across four sub-studies. Our analysis reveals the motives, CCB process stage, antecedents and other peculiarities associated with social voice, thereby demarcating it from other CCBs. Further, social voice is identified as a predominantly secondary-stage CCB, triggered by a blend of constructive and vindictive motivations. This work is among the few examining social voice from a consumer viewpoint and attempts to place it within the overall CCB framework as divergent from its standalone assessments. We thus pave a foundation for examining behavioural changes implied by the Internet and social media within the CCB landscape and provide managerial guidelines towards reducing primary social voice while optimizing its secondary-stage incidence.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	35 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services, 3506 Marketing
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences > School of Management
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	19 Sep 2025 09:39
Last Modified:	16 Jun 2026 20:20
DOI:	10.1111/1467-8551.12928
Related Websites:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3194495
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