Online Assessment of Service Inadequacy: Consumer Responses Reflected in Digital Ratings and Comments in Internet Reviews
In the digital age, online consumer reviews (OCRs) have become a powerful tool in consumer decision-making. A recent study has delved deeper into this realm, focusing on the impact of service failures on consumer arousal and emotions.
The research, presented in three behavioral experiments, manipulated service failure and linguistic elements of OCRs. It employed integrated measurement approaches, combining galvanic skin response (GSR) and automated facial expression analysis, to assess consumer perceptions, arousal, and emotions related to service failures.
Galvanic skin response, a physiological marker of emotional arousal, was used to validate emotional contagion during exposure to content reflecting service failures or negative experiences. This method captured how consumers’ arousal levels changed in response to others’ emotional expressions.
Automated facial expression analysis, on the other hand, quantified facial indicators of emotions such as anger, sadness, or disgust, which propagate through online communities and reinforce emotional contagion dynamics.
The findings of this study reveal that emotional contagion occurs in user-generated content contexts, particularly amid service failures. This contagion amplifies consumer arousal and emotional intensity, contributing to the spread of negative emotions and influencing subsequent behavioral intentions.
The research also contributes to the understanding of emotional contagion in a user-generated content context, adding to the existing literature on this topic. Moreover, it increases the robustness of the literature on OCRs in service failures, providing empirical evidence that much of the existing OCR research focuses on quantifiable features like star ratings and volume, but overlooks the influence of review elements beyond these numeric ratings, particularly in services contexts.
The study also focuses on physiological measures of consumers' emotions, offering valuable insights into the emotional responses of consumers during service failures. This contributes to the marketing literature on OCRs in service failures, highlighting the importance of considering the emotional impact of service failures on consumers and the role of emotional contagion in shaping consumer behavior.
In conclusion, the study provides empirical evidence on emotional contagion in user-generated content contexts, particularly regarding service failures and consumer arousal. This evidence aligns with broader psychological theories of emotional contagion and social influence in digital environments, emphasizing the need for further research in this area to better understand and manage consumer responses to service failures in the digital age.
- In the realm of media analytics, this study employs technology to measure consumer emotional responses to service failures, employing science such as facial coding to analyze patterns of emotion.
- The research also sheds light on the interplay between finance and business, demonstrating how emotions arising from service failures can affect consumer behavior, potentially impacting a company's bottom line.
- Furthermore, the findings of this study contribute to the technology-driven advancements in service industries, as they showcase the significance of leveraging emotional responses in consumer reviews, expanding beyond traditional quantitative metrics like star ratings.
