Affordances as Self-Extension: Conceptualising the affordances of online communication features (OCFs) for Consumer Complaints

Abstract

The trend for consumers to complain about their negative experience online following a service failure is on the rise. Consumer complaints are damaging to consumers and also detrimental to the reputation of the defaulting firm. Despite a considerable number of consumer complaint behaviour (CCB) studies that have taken into account the various online platforms or channels that dissatisfied consumers use to complain about their negative service encounters, the actual online communication features (OCFs) (e.g. review, and chat features) that consumers use for online complaints have received very limited attention. Studies that have investigated this aspect have been rather platform-dependent, and the usage and impact of these features for online consumer complaints have not been the primary interests of prior research. This study asserts that the lack of independent examinations of OCFs as mechanisms for consumers' online complaints is due to the idiosyncratic nature of how these features are known to consumers (the users), which leads to inconsistency in results and limited generalisable findings. Also, the platform-dependent limitation may be due to the lack of consideration of blurred boundaries between complaints and negative word-of-mouth, stemming from the dynamics of Web 2.0-empowered online features for complaints, where the primary intended audience of consumers' written complaint is not clear. This research developed a novel conceptualisation of affordances resembling three dimensions of communication: the exchange of communication (conversationality); privacy in terms of the identity of the online complainer (identifiability); and privacy in relation to the written content (visibility of content) offered by OCFs. Structured in a thesis by publication format, this research contributes to the CCB domain, information system realm (online media and communication), and the consumer psychology domain by positioning OCFs as the new online channels that consumers use for online complaints, through the notion of affordances. The conceptualisation of OCFs' affordances was examined using two theories, Uses and Gratifications theory, and Conservation of Resources theory, with regard to the online CCB context. In summary, this thesis proposes OCFs' affordances as the self-extension of consumers' complaint motivations. These affordances also act as a resource that provides directionality through which they, in conjunction with consumers' intentions, and all other conditions of complaint-related resources, can significantly shape the trajectories of the emotional and cognitive states of consumers. Ultimately, this thesis reveals that the impact of complaint motivations on the emotional states and return intention of online complainers can be altered by the affordances of OCFs. A review of the implications and limitations of all studies conducted in this thesis is provided in the final two chapters.