New research by Sauder Professor Darren Dahl suggests that although consumers tend to feel better when they complain, it all changes if the consumer perceives that he or she is responsible for the problem.
The study, which features in this month’s Journal of Marketing Researchand also was covered by the Financial Post, showed that when consumers believe that they are responsible for a product’s failure, they end up feeling incompetent and blame the company in order to preserve their sense of self-worth.
“We are feeling threatened by our own inabilities and we get a little bit of a hate-on, so to speak, for the organization or company. That is where the complaining does not help at all,” says Marketing Professor, and Senior Associate Dean, Darren Dahl.
