The effects of outward and inward negative emotions on consumers’ desire for revenge and negative word of mouth

Date09 September 2019
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-03-2016-0069
Pages818-841
Published date09 September 2019
AuthorChih Wen-Hai,Chien-Yun Yuan,Ming-Te Liu,Jiann-Fa Fang
Subject MatterLibrary & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Bibliometrics,Databases,Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet,Records management & preservation,Document management
The effects of outward and
inward negative emotions on
consumersdesire for revenge
and negative word of mouth
Chih Wen-Hai
Department of Business Administration, National Dong Hwa University,
Hualien, Taiwan
Chien-Yun Yuan
Department of Marketing and Logistics Management,
Chihlee University of Technology, New Taipei City, Taiwan
Ming-Te Liu
Department of Business Administration, China University of Technology,
Taipei City, Taiwan, and
Jiann-Fa Fang
Chunghwa Telecom Co. Ltd, Taipei City, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose All previous research seldom considered the proliferation process from the perspective of
consumers or from a negative perspective to examine the desire for revenge and negative word of mouth
(WOM) caused by deficiencies in innovative products. The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers
subsequent behaviors after they have outward and inward negative emotions such as anger and regret.
The objective of this study is to explore the different effects of customersanger and regret on desire for
revenge and negative WOM.
Design/methodology/approach This researchuses structural equationmodeling to analyze 226 samples.
Findings The results showed that regret has significant and positive effects on desire for revenge and
negative WOM but anger has only a significant and positive effect on desire for revenge. Moreover, desire for
revenge has a significant and positive effect on negative WOM. In addition, the desire for revenge plays a
crucial mediator between anger and negative WOM as well as regret and negative WOM.
Practical implications Corporations can use tangled emotions among consumers to predict the
development of the desire for revenge and immediately implement remedies for deficiencies to prevent
consumers from developing the desire for revenge and spreading negative WOM regarding the corporation or
product, or engaging in other revenge behaviors. Corporations can easily detect and prevent the path between
anger and revenge behaviors simply based on the desire for revenge. In contrast to the outward negative
behavior that is anger, regret is implicit and internal.
Originality/value This study explored two negative emotions of affect (anger and regret) based on
affection and conation/action of the tricomponent attitude model and their different effects on consumers
revenge behaviors such as desire for revenge and negative WOM. The contributions of this research are to
clarify the different relationships between outward negative emotion (anger) and desire for revenge/negative
WOM as well as inward negative emotion (regret) and desire for revenge/negative WOM.
Keywords Tricomponent attitude model, Desire for revenge, Inward/outward negative emotions,
Negative word of mouth (WOM)
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Leisure time refers to all time excluding which was spent working and on other necessary
activities. The activities performed during leisure time will be referred to as leisure
activities.Taiwanese leisure activities vary widely and can be categorized roughly as either
static or dynamic. Dynamic activities include cycling, hiking and sports, which are
Online Information Review
Vol. 43 No. 5, 2019
pp. 818-841
© Emerald PublishingLimited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/OIR-03-2016-0069
Received 2 March 2016
Revised 21 March 2017
25 July 2017
17 October 2017
18 November 2017
2 January 2018
Accepted 12 October 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm
818
OIR
43,5
highly popular. Static activities include attending exhibitions, surfing online, watching
movies, reading and watching television. Because of the global economic recession in 2008,
the slowing economy reduced disposable income across household, which affects the
recreational activity patterns of all people living in Taiwan. According to a survey reported
by Pollster (http://www.pollster.com.tw), a polling website, 30.48 percent of Taiwanese
population prefers to remain at home on the weekends and during holidays. This is one of
the main reasons that watching television has become the primary recreation activity for
Taiwanese people. In addition to economic considerations, other reasons for the popularity
of television include convenience (the activity only necessitates turning on a television),
speed of receiving information and content diversity. A separate survey of time spent
watching television showed that 70 percent of Taiwanese people spend an average of more
than 1 h and less than 5 h watching television every day, which indicates that watching
television is a crucial leisure activity for the majority of Taiwanese people.
The Global Competitiveness Index of World Economic Forum indicated that Taiwan was
the top 15 out of 140countries and top 11 in innovation in 2015. Taiwan has been successful
in economic miracles and has become the leading country for its electronic industry as well
as the important supply chains in information and communications technology industry in
the world. Executive Yuan of Taiwan initiated the Digital Nation and Innovative Economic
Development Plan (20172025) to respond the advocacy for Digital Nation, Smart Island.
The Taiwanese Government tries to enhance digital infrastructure as well as digital
economy and develop vivacious internet society to establish sustainable living environment
(Kuo, 2016). Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development, Ministry of Culture
(2014) estimated that the total value of Taiwanese television industry was $4.5bn. Cable
television is very popular and the rate of spread is very high in Taiwan which is very rare
compared to the rest of the world. Chunghwa Telecom is a leading system provider in
Taiwan and its multimedia on demand (MOD) achieves the new era of interactive
communication and leads in Taiwan by providing two-way service and creates huge
influence of media ecology and informational society. The charge of MOD is relatively
complicated and the interface between human and machine is not easy to manipulate which
makes MOD not easily compete with cable television (Chuang, 2009).
Broadband internet access providers belong to one of two categories: telecommunications
carriersthat provide broadband internetservices, includingasymmetric digital subscriberline
(ADSL), fiber to thebuilding (FTTB) and leased lines, and cable television providers who use
cable modems to provide broadband internet access. In the first quarter of 2012, access to
MOD and broadband internet reached 79.56 percent of all households in Taiwan, becoming
main stream formost families. According to statistics,regarding broadband internetaccess in
Taiwan publishedby the Taiwan Network Information Center inMarch 2012, 44.20 percent of
Taiwanese people use ADSL and 42.08 percent use FTTB, but only 8.10 percent use cable
modems. Compared with the 60.7 percent market share of cable television, MOD poses no
threat. MOD is a system that allows users to select any video program lists whatever they
want to see on the internet. MOD system can playthe video stream in real time by all means
through streaming media to allow user to manipulate just like operating VCR, including
pause, fast forward, fast rewind, replay and so on after user selects the video program. The
advantagesof MOD technology are to provideupdated dynamic informationin real time, with
two-way information communicationfeatures which result in two-way communication effect,
and with richer program in any content.Besides general cable televisionfunctions, MOD has
more powerful features such as stock market, e-learning, e-commerce, online cinema, online
games, KTV, enterprise internal announcements, training and so on which general cable
television cannot compete with. Compared to the traditional cable television system, MOD is
an innovation product/service with two-way communication systems and more complex
operating interface for the users.
819
Revenge and
negative word
of mouth

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