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Consumer complaining behaviour and conflict handling style
Timothy M. Daly, University of Western Australia, daly.tim@gmail.com
Julie Anne Lee, University of Western Australia, julie.lee@uwa.edu.au
Geoffrey N. Soutar, University of Western Australia, gsoutar@biz.uwa.edu.au
Abstract
Conflict handling styles is a commonly examined construct in negotiation and organisational
research, however there is little research on this topic in the marketing literature. The current
study begins to address this deficiency by examining the relationships between preferred
conflict handling styles and complaining behaviours in a service encounter. The results show
that people’s preference for the oblige, avoid, and dominate conflict handling styles is related
to their use of complaint behaviours in a service failure situation.
Keywords: Complaining behaviour, service failure, conflict handling style
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Consumer complaining behaviour and conflict handling style
Introduction
We experience conflict every time we make a decision and interpersonal and organisational
conflict is inevitable (Easterbrook et al., 1993), which led Tjsvold (2006, p. 93) to note,
“people in every walk of life must deal with conflict daily.” Rahim (2002, p. 207) defined
conflict as “an interactive process manifested in incompatibility, disagreement, or dissonance
within or between social entities,” including the self, other individuals, groups, or
organisations. Given this wide definition, it is surprising marketing researchers have not
examined conflict in detail. Indeed, despite the pervasiveness of people’s need to manage
conflict, very little research has examined conflict in marketing (Song, Xie, and Dyer, 2000),
with most such research typically focussing on channel conflict (e.g., Gaski, 1984), industrial
buyer-seller negotiations (e.g., Perdue, Day, and Michaels, 1986) or marketing management
(e.g., Song et al., 2000). In contrast, consumer researchers have largely ignored conflict
management theory (Macintosh and Stevens, 2008), even though conflict is inherent is
consumer complaining, which is a widely research consumer behaviour area (Maute and
Forrester, 1993; Ngai et al, 2007; Singh, 1988). To date, only one study has integrated conflict
handling style theory and consumer complaint behaviours (Macintosh and Stevens, 2008).
The aim of the present research was to extend this research by examining the relationships
between people’s preferred conflict handling style and their propensity to engage in particular
complaint behaviours in a tourism service failure context. These constructs are discussed in
the following sections.
Conflict Handling Styles
Conflict handling styles can be defined as “the different strategies that people may use in
dealing with others in potentially adversarial social or business situations” (Kleinman et al.,
2003, p. 62). Several theories have been suggested to describe the different conflict handling
styles people use; the most popular of which is the dual-concerns model (Pruitt, 1983). This
model suggests the types of conflict handling style (oblige, avoid, dominate, integrate, and
compromise) used vary along two dimensions; the first being concern for self and the second
being concern for others (Rahim and Bonoma, 1979). Thomas (1976) described each of the
five conflict handling styles suggested in this model, which are shown in Figure 1, as:
Integrate. People using this style have a high concern for self and a high concern for the
other. This style can be thought of as cooperative and assertive.
Oblige. People using this style have a low concern for self and a high concern for the other.
This style can be thought of as cooperative, but unassertive.
Dominate. People using this style have a high concern for self and a low concern for the
other. This style can be thought of as uncooperative and assertive.
Avoid. People using this style have a low concern for self and a low concern for the other, as
well as a general lack of concern about satisfaction. This style can be thought of as
uncooperative and unassertive.
Compromise. People using this style have a moderate concern for self and a moderate
concern for the other. This style can be thought of as a midway point for both cooperativeness
and assertiveness.
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Figure 1: Conflict Handling Styles Derived from the Dual-Concerns Model (Adapted From Rahim, 2002; Thomas et al. , 2008)
Consumer Complaint Behaviour
Consumer complaint behaviour (CCB) can be defined as the “responses triggered by
perceived dissatisfaction which is neither psychologically accepted nor quickly forgotten with
consumption of a product or service” (Phau and Sari, 2004, p. 407). Dissatisfaction is a
negative disconfirmation between expected product or service performance and perceptions of
the actual performance rendered (Oliver and Swan, 1989). CCB has been related to several
individual differences, including age (e.g. Bearden and Mason, 1984), attitude towards
complaining (e.g. Blodgett et al., 1995; Richins, 1982), personal values (e.g. Rogers and
Williams, 1990), personality (e.g. Beardon and Mason, 1984; Harris and Mowen, 2001), and
culture (e.g. Ngai et al, 2008). CCB research is particularly relevant in service contexts, as the
inherent intangibility of services can lead to differing levels of expectations and perceptions
of service (Ngai et al., 2008).
In terms of conflict theory, CCB may be a result of interpersonal conflict between service
provider and the consumer, or intrapersonal conflict when consumer expectations are higher
than the perceived quality of service delivery. In the current study, the CCB that resulted from
the interpersonal conflict between a service provider and a consumer in a service failure
situation was examined.
Conflict Handling Style and Consumer Complaint Behaviour
As CCB is an outcome of conflict, it should be related to people’s conflict handling style
preference, especially if the action behind the complaint is important. Consequently, it was
expected a preference for the two styles related to high concern for self (the dominate style
and, to a lesser extent, the integrate style) would be positively related to active complaining
behaviours. The dominate style is characterised by putting personal concerns above others,
whereas the integrate style is characterised by attempts to satisfy each party. Thus, people’s
active complaining, such as arguing with the provider or giving negative word of mouth,
would be seen as a necessary step toward obtaining satisfaction. Conversely, those people
with a preference for the two conflict handling styles related to a low concern for self (oblige
and avoid) should complain less. Thus, it can be suggested:
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H1: People who prefer the dominate conflict handling style are more likely to actively
complain than people who prefer the a) oblige conflict handling style or b) the avoid
conflict handling style.
H2: People who prefer the integrate conflict handling style are more likely to actively
complain than people who prefer the a) oblige conflict handling style or b) the avoid
conflict handling style.
H3: People who prefer the avoid conflict handling style are more likely to avoid
complaining than people who prefer the a) dominate conflict handling style or b) the
integrate conflict handling style.
H4: People who prefer the oblige conflict handling style are more likely to avoid
complaining than people who prefer the a) dominate conflict handling style or b) the
integrate conflict handling style.
It was also expected the importance a consumer attached to the situation would influence the
relationship between conflict handling style and CCBs, as there may be a threshold below
which a situation is not perceived as conflict. As such, situations were examined in two
conditions: (1) where there was no attempt to make amends or recover from a service failure a clear conflict situation -, and (2) where a provider attempted to recover from the failure. It
was expected the hypotheses would not hold in the service failure recovery condition.
Methodology
Data Collection
The data were collected from a convenience sample of students at Brigham Young
University-Idaho (USA), who were recruited in undergraduate psychology classes. In-class
announcements informed students of the survey, which was followed by an email directing
respondents to the study’s website. One hundred and eighty-two students were invited
participate in the survey, and 154 completed it, providing a response rate of 85%. The sample
was typical of a US undergraduate psychology class in terms of gender (67% female) and age
(M = 21, SD = 4) distributions and a high proportion were born in the USA (94%).
Instruments
Conflict handling styles were measured using Rahim’s (1983) Organizational Conflict
Inventory II (ROCI-II). The ROCI-II is a 28-item instrument measured on a 5-point Likerttype ratings scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. In order to investigate
complaining behaviour intentions, respondents were presented with one of two service failure
(recovery) scenarios adapted from Maute and Forrester’s (1993) and Schoefer and Ennew’s
(2005) research. This scenario presented a situation at an airline ticket counter in which the
respondent was unable to obtain the service for which they had paid. A subset of the items
were selected from Maute and Forrester’s (1993) scale to measure three aspects of complaint
behaviour; namely negative word of mouth (NWOM), argument and avoidant behaviour. This
subset of CCB was examined as the focus of the study was on the active complaining versus
passive complaining behaviours, which are most explicitly captured by NWOM, arguing and
avoiding.
Additionally,
imposed
time
constraints
on
data
collection necessitated the prioritisation of the measures included in the
study.
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Analysis
Reliability and Validity
Before examining the hypothesised relationships, the ROCI-II data was assessed for
unidimensionality, reliability, and convergent validity through confirmatory factor analysis
(CFA), while discriminant validity was assessed through Fornell and Larker’s (1981)
procedure. Although the ROCI-II instrument was designed to measure the five separate
conflict handling styles outlined in Figure 1, both the CFA results and Fornell and Larker’s
(1981) procedure strongly indicated that the integrate and compromise subscales should be
combined into a single integrate scale. The remaining four scales demonstrated adequate
unidimensionality, reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity.
Complaint behaviour manipulation checks
Three items were included as manipulation checks to see whether the two scenarios were
perceived as having different levels of service failure and/or recovery (measured on 5-point
scales). As expected, the service recovery scenario had significantly higher means for the two
positive manipulation checks than did the service failure scenario [“How well did the
employee handle the situation?” (M = 4.42 vs. 1.59; t = 20.73, p < 0.001) and “How helpful
was the employee?” (M = 4.09 vs. 1.58; t = 18.40; p < 0.001)]. Also as expected, the service
recovery scenario had a significantly lower mean for the negative manipulation checks than
did the service failure scenario [“How dissatisfied would you be in that situation?” (M = 2.65
vs. 4.40; t = 10.27, p < 0.001)]. Thus, the two scenarios differed significantly, and in the
expected way, in terms of their level of service failure or recovery.
Conflict Handling Styles and Complaining Behaviours
The relationships between the conflict handling styles and complaining behaviour in response
to the service failure scenario were examined first. As can be seen in the upper half of Table
1, the significant correlations were in the expected direction for the dominate, avoid, and
oblige style preferences, but were not significant for the integrate style preference. In order to
test the difference between these correlations, Steiger’s (1980) Z-statistic was calculated and
compared against the one-tailed critical Steiger Z-statistic.
Full support was found for H3a, H4a and H4b, while partial support was found for H1a, H1b, H2a,
and H2b. However, no support was found for H3b. Partially supporting H1a and H1b, the
dominate style was more strongly positively related to arguing (r = 0.39), but not NWOM (r =
0.28), than was the oblige (r = 0.07, Steiger’s Z(77) = 2.22, p < 0.05; r = 0.04, Steiger’s Z(77) =
1.60, ns., respectively) and the avoid style (r = -0.23; Steiger’s Z(77) = 4.14, p < 0.01; r = 0.02;
Steiger’s Z(77) = 1.63, ns., respectively). Supporting H3a, the avoidance of complaining
behaviour correlation with the avoid style (r = 0.32) was significantly greater than with the
dominate style (r = -0.23, Steiger’s Z(77) = 3.57, p < 0.01). Supporting H4a, the avoidance of
complaining behaviour correlation with the oblige style (r = 0.29) was significantly greater
than with the dominate style (r = -0.23, Steiger’s Z(77) = 3.59, p < 0.01).
In contrast, only one of the four correlations with the integrate style was significant, while one
was partially significant. Supporting H4b, the correlation between avoidance of complaining
behaviour and the oblige style (r = 0.29) was significantly greater than with the integrate style
(r = 0.08, Steiger’s Z(77) = 1.75, p < 0.05). Partially supporting H2b, the arguing complaining
behaviour correlation (r = 0.06), but not the NWOM correlation (r = -0.17), with the integrate
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style was significantly greater than the avoid style (r = -0.23, Steiger’s Z(77) = 1.85, p < 0.05; r
= 0.02, Steiger’s Z(77) = -1.19, ns., respectively).
As expected, the relationships did not hold when the provider successfully recovered from
service failure. As can also be seen in Table 1, only one correlation between conflict handling
styles and complaining behaviours was significant (r = 0.29 between dominate and NWOM).
This suggests service failure recovery does not activate people’s preferred conflict handling
style.
Recover
n = 74
Fail
n = 80
Table 1: Correlations between Conflict Handling Styles and Complaining Behaviours
Subscales
ARGUE
NWOM
AVOID
Avoid
-0.23*
0.02
0.32**
ARGUE
-0.06
NWOM
0.14
AVOID
0.13
Note: * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01
Conflict Handling Styles
Oblige
Integrate
0.07
0.06
0.04
-0.17
0.29**
0.08
0.05
0.16
-0.08
-0.14
-0.02
0.07
Dominate
0.39**
0.28**
-0.23*
0.19
0.29**
0.02
Discussion and Future Research Directions
This research suggests people’s preference for oblige, avoid, and dominate conflict handling
styles is related to their use of complaint behaviours. However, a preference for the integrate
style did not consistently predict complaining behaviour. People who preferred conflict
handling styles that had a low concern for self (avoid and oblige) avoided complaint
behaviour, whereas people who preferred a dominate conflict handling style were more likely
to actively complain. It seems the level of concern for others reflected in the integrate style
may interact with a high concern for self, reducing the drive to complain. In terms of
managerial implications, recognising preferences for different conflict handling styles can
impact the choice of complaint behaviour presents an opportunity to improve service recovery
policies. For example, consumers who prefer the dominate conflict style are likely to be
placated by responding to their high concern for themselves, such as through offering a token
‘victory’. Future research should consider different contexts, as well as use samples that are
more generalisable than the current student sample. Additionally, expanding the examination
of CCB to include exit and loyalty would potentially add to the body of knowledge. Finally,
obtaining observational data, rather the self-report data used in the current study, would
provide further evidence of the generalisability of these findings.
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