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Consumers’ Responses to Negative Word‐of‐Mouth Communication: An Attribution Theory Perspective
Author(s) -
Laczniak Russell N.,
DeCarlo Thomas E.,
Ramaswami Sridhar N.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of consumer psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.433
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1532-7663
pISSN - 1057-7408
DOI - 10.1207/s15327663jcp1101_5
Subject(s) - attribution , psychology , negativity effect , word of mouth , perspective (graphical) , negativity bias , social psychology , negative information , advertising , computer science , artificial intelligence , business
Research on negative word‐of‐mouth communication (WOMC) in general, and the process by which negative WOMC affects consumers’ brand evaluations in particular, has been limited. This study uses attribution theory to explain consumers’ responses to negative WOMC. Experimental results suggest that (a) causal attributions mediate the negative WOMC‐brand evaluation relation, (b) receivers’ attributions depend on the manner in which the negative WOMC is conveyed, and (c) brand name affects attributions. Results also suggest that when receivers attribute the negativity of the WOMC message to the brand, brand evaluations decrease; however, if receivers attribute the negativity to the communicator, brand evaluations increase.