Merchandising/Marketing/Retailing: Management
Authors: Ran Huang (Indiana University - Bloomington) , Sejin Ha (University of Tennessee at Knoxville)
This study aims to fill the void by exploring if and how consumer observers evaluate other consumers’ responses to complaint messages (i.e., consumer-to-consumer, C2C interactions) which further affect brand attitude. Drawn from the justice theory, we propose that C2C fairness and satisfaction with complaining handling can independently as well as serially mediate the effect of C2C authenticity on brand attitude. 323 participants were recruited via Amazon Mturk to complete a web-based survey, where they were asked to review the vignettes that describe C2C situations and assess the communications in the given vignettes. Results of the PROCESS Macro Model 6 showed that authenticity promotes perceived C2C fairness, satisfaction, and brand attitude. Fairness increases satisfaction, which enhances brand attitude. In addition, two mediations were found: (1) satisfaction mediates the effect of authenticity on brand attitude; and (2) authenticity increases fairness, which in turn increases satisfaction and thus increases brand attitude.
Keywords: social media service recovery, complaint handling, brand management
How to Cite: Huang, R. & Ha, S. (2025) “The Power of Observers: How Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) Interactions on Complaints Shape Public Opinion”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings. 81(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.18782
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