Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
11-2021
Abstract
Despite many advantages of social media as a customer service channel, there is a concern that active service intervention encourages excessive service complaints. Our paper casts doubt on this misconception by examining the dynamics between social media customer complaints and brand service interventions. We find service interventions indeed cause more complaints, yet this increase is driven by service awareness rather than chronic complaining. Due to the publicity and connectivity of social media, customers learn about the new service channel by observing customer service delivery to others – a mechanism that is unique to social media customer service and does not exist for traditional call centers. Importantly, highquality service reduces future complaints, thereby proactive customer service is a sound strategy on social media, as long as firms dedicate to service quality. Hence, firms should be less concerned about whether to respond and more focused on how to respond to customer complaints.
Keywords
social media, customer service, complaint management, awareness enhancement, chronic complainer, Twitter
Discipline
Databases and Information Systems | Social Media
Research Areas
Information Systems and Management
Publication
Journal of Management Information Systems
First Page
1
Last Page
32
ISSN
0742-1222
Identifier
10.2139/ssrn.3926433
Publisher
Taylor & Francis (Routledge): SSH Titles
Citation
1
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.