Masters Theses

Date of Award

12-1997

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Textiles, Retail, and Consumer Sciences

Major Professor

Jinkook Lee

Committee Members

Ann Fairhurst, David Eastwood

Abstract

In the last ten years the focus of consumer complaint behavior research has shifted from the macro-perspective to a micro-perspective. In the 1970's and 1980's research focused on underlying taxonomies of complaint behavior in an effort to lay a foundation for further studies. In the last ten years these studies have focused on complaint behaviors specific to individual product classes and services. The result is a myriad of factors that influence not only the consumer's propensity to complain, but also which complaining activity he will engage in.

This study was instigated to examine the underlying construct of consumer complaint behavior in an attempt to affirm which, if any, of the commonly accepted taxonomies were still valid from the 1970's and 1980's. Also, the most commonly occurring factors in complaint behavior such as age, education, and gender that have been uncovered were examined in the underlying construct. This study also provides a look into the differing consumer attitudes toward retailers and manufacturers and their effects on complaining behavior.

The research questions proposed in this study began with an examination of the underlying construct of CCB. Following this first hypothesis, an investigation into the effects of gender, age, education, income, marketplace attitudes, consumer activity (such as voting), marketplace knowledge, and marketplace expectations was undertaken. The population of the State of Tennessee served as the sample base and MANOVA analysis was used to examine the hypotheses. Results from the study indicate that none of the three prevalent taxonomies can throughly explain the underlying construct of consumer complaint behavior. Further, only two of the commonly accepted factors used in determining complaint behavior are significant in the revealed construct. The two factors were the consumer's expectation of the marketplace reaction to complaints and participation in consumer activities such as voting, membership in various organizations, and/or writing to elected officials. None of the demographic variables such as gender, age, income, and education were found to significantly influence CСВ.

Literature examining the consumer movement often states that one of its primary goals is to educate the consumer. It is possible that this educational attainment by the consumer as well as the maturation of the consumer movement has shifted the foundation of complaining behavior creating a new taxonomy. Further, this "more educated" consumer may provide the answers as to why gender, age, income, and education are no longer significant in the underlying construct of consumer complaint behavior.

With regards to the consumer's attitudes toward retailers and manufacturers, this study suggests that the consumer is more comfortable with retailers and is more likely to resolve complaints on a one-on-one basis with the retailer. However, when the complaint involves the manufacturer, the consumer is more likely to choose some type of third party action.

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