Pour Oil on Troubled Water: The Effects of Mere Measurement and Time on Customer Desire for Revenge

Since revenge significantly affects both victim and offender, research on revenge has received increasing attention in the psychology (McCullough, Fincham, and Tsang 2003; McCullough, Kurzban, and Tabak 2010) and marketing literatures (Grégoire, Tripp, and Legoux 2009). One of the most robust findings is that revenge substantially and quickly decreases over time. It has been convincingly argued that revenge is associated with intense emotions (e.g., anger) and cognitions (e.g., betrayal) that are difficult and unhealthy to sustain over time. The current research further explores the effects of time on customer desire for revenge, which is defined as the motivation of bringing the firm down to get justice after a service failure (Bechwati and Morrin 2003). The research addresses a key weakness of most longitudinal designs which refers to the confounding effect of the variable “time” with “answering a survey”. We argue that very fact of answering a questionnaire can influence a desire for revenge. This effect is known as the mere-measurement (Fitzsimons and Morwitz 1996). In other words, this research wonders whether the observed reduction in revenge over time is caused by a mere-measurement effect, the effect of time, or the combination of both factors. Two rival explanations exist for the mere-measurement effect in this context. The “catharsis effect” paradigm argues that answering a survey about service failures allows customers to vent their negative emotions and actively process the situation (Barclay and Skarlicki, 2009); this effect would reduce a desire for revenge over time. On the other hand, the “amplification effect” paradigm suggests that answering questions about an unfair experience may lead customers to mentally re-experience the service failure (Chandon et al. 2011; Fitzsimons and Morwitz 1996), which would reinforce a negative mood and enhance rumination (Bono, McCullough, and Root 2008; McCullough et al. 2001). This alternate process would sustain customer desire for revenge over time.