Why Do Consumers Get Revenge Online: A Cross National Examination

Online consumer revenge is costing companies millions of dollars annually. Yet, few studies have investigated the factors that influence consumer revenge online and the extent to which they persist across cultural boundaries. This paper develops a comprehensive model of online consumer revenge that contributes to the literature in three main ways. First, we identify the key role of cognitive evaluation of online action as a main mediator leading to actual online revenge. Second, our extended model specifies that types of service failure and their severity will lead to different levels of negative emotions and perceived betrayal. Most importantly, this study is one of first to empirically examine online revenge behaviour in a cross-national context.