Cognitive and emotional dimensions of negative customer engagement

Abstract

Introduction Customer engagement (CE) has emerged as a key concept in brand management since 2010 (Kumar & Pansari, 2015; van Doorn et al., 2010). The dimension of valence in engagement was first defined in van Doorn et al. (2010) to reflect the range of positive and negative engagement. CE research has mostly centered around the conceptualization of positive CE, antecedents of positive CE such as satisfaction (van Doorn et al., 2010), perceived values (Huang & Chen, 2022), participation (Leckie et al., 2016), and its influence on customers (Hollebeek et al., 2022). Research into the negative CE and its potential impact has received very limited attention (Do et al., 2021). Seeking to extend current knowledge about CE valence, this study contributes to a better understanding of the cognitive and emotional components of negative CE. Negative CE is defined as “consumers’ unfavourable brand-related thoughts, feelings and behaviours during focal brand interactions” (Hollebeek & Chen, 2014, p. 69). Negative valence of customer engagement can include both customer disengagement and negative engagement (Naumann et al., 2017). Negative CE is defined as a customer’s unfavourable thoughts, feelings and behavioural intentions towards a brand or provider resulting from their negative experiences. This study examines the key negative thoughts and emotions of Chinese customers, which can allow marketers to develop better understanding on the negative CE and design service and marketing strategies to prevent negative CE. Research Method This study used a qualitative method to examine the characteristics of cognitive and affective components of negative CE. Two interview studies were conducted with different approaches to enhance the quality of information. 30 respondents who had experience of positive and negative engagement with different brands participated in each study. In the Study 1, after recording their demographic background, interviewers asked the respondents about their relationship with positively engaged brands and experience of disengagement with positively engaged brands, and their relationship with negatively engaged brands and experience of recovery. In Study 2, Critical Incident Technique (CIT) method was adopted to examine negative incidents experienced by customers in their consumption experiences. CIT is a method commonly applied in service related research, which can generate useful insights for exploratory research studies (Gremler, 2004). Each interview lasted approximately 20 to 25 minutes and was recorded with the consent of the interviewee. Results and Implications The findings revealed the major negative thoughts and emotions towards brands and services in a wide range of contexts. The interrelationships between different cognitive dimensions and affective dimensions are examined to enhance the understanding of the complex nature of negative CE. The findings confirm and expand the prior research studies on the cognitive, affective, and behavioural dimensions (Do et al., 2021; Naumann et al., 2017), revealing a range of negative thoughts, emotions, and behaviours that were experienced by Chinese customers in Hong Kong. Based on the findings in this study, a draft measurement scale for measuring the cognitive and affective dimensions of negative CE was proposed for validation.