Responding effectively to customer feedback online: Advances in Webcare research

Panel convenors: Sofie Decock and Matteo Fuoli

As participation- and interaction-based Web 2-0-applications allowing for content creation and exchange (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010), social media have been said to empower consumers in their new role as ‘prosumers’. Indeed, in today’s digital age, customers can spread electronic word-of-mouth, i.e. they can share their positive and negative experiences online with organizations and stakeholders. In order to monitor and address online customer feedback as a way of managing reputation and alleviating reputational damage, more and more organizations engage in online interactions with (complaining) customers, an activity coined as webcare (van Noort & Willemsen, 2012).

Along with webcare itself, research on webcare is also on the rise. Language, communication and marketing scholars have started probing into discursive and interactional patterns in webcare conversations as well as the persuasive effects of discursive features and response strategies on the parties involved (Crijns, Cauberghe, Hudders, & Claeys, 2017; Einwiller & Steilen, 2015; Gretry, Horváth, Belei, & van Riel, 2017; Jakic, Wagner, & Meyer, 2017; Lee & Song, 2010; Weitzl, 2019). This panel wants to pick up on recent trends in webcare studies 1) by taking stock of relevant theoretical perspectives and methods, 2) by exploring in further detail the discourse of e-service encounters as well as their interactional power dynamics in battles over ‘legitimate truth’ (see Glozer, Caruana, & Hibbert, 2019), and 3) by examining the persuasive effects of different complaint (response) strategies.

References:

Crijns, H., Cauberghe, V., Hudders, L., & Claeys, A.-S. (2017). How to deal with online consumer comments during a crisis? The impact of personalized organizational responses on organizational reputation. Computers in Human Behavior, 75, 619–631. doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.05.046

Einwiller, S. A., & Steilen, S. (2015). Handling complaints on social network sites – An analysis of complaints and complaint responses on Facebook and Twitter pages of large US companies. Public Relations Review, 41(2), 195–204. doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2014.11.012

Glozer, S., Caruana, R., & Hibbert, S. A. (2019). The Never-Ending Story: Discursive Legitimation in Social Media Dialogue. Organization Studies, 40(5), 625–650. doi.org/10.1177/0170840617751006

Gretry, A., Horváth, C., Belei, N., & van Riel, A. C. R. (2017). “Don’t pretend to be my friend!” When an informal brand communication style backfires on social media. Journal of Business Research, 74, 77–89. doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.01.012

Jakic, A., Wagner, M. O., & Meyer, A. (2017). The impact of language style accommodation during social media interactions on brand trust. Journal of Service Management, 28(3), 418–441. doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-12-2016-0325

Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business horizons, 53(1), 59–68.
Lee, Y. L., & Song, S. (2010). An empirical investigation of electronic word-of-mouth: Informational motive and corporate response strategy. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(5), 1073–1080. doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2010.03.009

van Noort, G., & Willemsen, L. M. (2012). Online Damage Control: The Effects of Proactive Versus Reactive Webcare Interventions in Consumer-generated and Brand-generated Platforms. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 26(3), 131–140. doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2011.07.001

Weitzl, W. J. (2019). Webcare’s effect on constructive and vindictive complainants. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 28(3), 330–347. doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-04-2018-1843