How digitally enabled customer complaining system enhances low-powered customers complaining intentions

Customer complaining behavior is the articulation of the negatively perceived aspects of a service experience or product feature. However, many customers who encounter a service or product failure do not complain. The decision of customers to not complain can result in financial losses to organizations because dissatisfied customers are more likely to stop their patronage and are more likely to spread negative information in their social circles that can create a negative reputation for companies. Besides, not complaining hurts providers by failing to provide them with crucial information to improve their business operations. Thus, exploring the factors that encourage customers to voice their complaints to organizations is significant. In the customer complaint literature, researchers have found that the lack of an incidental sense of power is one of the reasons why customers do not complain. However, an important issue is left unanswered: How individuals who feel chronically powerless can be encouraged to complain when dissatisfied. In the present study we are going to address this important issue by introducing digitalized customer complaining system as a possible factor mitigating the differences in the complaint behavior of consumers with low and high power. We expect that when low powered individuals have the opportunities to digitally access the respective managers where they have negative service experience, they are more likely to engage in complaining behaviors. This research will be based on multiple experimental studies in which participants will be hired from inside and outside of KFUPM.