Social media revenge: A typology of online consumer revenge

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to present a detailed typology of online revenge behaviors that identifies the differential factors affecting this behavior in terms of triggers, channels, and emotional outcomes across two countries: Jordan and Britain. Based on a qualitative approach from a sample of Jordanian and British customers who had previously committed acts of online revenge (N = 73), this study identified four main types of online avengers: materialistic, ego-defending, aggressive, and rebellious. The findings show that British consumers were motivated by core service malfunction failures and employee failures. In contrast, Jordanian consumers’ acts of revenge were triggered by wasta service failures and contract breach failures. Moreover, Jordanian consumers tended to employ more aggressive and sometimes illegal ways to get revenge, whereas British consumers often used social media platforms and review websites. The findings have implications for the prevalence of online consumer revenge acts and for extending theoretical understanding of why and how consumers employ the Internet for revenge after a service failure in addition to how to respond to each avenger.