Following the call of Veloutsou and Guzmán (2017) to investigate negativity towards a brand more comprehensively, Osuna Ramirez et al. (2019) verified that having brand haters can help companies to improve their strategies by providing fruitful hints to make appropriate adjustments. To recognize such brand haters, they have to engage in WOM communication. The reasons why people engage in negative eWOM about a brand were identified to be diverse and either related to the kind of risk they are ex-posed to (Cambefort & Roux, 2019) or on the evaluation of brand hypocrisy (Guèvremont, 2019). An additional factor is the level of arousal of negative emotions.
The higher the customers’ arousal of negative emotions, the higher their intention to spread negative eWOM and the lower their intention to purchase the brand product (Baghi & Gabrielli, 2019). Further research raises the question of how to manage neg-ative eWOM (Cooper et al., 2019). Therefore, it is essential to analyze negneg-ative eWOM more detailed.
Compared to positive content, negative reviews are perceived as more helpful regard-ing the localization and assessment of risks, increasregard-ing perceived usefulness (Yin et al., 2012). Furthermore, they were assessed as more sustainable than positive ones concerning the effect on the attitude towards a brand (Lee et al. 2009). However, cur-rent research emphasizes to diffecur-rentiate negative eWOM, as some studies found dif-ferences in the effects of negative reviews (e.g. Doh & Hwang, 2008). While Lee et
al. (2009) only considered constructive product reviews in their analysis, other re-search distinguished between high- and low-quality negative online reviews to inves-tigate the effect on product attitude (Shihab & Putri, 2019; Zhang et al., 2014). The quality of eWOM content was examined more detailed considering variables such as
“richness of content or argument quality” and “strength of advocacy” of consumer reviews (e.g., Sweeney et al., 2012; Cheung & Thadani, 2012). According to Ruiz-Mafe et al. (2018), the quality of information is related to the credibility and usefulness of eWOM, which are central aspects of its adoption (Hajli, 2018; Lis, 2013) Thus, high-quality reviews were identified to be more persuasive compared to low-quality reviews (Zhang et al., 2014).
Explanations for these findings are provided by the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) of Petty and Cacioppo (1986), which is one of the most common and essential information processing theory indicating how persuasive messages impact consumers (Yan et al., 2016; Cheung & Thadani, 2012). Another analytical approach is given through the search and alignment theory of Muthukrishnan and Pham (2002). The the-ory describes the effect of opposite information on the revision of attitude and consid-ers the process of the revision of an original mental image by newly gained information that contradicts the original setting. This approach seems to be most suitable for the experimental design of the present study as Bambauer-Sachse and Mangold (2011) have already empirically proven the search and alignment theory in the context of neg-ative eWOM to explain effects on consumer-based brand equity. Through confronta-tion with the conflicting informaconfronta-tion, the consistency of the original informaconfronta-tion pool is disturbed and a new evaluation appears necessary. Depending on the evaluation of the incompatible facts, the original mental image may be retained or disturbed. If it is disturbed, a revision of the initial position is caused (Muthukrishnan & Pham, 2002).
When new information becomes available, an active search for existing target infor-mation on the same topic begins. If no target inforinfor-mation is accessible, an immediate revised judgment occurs towards the challenging content. However, if original data draws a different picture than the challenging input, the cognitive memory systemati-cally searches for data supporting the original attitude. In this case, all pro-arguments that aim to defend the original image are retrieved (McGuire, 1964). The retrieval of the pro-arguments not only causes a defense of the original attitude but also allows simultaneous diagnostic evaluation of the conflicting information to what extent the
new data violate the old constitution of attitude (Markman & Zhang, 1998). If the challenging information is not evaluated as diagnostic, a defense mechanism is trig-gered. In the case of a diagnostic evaluation, a revised judgment is made regarding the challenge (Mungalé et al., 1999). In this context, Muthukrishnan and Pham (2002) note the importance of attribute-specific and abstract information. They understand attrib-ute-specific information as data based on facts that highlight the certain specifics and characteristics of an object, whereas abstract information implies the summary of vast statements, which are characterized by their indeterminate nature. Fabrigar and Petty (1999) provided evidence that receiving attribute-specific information is more likely to cause a revision of attitude as this type of information is valued more diagnostically.
To conclude, a revision of the attitude seems to occur only when the conflicting mation is evaluated as diagnostic, making a consideration necessary whether infor-mation is attribute-specific or abstract. Therefore, the relevance of the negative eWOM content is of great interest and, according to Kim et al. (2017), has insufficiently been explored concerning an in-depth analysis of review content. No studies to date have differentiated among various content types of negative eWOM and analyzed the ef-fects on consumer attitude. By comparing constructive functional criticism and con-structive ethical criticism as predominantly attribute-specific with decon-structive criticism as abstract counter-information, this study aims to tribute to this lack of research.
According to Hennig-Thurau et al. (2004) and Martin (2017), differences in receivers’
evaluation of the sender’s motivation influence the assessment of a message. That might be caused as motivation affects the characteristics of eWOM communication (Yap et al., 2013). Thus, knowing about the emotions and the goals, regarding why people get engaged in negative eWOM is essential to understand the adoption of WOM. Wetzer et al. (2007) comprehensively reviewed WOM literature to identify primary goals for negative WOM and emotions that are relevant in situations that elicit negative WOM. In a second step, they examined the relationship between these emo-tions and the different goals. Deducing from the goals of selected emoemo-tions, they clas-sified negative WOM according to their intention in two dimensions: constructive and destructive. What differentiates the following approach from previous examinations is, that it does not focus on negative eWOM-generating factors, such as emotions or goals of emotions, but concentrates on the impact of the different contextual types of
negative eWOM on consumer’s attitude towards a technological product. As technol-ogies are primarily produced to function (Verbeek, 2006) and the sales of environmen-tally friendly brands increase continuously (Lin et al., 2017; Leonidou & Skarmeas, 2017), current research intensively deals with the behavior towards ethical (e.g., Pa-pista & Dimitriadis, 2019) and functional product characteristics (e.g., Auger et al., 2008). Therefore, this study distinguished between the impact of constructive func-tional, constructive ethical and destructive emotional criticism on product attitude.
Ullrich and Brunner (2015) detected that a positive consumer review could effectively counteract a negative review. Therefore, also the sequence of receiving online con-sumer reviews impacts how recipients process the information (Huang & Korfiatis, 2015). Former research is offering a first insight into the consistency of an attitudinal change as a result of WOM. Wang (2011) investigated the inconsistency of the WOM effect for the attitude towards a service and the intent to use the service. Thereby, he called attention to the importance of the primacy-recency effect in this research field.
Several studies had highlighted the relevance of the first incoming information (e.g., Gibbons et al., 2008; Sparks & Browning, 2011), whereas others suggest that the last received information has more importance (e.g., Garnefeld & Steinhoff, 2013). Ruiz-Mafe et al. (2018) investigated interactions between systematic and heuristic infor-mation processing routes of online reviews influencing consumers’ purchase decision making. Depending on different online review’ sequences, either the heuristic or the systematic processing route dominates, leading to differences in decision making.
None of the current studies has investigated the relationship between different types of negative eWOM and the durability of evoked consumer attitudes if the consumer is confronted with positive eWOM most recently. Crucial for companies is determining which type of criticism is most challenging to correct.
Table I below presents a summary of selected influential past research to provide an overview of previous eWOM investigation.
Table 1. Selection of influential past eWOM research.
Author(s) Tested Construct Key Finding(s)
Yin et al., 2012
Valence (positive vs. negative) Negative reviews are more helpful regarding the localization and as-sessment of risks and therefore more useful.
Martin, 2017 Valence (positive vs. negative) Differences in receivers’ evalua-tion of the sender’s motivaevalua-tion
High- quality negative online reviews Detrimental effect of high-quality negative online reviews on
Valence, cognitive content, richness of content and strength of delivery
Cognitive content and richness of content reflect the composition of the message, while strength of be-tween the specific negative emo-tions that are experienced and are associated with destructive versus constructive outcomes.
Baghi and Gabrielli, 2019
The role of crisis typology in
influ-encing consumers’ negative response The higher the customers’ arousal of negative emotions, the higher their intention to spread negative eWOM
Wang, 2011 Sequence of WOM Service quality perception and pur-chase intention were influenced more by the final WOM event than by the initial one.