In the era of digital retailing, consumer-empowering technologies greatly facilitate the dissemination of complaint messages. Consumer audiences, who view consumer complaints and the subsequent responses made by retailers, consider these messages as critical information sources for decision-making (Weitzl & Hutzinger, 2017). We argue that retailers can use two types of response strategies (warmth- vs. competence-related response) to regulate the information distributed online, and that these strategies may influence consumer audiences’ perceptions and subsequent attitudes and behaviors differently based on their different levels of power (Rucker, Galinsky, & Dubois, 2012). Two experimental studies using a 2 (retailer response: warmth vs. competence) X 2 (audience power: low vs. high) between-subjects design were conducted. Study 1 (N = 240) revealed an interactive effect of power and retailer response on perceived diagnosticity and perceived fairness; and Study 2 (N = 233) showed that the significant moderated mediation for audiences’ perceptions on the relationship between retailer response X audience power and outcome variables. Theoretically, this study enriches the consumer complaint management literature from the perspective of consumer audience. It also sheds light on the power theory by validating its notion in the context of service failure and recovery. Practically, results demonstrate how retailers can effectively respond to negative consumer reviews to maintain customer relationship management with consumer audiences in digital age.

As social media platforms (e.g., Facebook) and related online communication channels (e.g., review websites and community forums) grow in quantity and commercial orientation, marketing practitioners and scholars alike have recognised the importance of understanding and influencing online consumer communication processes. Specifically, it is suggested that online opinion leaders (‘Epinion leaders’) can be utilised as a target group to manage negative e-word-of-mouth (‘e-WOM’) and e-complaints. This study identifies and targets Epinion leaders and explores three central personality characteristics – altruism, self-confidence and the need for uniqueness – as a means of understanding Epinion leaders’ motivations to communication and tailoring corporate communication campaigns. The study focusses herby on the rapidly growing and increasingly influential 50-years+ e-commerce segment (i.e., ‘silver surfers’). Based on an online survey of 1,700 e-consumers aged 50 years and older, the proposed structural equation model verifies the positive influence of Epinion leadership on the propensity to spread negative e-WOM and e-complaints while demonstrating the applicability of personality characteristics as means of influencing consumers’ online communication strategies. The findings demonstrate that addressing consumers’ self-confidence can be an essential way of reducing negative e-WOM and encouraging e-complaints, which show opposing effects on customer satisfaction. For practitioners, this study emphasises the usefulness of negative Epinion leaders as a target group and recommends fostering consumers’ self-confidence in order to prevent negative online opinion-cascades and increase overall satisfaction.