Understanding the effects of firms' unresponsiveness on social media toward customer feedback on customers' engagement: the impact of ethnicity
Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing
ISSN: 2040-7122
Article publication date: 14 March 2024
Issue publication date: 15 January 2025
Abstract
Purpose
This article explores how firms' unresponsiveness to Black customer feedback influences Black (vs. White) customers' perceived firm-based discrimination and brand engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Two experimental studies (Study 1(N1) = 254) and Study 1(N2) = 484) are conducted to test the modeled relationships. The data are analyzed using ANOVA, PROCESS Model 4 and PROCESS Model 7.
Findings
The findings suggest that though perceived discrimination remains modest in all conditions, Black (vs. White) respondents report higher perceived discrimination when the firm fails to respond to a Black customer's negative or neutral (but not positive) brand-related feedback on social media. The results also indicate that Black (vs. White) customers exhibit lower engagement through perceived discrimination in the case of the firm's unresponsiveness to a Black customer's negative and neutral (but not positive) brand-related feedback regardless of the manager's race.
Originality/value
Prior research on intercultural service encounters and ethnic differences in consumer engagement on social media are combined to examine the relationship between customer race and perceived discrimination based on the firm's unresponsiveness to customers' social media posts.
Research limitations/implications
Manipulations were created based on a fictitious e-tailer. Thus, it is recommend that future researchers examine the extent to which the findings hold for existing (r)etailers. In addition, future studies using secondary data could provide additional evidence for the findings.
Practical implications
Managerial attention is accentuated among customer feedback responsiveness, engagement and perceived firm discrimination. Managers are encouraged to adopt communication strategies that complement the firm's strategy and social media presence.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Data Availability Statement: The study's datasets and analyses remain inaccessible due to confidentiality requirements.
Ethics Approval: The Institutional Review Board at the University of Mississippi has granted ethics approval for the undertaking of this research.
Conflict of Interest: None of the authors have any conflict of interest to disclose.
Citation
Bozkurt, S., Gligor, D., Hollebeek, L.D. and Sumlin, C. (2025), "Understanding the effects of firms' unresponsiveness on social media toward customer feedback on customers' engagement: the impact of ethnicity", Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 59-75. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-09-2023-0317
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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