Impact of emotional intensity of negative word-of-mouth on perceived helpfulness in social media

Abstract

Purpose

Negative word-of-mouth has a variety of negative effects on companies. Thus, how consumers process and evaluate negative word-of-mouth is an important issue for companies. This research aims to investigate the effect of emotional intensity of negative word-of-mouth on consumers' perceived helpfulness.

Design/methodology/approach

The research model was developed based on attribution theory. A four-study approach involving two field experiments and two online experiments was employed to examine the proposed hypotheses.

Findings

The results show that the emotional intensity of negative word-of-mouth negatively affects altruistic motive attributions, while altruistic motive attributions positively affect perceived helpfulness and plays a mediating role in the relationship between the emotional intensity of negative word-of-mouth and perceived helpfulness. Consumers' self-construal moderates the effects of emotional intensity of negative word-of-mouth on altruistic motive attributions and perceived helpfulness, with the negative effects of emotional intensity of negative word-of-mouth on altruistic motive attributions and perceived helpfulness being weaker for consumers with high interdependent self-construal than for those with high independent self-construal.

Originality/value

The findings not only have a significant theoretical contribution, deepening the understanding of the effects of negative word-of-mouth but also have useful implications for practitioners to improve the management of negative word-of-mouth.

Citation

Chen, C. and Zhang, D. (2022), "Impact of emotional intensity of negative word-of-mouth on perceived helpfulness in social media", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 122 No. 12, pp. 2657-2679. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-04-2022-0259