Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science

, Volume 38, Issue 5, pp 617–633 | Cite as

Exploring consumer conflict management in service encounters

  • Michael B. Beverland
  • Steven M. Kates
  • Adam Lindgreen
  • Emily Chung
Original Empirical Research
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Consumer researchers have yet to examine how consumers frame and deal with conflict. Understanding how consumers manage conflict is essential for service providers seeking to effectively recover instances of service failure, and avoid the costs associated with increasing instances of consumer anger. Using a modified grounded theory approach, we develop a model of consumer conflict management drawing on 39 informant accounts of service failures. The emergent model proposes that consumers’ conflict style is related to whether conflict is framed in task or personal terms. Task-framed conflicts resulted in more productive conflict styles than those framed in personal terms. Self vs. other orientation moderated the relationship between conflict frame and conflict style. These findings help us better understand the nature of consumer conflict and identify the importance of carefully targeting service recovery efforts to reduce instances of anger.

Keywords

Consumer conflict styles Service recovery Brand relationships Grounded theory 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The authors thank David Bednall, Liliana Bove, Francis Farrelly, Yany Grégoire, Sandra Luxton, the four anonymous reviewers and the editor David Stewart for feedback on an earlier draft. Steven Kates would like to acknowledge the generous funding from the Social Science and Humanities Council of Canada.

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Copyright information

© Academy of Marketing Science 2009

Authors and Affiliations

  • Michael B. Beverland
    • 1
  • Steven M. Kates
    • 2
  • Adam Lindgreen
    • 3
  • Emily Chung
    • 1
  1. 1.School of Economics, Finance & MarketingRMIT UniversityMelbourneAustralia
  2. 2.Department of MarketingSimon Fraser University, FBABurnabyCanada
  3. 3.Hull University Business SchoolHullUK

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