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Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2017 pp 607–622Cite as

How “Bad” Are You? Justification and Normalisation of Online Deviant Customer Behaviour

Abstract

The study investigates online Deviant Customer Behaviour (DCB). Multidisciplinary research on neutralisation techniques justifying DCB was reviewed and expanded for considering the Internet context. Data collected from a convenience sample revealed four clusters of people exhibiting distinct behaviour engagement patterns of online DCB that they do not perceive them as ‘wrong’. Respondents did not claim to be ‘bad online users’ despite their engagement in online DCB. Instead of the number and level of engagement in online DCB, it was the level of perceived wrongness of online DCB that was found to statistically significantly relate to the respondents’ self-assessment level of being a ‘bad online user’. Findings about respondents’ perceptions of various neutralisation techniques revealed that respondents use different neutralisation techniques for justifying and adopting different online DCB. Findings provide useful implications for developing tailored deterrence management strategies for addressing the neutralisation techniques enforcing the enactment of different online DCB.

Keywords

  • Deviant customer behaviour
  • Fake reviews
  • Normalisation
  • Justification
  • Neutralisation techniques

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management, Business School, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

    Marianna Sigala

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  1. Marianna Sigala
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Correspondence to Marianna Sigala .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Tourism, HES-SO Valais-Wallis, Sierre, Valais, Switzerland

    Roland Schegg

  2. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom

    Brigitte Stangl

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Sigala, M. (2017). How “Bad” Are You? Justification and Normalisation of Online Deviant Customer Behaviour. In: Schegg, R., Stangl, B. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2017. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51168-9_44

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