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Risking the self: the impact of self-esteem on negative word-of-mouth behavior

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Abstract

Negative word-of-mouth is a pervasive and persuasive force on consumers, yet little is known about the characteristics of the people who decide to share, or not to share, this information. We examine the impact of consumer trait self-esteem on tendencies to share negative word-of-mouth. Prior work has shown that consumer self-esteem moderates the likelihood of sharing positive word-of-mouth, yet extending this theory to negative word-of-mouth behavior results in conflicting predictions. This paper addresses these contradictions by adopting a two-dimensional view of self-esteem (self-liking and self-competence). We suggest that these dimensions will have opposing effects on the sharing of negative word-of-mouth. Two studies show that individuals high in self-competence are less willing to share negative word-of-mouth, whereas individuals high in self-liking are more willing to do so—results that would be disguised by treating self-esteem as a single-dimension construct.

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Notes

  1. The pattern of results was unchanged when self-liking was included as a covariate.

  2. Our framework provided no theoretical basis for including the self-liking by self-competence interaction or the three-way interaction with dissatisfaction; therefore, we did not include these effects in our analysis. However, inclusion of these terms did not change the pattern of results for our interactions of interest—Dissatisfaction × Self-Liking (β = .13, p < .01) and Dissatisfaction × Self-Competence (β = − .13, p < .05), and none of the additional interaction terms were significant—Self-Liking × Self-Competence (β = −.21, p > .10) and Dissatisfaction × Self-Liking × Self-Competence (β = .01, p > .80).

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Julian Barling, Peter Dacin, Peter Darke, Jeremy Dawson, and Jeffrey McGill whose feedback and advice significantly strengthened this manuscript. The authors would also like to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and HEC Montréal for assisting in the funding of this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. HEC Montréal, 3000 Chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montréal, QC, H3T 2A7, Canada

    Matthew Philp

  2. Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University, 55 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON, M5G 2C3, Canada

    Martin A. Pyle

  3. Stephen J.R. Smith School of Business, Queen’s University, 143 Union St W, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada

    Laurence Ashworth

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  1. Matthew Philp
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Correspondence to Matthew Philp.

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Philp, M., Pyle, M.A. & Ashworth, L. Risking the self: the impact of self-esteem on negative word-of-mouth behavior. Mark Lett 29, 101–113 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-018-9447-8

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