Marshall Digital Scholar

Social Media Firestorms: How Does Observing Customer-to-Customer Incivility Affect Consumers’ Brand Evaluation and Behavioral Intentions?

Marshall University

Project Description: Brands increasingly engage customers through social media platforms. However, just like human, brands too can make mistake when interacting with customers. The higher the engagement, the higher the chance of brands committing mistakes. These mistakes tend to be amplified in the context of social media, which may eventually lead to a firestorm against the brand. Social media firestorm refers to a sudden, rapid discharge of large quantities of intensely negative messages against a brand. Even more concerning is that these firestorms are usually accompanied by uncivil interactions between customers who have opposing views on the issue at hand (i.e., customer-to-customer incivility). For consumers who observe such customer-to-customer incivility in a firestorm, what happens to their evaluation of and actions toward the brand? This research investigates the impact of observing customer-to-customer incivility on consumers’ brand evaluation and behavioral intentions, an under-researched yet crucial question.

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