Consumer responses to conflict-management strategies on non-profit social media fan pages

Dineva, D., Breitsohl, J. , Garrod, B. and Megicks, P. (2020) Consumer responses to conflict-management strategies on non-profit social media fan pages. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 52, pp. 118-136. (doi: 10.1016/j.intmar.2020.05.002)

Abstract

Past research has demonstrated that consumer-to-consumer (C2C) conflicts, here defined as uncivil social interactions between consumers, can have a negative impact on consumers’ engagement in social media fan pages (SMFPs). Little is known, however, about how best to manage such conflicts, and this is particularly true in the non-profit context. This paper follows a mixed-method approach in order to address this research gap. Study 1 uses a netnography of a non-profit organization (NPO) to examine how it manages C2C conflicts on its SMFP. Five different conflict-management strategies are identified: non-engaging, censoring, bolstering, educating, and mobilizing. These findings inform Study 2, an online experiment to test how different strategies affect consumers’ attitudes towards the conflict-management approach itself and towards the NPO’s social responsibility. Study 2 also accounts for the moderating effect of the conflict content, differentiating between whether a conflict relates to a consumer’s self-benefit or the benefit to others. Our results offer insights for practitioners into preferable content management strategies when consumers engage in different types of conflict on social media platforms.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Breitsohl, Dr Jan
• Authors: Dineva, D., Breitsohl, J., Garrod, B., and Megicks, P.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Management
• Journal Name: Journal of Interactive Marketing
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 1094-9968
• ISSN (Online): 1520-6653
• Published Online: 09 August 2020
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, Inc. dba Marketing EDGE
• First Published: First published in Journal of Interactive Marketing 52:118-136
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher