I Hate That Place! Do Ostracized Customers Spread Negative Word of Mouth Conditioned to Resilience?

Abstract

The Customer-brand relationship has always remained under threat due to various adverse experiences of
customers. Out of many negative customer experiences, little is known about social ostracism as a negative event or
experience which customer could face. The present study investigates the indirect relationship between social ostracism
and negative word of mouth through brand hate with the moderating effect of customer resilience on ostracism-hate
relation. Data collected cross-sectionally from Pakistani customers availing services offered by hotels/restaurants/food
points reveal that customers who gets socially ostracized generates negative word of mouth due to the emotion of hate
caused by a negative experience. Consumers' resilience buffers the positive effect of ostracism on brand hate, i.e. turning
strong brand hate into mild brand hate, as the relationship gets weaker at higher level of resilience. Lastly, the presence of
moderated mediation is indicated by the results that show the indirect relation between social ostracism and negative
word of mouth is stronger at higher levels of resilience as a result of mild brand hate instead of strong brand hate. Service
providers or hotel/restaurant management shall consider strategies based on these results to work on their service
delivery by minimizing such negative events and strengthening customer-brand relationship accordingly