Abstract Retail applications have become the key means for most online retailers to manage customer relationships. However, the possible dark side of this virtual customer relationship governance has rarely been examined. By drawing on coping theory, this study investigates the negative customer communication experience of virtual governance in the context of online post-sales services. Customers’ perceived knowledge hiding is investigated as a mediator, while customers’ fear of opportunism and product knowledge are introduced as moderators. Data is collected from 302 Chinese online consumers and analyzed using PLS-SEM. The results show that in the post-sales service context, virtual governance increases the degree of relational conflict between customers and service providers through the mediation of customer perceived knowledge. In addition, customer product knowledge positively moderates the relationship between virtual governance and perceived knowledge hiding. These findings thus integrate different literature streams, improve the understanding of the application of virtual governance in the online post-sales service context, and expand the boundaries of relevant research.
Zheng et al. (2026) studied this question.