Consumer Complaining and Community Involvement: An Exploration of Their Theoretical and Empirical Linkages

Drawing upon Smith's [16] participation theory, it is proposed that consumers who complain are also very likely to be active in other areas of social, economic and political life. The relationship between consumer complaining behavior and political and citizen participation is investigated in this paper. Using data from a 1980 survey of Pennsylvania adults, it was found that complaining behavior was significantly related to community involvement in a multivariate analysis in which other key variables were controlled. Implications are explored for both consumer education and the study of consumer complaining behavior.