Industry Characteristics and Consumer Dissatisfaction

Drawing upon Hirschman's (1970) theory, a conceptual framework is developed that attempts to explain how industry characteristics are likely to influence consumers' responses to dissatisfaction. Findings from consumer complaining behavior literature are also incorporated. Several hypotheses are derived and tested utilizing data from three different service categories. Despite the parsimony of Hirschman's theory, the results are encouraging. Also, the stability and validity of the results are examined under several different contingencies. Implications for researchers, practitioners, and public policy officials are discussed and directions for research outlined.