The Role of Prior Attitude and Consumption Orientation in Consumer Response to Unfair Negative Word of Mouth

This study explores how the perceived unfairness of negative word of mouth (NWOM) leads to favorable attitudes toward a product using a model that accounts for the mediation of empathy. We extend the literature by including the influence of prior attitude and consumption orientation (utilitarian or hedonic) in the framework. Three experimental studies with different degrees of unfairness are conducted to calibrate the model using the multigroup structural equation modeling (MGSEM) approach. We confirm that perceived unfairness evokes empathetic responses in NWOM receivers. The latter subsequently induces favorable post attitudes toward a product but only for highly unfair NWOM. Furthermore, prior attitude reinforces this effect by increasing empathy. However, consumption orientation does not appear to affect the above relationships significantly. The implications for eliciting benefits from NWOM are discussed.