Jokes or justice? The role of humour in online complaint handling
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2025-06-25
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en
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This research investigates the effects of humorous responses from organisations to online complaints, focusing on the differences between aggressive and affiliative humour. The study aims to explore how these types of humour influence perceptions of interactional justice, satisfaction, and loyalty among both complainants and Virtual Present Others (VPOs). An online experiment was conducted with Dutch participants (N = 199), aged 18 to 99. Participants were randomly assigned to a scenario in which they took the role of either a complainant or a VPO and were exposed to an organisational response using either aggressive, affiliative, or no humour. The results indicate that affiliative humour can be effective for complainants and for VPOs, although the impacts is stronger for complainants. In contrast, aggressive humour can bring risks for both groups, negatively affecting perceptions of interactional justice, satisfaction, and loyalty. The findings of this research suggest that organisations can strategically apply humour in complaint management, adapting their approach to the context, the audience, and the severity of the complaint.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen