CONSUMERS REACTION TO PRODUCT FAILURE - IMPACT OF PRODUCT INVOLVEMENT AND KNOWLEDGE

This paper investigates differences in how consumers explain why a product is a ''failure'' i.e. falls short of expectations. It extends the Attribution Theory framework that has been used by other researchers (e.g., Folkes, 1984 and Folkes and Kostos, 1986) by incorporating the concepts of consumers' product involvement and causal complexity stemming from product knowledge. It is suggested that consumers who are more involved are likely to be more motivated to engage in causal search following a determination of product failure. Further, consumers with higher levels of product knowledge or experience with the product class are likely to be more causally complex i.e., assign blame for the failure over a greater number of reasons and are therefore likely to be less certain as to the cause of failure. Hence, they are likely to form less extreme beliefs and attitudes about the product. These differences in how consumers explain why a product has failed are likely to impact subsequently, their choice of remedial actions.