Electronic Consumer-to-Consumer Interaction (eCCI) Post a Service Failure: The Psychological Power of Need for Approval

The prevalence of eCCI (electronic customer-to-customer interaction) is rapidly growing as customers increasingly employ online tools to reach fellow customers and voice their opinions, especially after service failures. Adopting a quasi-experimental design, this research examines the impact of eCCI on restaurant customers, considering their need for approval. A total of 201 responses were obtained for the main experiment (Study 1). Results indicated that people with a lower need for approval reported greater social media engagement, customer-customer interaction justice, and empathy quality in the condition of positive eCCI. People with a higher need for approval exhibited similar responses on all dependent variables, regardless of the eCCI condition. The results remained stable across different restaurants’ response strategies (Study 2). This paper examines the novel eCCI phenomenon and adds a new twist to the literature on CCI and customer reviews. It further offers valuable guidelines for managerial involvement in digital customer service encounters.