Opening the black boxes of consumer misbehaviors: insights from studying online trolling

Online consumer misbehaviors, such as trolling, are widespread and poorly understood. Using actor-network theory, we explore the assemblages of human and non-human entities participating in trolling, showing that rather than managing misbehaving consumers, marketing practitioners should manage the socio-technical networks that allow and fuel these misbehaviors

Disassembling online trolling: towards the better understanding and managing of online mischief-making consumer misbehaviours

This thesis draws on actor-network theory to explore the assemblages of human and nonhuman entities that allow and perpetuate online trolling. Trolling is a form of consumer misbehaviour that includes deliberate, deceptive, and mischievous attempts to provoke reactions from other online users. Despite being a pervasive online consumer misbehaviour, affecting consumers, brands, and online sites that offer a medium for trolling, trolling is poorly understood. In particular, there is a lack of understanding of what trolling actually is, how it differs from other anti-social behaviours, how it comes about, and how it could be influenced. These questions are at the forefront of this study. In disassembling trolling behaviours, this study adopts the actor-network theory (ANT) and practice-focused multi-sited ethnographic research approach. Five cases of trolling were investigated: playful trolling, good old-fashioned trolling, shock trolling, online pranking and raiding, and fake customer service trolling. Data collection included nonparticipant observation of trolling behaviours, in-depth interviews with trolls, shortelectronic exchanges with trolls and community managers, and review of trolling-related documents. Data analysis started with in-depth exploration of single actor-networks and continued with cross-case analysis, comparing and contrasting the actor-networks and building a general representation of the nature of trolling, the assemblages created in trolling, and the roles these assemblages play in the ‘doing’ of trolling. In respect of the nature of trolling, this study has found that trolling behaviours are deliberate, mischievous, deceptive, and designed to provoke a target into a reaction. Trolling behaviours benefit trolls and their followers, and they typically but not necessarily have negative consequences for the people and firms involved. These characteristics of trolling suggest that trolling should be differentiated from other online misbehaviours, in particular cyberbullying. Concerning the manifestation of trolling behaviours, this research has revealed that online trolling is performatively constituted by a collection of human and non-human entities interacting more or less in concert with each other. The study has identified nine actors participating in trolling: troll(s), target(s), medium, audience, other trolls, trolling artefacts, regulators, revenue streams, and assistants. Some of these actors (i.e., troll, target, medium) are playing a role in initiating, and other actors in sustaining trolling by celebrating it, boosting it, facilitating it, and normalising it. The findings highlight the role of other actors (apart from misbehaving consumers) in the performance of misbehaving and suggest that effective management of consumer misbehaviours such as trolling will include managing the socio-technical networks that allow and fuel these misbehaviours. Better understanding of online trolling, as an instance of online and mischief-making consumer (mis)behaviour, contributes to a more rounded understanding of consumer misbehaviours, given that prior research focused on financially motivated or illegal misbehaviours, and on misbehaving in analogue retail settings. Focusing on the act of trolling itself, this ANT-inspired thesis extends previous research on consumer misbehaviours, and trolling, which almost exclusively adopted the dispositional perspective, focusing on studying misbehaving consumers. The original contribution also lies in providing a new definition of trolling behaviours and presenting a theoretical model of how trolling comes about and is nourished. This model has practical value, providing guidance to marketers on how trolling and similar mischief-making consumer (mis)behaviours can be stymied or, if so wished, bolstered

Photographic data privacy: sharing sexually explicit imagery online

This research takes an exploratory examination of the creation and dissemination (both planned and unplanned) of sexually intimate imagery via digital technology. We take an interpretive approach to understand the impact that sharing private imagery with an unintended audience has on the creator

What makes consumer-brand relationships bad? Enlightening relational negativity

Drawing on in-depth interviews and Fiske’s (1992) relational models theory, we explain what brings negativity in a consumer-brand relationship. This research offers scholars and brand managers an alternative framework for characterising consumer–brand relationships and understanding their negative sides

Disrupting marketing realities: A research agenda for investigating the psychological mechanisms of next‐generation experiences with reality‐enhancing technologies

Reality‐enhancing technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality are rapidly becoming a part of everyday life. Seizing this moment, we set out a research agenda for studying the psychological mechanisms underpinning consumer experiences with these new technologies, structured around four application areas: (1) delivering innovative offerings, (2) supporting sustainability and consumer well‐being interventions, (3) balancing value cocreation and privacy concerns, and (4) achieving new modes and means of impact. For each area, we identify research directions that can guide the development and use of reality‐enhancing technologies for the realization of next‐generation consumer experiences. We explicitly balance potential advantages and disadvantages, thus encouraging researchers and practitioners to prioritize developing the “purpose” of these technologies, by focusing on the psychological mechanisms that underlie their use, over the technological development of their “pixels.” In this way, we guide the impactful development of reality‐enhancing technologies for applications with significance for consumers and firms

Feeding the trolling: understanding and mitigating online trolling behavior as an unintended consequence

Trolling is a form of consumer misbehavior that involves deliberate, deceptive, and mischievous attempts to provoke reactions from other online users. This research draws on actor-network theory to explore the assemblages of human and non-human entities that allow and perpetuate online trolling behaviors. By taking a practice-focused multi-sited ethnographic research approach, the research shows that online trolling is often an unintended consequence of interactions between human and non-human entities that are joined in the performance of trolling behavior. These entities include: troll(s), target(s), a medium of exchange, audience(s), other trolls, trolling artifacts, regulators, revenue streams, and assistants. Some of these actors (i.e., troll, target, medium) are playing a role in initiating, and other actors are (un)intentionally sustaining trolling by celebrating it, boosting it, facilitating it, and normalizing it. The findings highlight the role of nontraditional actors in the performance of misbehaviors and suggest that effective management of online consumer misbehaviors such as trolling will include managing the socio-technical networks that allow and fuel these misbehaviors

Disassembling consumer misbehaviours: the Case of trolling

This research draws on actor-network theory to explore the assemblages of human and nonhuman entities participating in online trolling. Trolling is a form of consumer misbehaviour that includes deliberate, deceptive, and mischievous attempts to provoke reactions from other online users. Despite its pervasiveness, trolling is poorly understood, with research and managing strategies focusing on deterring trolls rather than deterring trolling. Drawing on data from five case studies, we show that trolling is performed through relations, associations, and connections between various (categories of) actors, some of them (trolls, targets, and a medium) playing roles in initiating, and others (the audience, other trolls, regulators) in sustaining trolling. Such findings highlight the roles of other actors (besides misbehaving consumers) in the performance of misbehaving, and suggest that effective management of consumer misbehaviours such as trolling will include managing the socio-technical networks that allow and fuel them

Don’t feed the trolling: rethinking how online trolling is being defined and combated

Trolling involves deliberate, deceptive and mischievous attempts to provoke reactions from other online users. Even though trolling causes problems for marketers and consumers, there has been little discussion about what trolling actually is and how marketers should respond to it. The present conceptual study addresses these gaps. First, we present a working, integrative definition of trolling behaviours, arguing that trolling is substantively different from cyberbullying. Next, we present the challenges of current trolling regulations, showing that trolling is sometimes the result of the regulations themselves. The paper concludes with a presentation of the conceptual model of the manifestation of trolling behaviours. The model informs and assists scholars and marketing practitioners concerned with understanding and addressing trolling

Customer disloyalty: an interactive introspection

Contemporary marketing thought and practice of customer loyalty seem to like happy endings. A considerable amount of literature has been published on customer loyalty with most of these studies examining how to build loyalty. However, much less is known about how loyalty weakens and terminates. In this chapter, we explore the idea of customer disloyalty. We use this term to refer to the situations when customers stop or reduce their repeat purchase behaviour and/or decrease their psychological commitment to a brand, product, service, or idea. To investigate customer disloyalty, we use interactive introspection which included authors writing reflective journals and interviewing each other about their described experiences. Such approach intentionally diverts from well-trodden path of using quantitative approaches to explore customer loyalty. Our findings, providing insights into the non-monolithic nature of customer disloyalty, demonstrate the insightfulness of using interactive introspection to better understand customer (dis)loyalty from the view of both customers and marketing academics. Besides providing ideas for future research, this chapter facilitates the use of interactive introspection by describing the procedures involved in conducting this under-used but theoretically and practically valuable approach

Disassembling online trolling: towards better understanding and managing of online mischief-making consumer misbehaviours

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