The purpose of this study was to explore any connections that may exist between personality types and consumer complaint channels. A sample of 490 undergraduate students at the University of Nevada Las Vegas was surveyed during class time with a paper and pencil survey. The survey consisted of four service failure scenarios each with eleven possible courses of action. Respondents were asked to rate their likelihood to participate in each action on a seven point Likert-type scale. The three personality factors measured against the complaint behavior were Locus of Control, The California Psychological Inventory measure of Sociability, and Cattel\u27s 16 personality factor of Relaxed vs. Tense. The three factors of consumer complaint channels proposed prior to conducting the study were; direct, indirect, and delayed.
Through factor analysis it was revealed that while three factors existed, it was not the factors originally proposed. The three factors that emerged were; active, passive, and delayed. It was found that both Sociability and the interaction of Relaxed vs. Tense have significant or marginally significant effect on consumer complaint channels. Sociability had a measurable effect of several active and one passive factor in complaint scenarios. The interaction of Locus of Control and Relaxed vs. Tense had a measurable effect on two passive and two delayed factors in the complaint scenarios
