Purpose

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, one dark social-media phenomenon in particular has experienced a significant rise: consumer-to-consumer (C2C) conflicts, i.e. consumers who verbally attack each other in response to COVID-19 service failures. The aim of this paper is to uncover the sources of such conflicts and to gain an insight into the corresponding conflict moderation strategies that international brands adopt.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology consists of non-participatory netnographic observations of 13 national, international, and global online brand communities (OBCs) on Facebook. The authors use purposeful sampling to collect relevant data on conflict sources and brand moderation strategies during COVID-19 service failures and a hybrid approach to thematic analysis to derive distinct themes from these data.

Findings

The paper identifies five C2C conflict sources: brand attack, brand dissatisfaction, brand skepticism, brand contention and brand defense; these are then classified as having either an individualistic (self-oriented) or collectivistic (other-oriented) orientation. The authors also uncover several moderation strategies: non-engaging, automated, bolstering, asserting (direct, indirect) and informing (factual, empathetic, apologetic), which are broadly categorized into two levels based on their passive vs active approach and authoritative vs cooperative orientation. The paper further highlights that brands adapt their moderation strategies to specific sources of C2C conflicts, thereby producing a range of OBC outcomes.

Practical implications

The study's empirically informed framework comprising sources of undesirable conflicts and brand moderation strategies offers a practical tool that can aid marketing managers in nurturing civil C2C engagement and interactive behaviors in their OBCs. By adopting our framework, brand and marketing practitioners can tailor their communication strategies toward different sources of C2C conflict and minimize their adverse consequences, thus, fostering an overall constructive OBC engagement.

Originality/value

The authors offer a novel framework to international marketing research, consisting of C2C conflict sources and corresponding moderation strategies that take place in response to service failures during the COVID-19 pandemic. These insights, in turn, inform international marketers about new ways of transforming the dark side of OBCs into a source of competitive advantage based on real-world brand practice.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 服务失败期间的消费者对消费者冲突和品牌节制策略：国际营销人员框架

目的

自 COVID-19 大流行开始以来，一种黑暗的社交媒体现象尤其显着增加：消费者对消费者 (C2C) 的冲突，即消费者因 COVID-19 服务故障而互相攻击。本文的目的是揭示此类冲突的根源，并深入了解国际品牌采取的相应冲突缓和策略。

设计/方法/途径

该方法包括对 Facebook 上 13 个国家、国际和全球在线品牌社区 (OBC) 的非参与式网络志观察。作者使用有目的的抽样来收集有关 COVID-19 服务故障期间冲突来源和品牌节制策略的相关数据，并使用混合方法进行主题分析，以从这些数据中得出不同的主题。

发现

本文确定了五个 C2C 冲突源：品牌攻击、品牌不满、品牌怀疑、品牌竞争和品牌防御；然后将这些归类为具有个人主义（以自我为导向）或集体主义（以他人为导向）的取向。作者还发现了几种适度策略：非参与、自动化、支持、断言（直接、间接）和通知（事实、同情、道歉），这些策略根据被动与主动方法以及权威与合作方法大致分为两个级别方向。该论文进一步强调，品牌根据特定的 C2C 冲突来源调整其缓和策略，从而产生一系列 OBC 结果。

实际影响

该研究的经验丰富的框架包括不良冲突的来源和品牌节制策略，提供了一个实用工具，可以帮助营销经理在其 OBC 中培养民间 C2C 参与和互动行为。通过采用我们的框架，品牌和营销从业者可以针对不同的 C2C 冲突来源调整他们的沟通策略，并最大限度地减少其不利后果，从而促进整体建设性的 OBC 参与。

原创性/价值

作者为国际营销研究提供了一个新颖的框架，包括 C2C 冲突源和相应的调节策略，这些策略是在 COVID-19 大流行期间为应对服务故障而采取的。反过来，这些见解让国际营销人员了解将 OBC 的阴暗面转化为基于现实世界品牌实践的竞争优势来源的新方法。