The study aims to use expectancy–disconfirmation and justice theories to investigate consumers’ deep-rooted psyche and overt behavior. It examines customer rage and negative engagement as mediators between perceived injustice and negative brand trust and word of mouth following an online delivery service failure incident.
The research uses fictitious online service failure scenarios for a cross-sectional structural path analysis, based on a pilot study (n = 176) and two main studies (nStudy1 = 471 and nStudy2 = 217).
Results show that customer rage and negative engagement serve as the crucial link between perceived injustice and negative brand trust and word-of-mouth. This elucidates the factors underlying and the effects of the dark side of customer engagement. The findings also partially support self-esteem as a moderator of the direct relation between the mediators and outcomes.
In the context of the service industry and emerging economy, the findings reveal the deep-rooted triggers of negative engagement and customer rage, which affect the audience’s intentions and actions, especially those with high self-esteem. The research not only contributes to the limited literature on negative customer engagement but also aids managers in appreciating and leveraging the complex causes and serious effects of negative customer engagement. It offers theoretical mechanisms and empirical evidence for interpreting and managing rage, negative engagement and self-esteem across various user segments in today’s rapidly evolving quick-commerce industry.
