The other customer online revenge: A moderated mediation model of avenger expertise and message trustworthiness

Based on the Stimulus Organism Response theory, this study develops and tests an integrative model that examines, for the first time in the consumer revenge literature, how online acts of revenge influence other consumers present on social media to do the same. This study examines the mediating role of message trustworthiness to better explain the adoption of an online avenger message by other consumers. The study also investigates the moderating effect of avenger expertise on this mediated relationship. Moreover, the moderating role of online activation in triggering other consumers’ desire for revenge is also examined. Using SmartPLS on 211 Jordanian consumers, support for the mediating role of online message trustworthiness in post adoption is found. In addition, this indirect effect of message trustworthiness on the likelihood of other consumers adopting an online revenge post left by a dissatisfied customer is also stronger when avenger expertise is perceived to be high. In addition, it was found that online activation moderated the transition from a desire for revenge to the act of committing online revenge