Dissatisfied Consumers: Who Gets Upset and Who Takes Action

Abstract

Past studies of dissatisfied consumers have either examined what kinds of people get upset about business practices or what kinds of people complain about the way they have been treated in the marketplace. This article develops a new profile of the dissatisfied consumer by considering not only who gets upset about business practices, but also what they do about it. This profile appears more complete than profiles presented in earlier studies. Several important conclusions are offered concerning the nature of consumer dissatisfaction and consumer policy.