“From expectations to frustrations”: Dissecting negative experiences to understand negative word-of-mouth in online grocery services

Abstract

This study investigates consumers’ grievances in online grocery service (OGS), a rapidly growing phenomenon. Employing netnography, organic negative reviews by consumers were collected from a third-party website. Topic modelling is employed to dissect those reviews to unveil dimensions of negative consumer experiences. Using SERVQUAL, this novel application of a well-established research approach offers a transparent, unbiased, and distinctive depiction of the phenomenon grounded in the expectation confirmation paradigm. The findings indicate that deficiencies in SERVQUAL dimensions drive negative consumer experiences. These insights offer practical implications for OGS providers to enhance service quality, mitigate negative word-of-mouth (NWoM), and improve consumer satisfaction.