Webcare quality: conceptualisation, scale development and validation

Managing negative reviews by posting online responses called webcare is a growing trend among marketers. However, no research exists to date that measures the quality of these marketer-generated responses. This article addresses this shortcoming by conceptualising a construct called webcare quality and developing a scale that measures it. Five studies are conducted which results in a 37-item scale comprising of nine dimensions, namely, immediacy, ownership, comprehensiveness, civility, assurance, coherence, retention, personalisation and elaborateness. Academically, this research adds to the existing body of knowledge on service recovery strategies, webcare and online complaint management processes. Practically, this scale plays an important role in understanding how complaining consumers evaluate the quality of managerial responses. If favourably evaluated, transgressing firms may win back previously dissatisfied and unhappy customers.