Resumo

There has been a specific interest on the literature on the relationship between the financial performance of firms and the satisfaction and dissatisfaction of customers. Very frequently, companies are not prepared to handle complaints and often obstruct or postpone solutions, but start to answer them when they resort to third-party protection agencies. That was a typical situation, before the dissemination of the Internet, when complaint processes were slow and sometimes inconvenient. With the internet, consumers use the online environment to complain against companies.

The main objective of this research is to analyze if the handling consumer complaints made through an online third party has an impact on companies’ profitability. As specific objective, the research proposes to identify, among the main metrics adopted by a third-party to evaluate the results from online complaint handling, which one is the most relevant to analyze the impact on profitability.

Literature related to effects of consumer complaints on financial performance focus into two major streams: (1) consumer satisfaction as the relevant background and (2) complaints as related to dissatisfaction, a construct apart from satisfaction. Zairi (2000) affirms that handling complaints and managing consumer satisfaction are compatible concepts. Casado-Díaz et al (2009) analyzed the relationship between complaints to third parties and financial return, stating that it is necessary to study the link between consumer satisfaction and economic return of companies

This paper is based on an empirical, quantitative study, investigating data with the use of discriminant analysis model. Companies were selected, initially from the IBrA index which is composed of 132 different shares and was created to provide an ample view of the Brazilian stock market. Data to measure their profitability were taken from Economática. The website ReclameAqui was selected as the online third-party consumer-complaining agency.The statistical model is: 〖ROA〗_2014=α+β_1 〖RI〗_2012+β_2 〖RI〗_2013+β_3 〖RI〗_2014+β_4 〖PRS〗_2012+β_5 〖PRS〗_2013+β_6 〖PRS〗_2014

Results from descriptive statistic and discriminant analysis, from a sample of 55 companies in several industries, suggest profitability is indeed affected by third-party online complaint handling results. Quality in complaint handling seems to be improving, with return intent and post-recovery satisfaction increasing every year. Companies who are the best ones according to those indicators also tend to be the ones with higher profitability, as measured by ROA (Return on Assets)

The main objective of this paper is to analyze if the handling of consumer complaints made through an online third-party impacted on companies’ profitability. Results from descriptive statistic and discriminant analysis, from a sample of 55 companies in several industries, suggest profitability is indeed affected by third-party online complaint handling results. Quality in complaint handling seems to be improving, with return intent and post-recovery satisfaction increasing every year

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