For better or for worse? : Adverse effects of relationship age and continuance commitment on positive and negative word of mouth

Purpose – The authors aim to study the direct and moderating effects of relationship age, continuance commitment and satisfaction on the generation of positive and negative word of mouth (P/NWOM). Design/methodology/approach – Hypotheses based on the notion of liability of adolescence and the motivation to generate P/NWOM were tested with data collected through a survey of a random sample of customers of fixed-line telephone users. Findings – Relationship age adversely impacts PWOM and the effect of satisfaction on both P/NWOM. Continuance commitment increases NWOM and causes dissatisfied customers to generate greater NWOM while not affecting the PWOM of satisfied customers. Satisfaction shows a significant non-linear effect on WOM. Research limitations/implications – Future research could conduct longitudinal or experimental work to explicate the causal mechanisms underlying these cross-sectional survey results. Research could also extend these results to a B-B context. Practical implications – Results offer strong evidence of a dark side to long-term customer relationships. Recommendations focus on managing long-term relationships and perceptions of continuance commitment to minimise adverse effects. Originality/value – As far as the authors know, this research is the first to offer a theoretically grounded explanation of the direct and moderating effects of relationship age on P/NWOM behaviour. Results challenge the premise of long-term customers being a panacea for numerous problems faced by firms. Findings also help explain the contradictory results in prior research on the effects of continuous commitment on WOM.