Estratégias organizacionais para lidar com o boca a boca eletrônico negativo nas redes sociais: um estudo com empresas do setor metalúrgico

Abstract

The digital age has demanded changes in the company's interaction with consumers. In the current situation, the presence of corporate profiles on online social networks is notable, but this requires constant attention on the part of companies, since many times customers have used the Internet to express their positive or negative impressions through word of mouth. electronic (eWoM - electronic word-of-mouth). As it is a relevant topic for academic knowledge and there is not much information in the existing literature, the choice of negative electronic word of mouth as the center for this research was essential. Negative eWoM is characterized by negative reviews and disclosures from customers about the brand, product or service provided and is considered more impactful for companies, especially with regard to organizational reputation. In the light of this context, the present study aims to investigate what are the organizational strategies that companies adopt to deal with negative eWom. To achieve the general objective, the work was divided into two specific objectives: a) Identify the reasons for customers to post electronic word of mouth communication on social networks; b) Identify the strategic measures adopted by the companies to revert the dissatisfaction disseminated via negative electronic word of mouth, in order to maintain a good reputation in the face of the manifestations exposed by customers; c) Compare the identified strategies with information present in the profiles on social networks and online platforms. This research is descriptive with a qualitative approach. Data collection took place through semi-structured interviews with managers and attendants from seven metalworkers, as well as through observation of posts collected in the profiles of these companies on social networks. Based on the content analysis, it was possible to infer that there is dissonance between what is reported by the interviewees of the companies and the posts on social networks, notably the absence of a corporate response to the exposed negative comments.