The mediating role of consumer cynicism in the relationship be-tween psychological contract breach and negative electronic word of mouth (eWOM)

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the mediating role  of consumer cynicism’s in the relationship between psychological contract breach and negative electronic word of mouth. A cross-sectional survey design with a standardised self-administered questionnaire used to collect data from 400 purposively selected consumers with online shopping experience. The Pearson r and the Process Macro regression analysis were used to analyse the data. The results showed that psychological contract breach was positively associated with both consumer cynicism and negative electronic word of mouth (eWOM), while consumer cynicism was positively associated with negative eWOM. The mediation analysis showed that consumer cynicism mediated the relationship between psychological contract breach’s and negative eWOM. These findings have implications for organisations to put in measures to minimize errors in order to prevent customers from perceiving PCB during the online shopping process.