Negative Consumer Engagement via Food Delivery Applications: A Real Concern for Generation Z?

Introduction

Consumers frequently try to find information about new products through various sources to ensure a successful end of any purchase. It is even easier to decide when reviews are mentioned about a product or service are just a click away. Human life is significantly impacted by information technology. Trade is one industry that has profited dramatically from information technology which enables merchants and buyers to exchange information during transactions, improve efficiency, and lower the cost of transactions. Consumers and merchants can make decisions more easily thanks to information technology because it makes it possible to quickly obtain product and price information in real-time (Akhmadi et al., 2021). Social networking sites (SNS) now enable people to share their experiences with a bigger audience than they could previously do while sharing their experiences in person with a small group of social friends. The reviews which consumers write up about a particular product or service help the next consumer to decide whether to opt for the services or choose the next alternative available. The same is applicable while ordering food through any of the Food delivery apps. Before finalizing a particular restaurant, it is common for a consumer to scroll through the reviews about the food and read the positive or negative comments. Under the theory of 'Negative Bias', it is proved that humans tend to emphasize negative experiences more than positive or neutral ones (Qahri-Saremi & Montazemi, 2022). Thus, under this theory, it is common for consumers to read through the negative reviews and decide if they still want to proceed with the same or find an alternative. A recent study found that more than 60% of people look at internet reviews, and more than 80% say that reviews impact their purchasing decisions (Carlson et al.,2020). Utilizing online evaluations speeds up decision-making and decreases the chance of selecting the wrong product. As mentioned earlier, in the theory of Negative Bias, studies suggest that Negative word of mouth can adversely impact consumer and public perceptions of a product. Thus, negative, or positive online judgments have a powerful impact on a brand's or product's reputation and, therefore, on the consumers' purchase intention. This is especially true for experience-based products like hotel services, which are only sometimes evaluated by their outward appearance. Therefore, asking people about their experiences with experiential items is unavoidable and will provide positive and negative opinions. The same also applies to the study conducted on Food Delivery Apps. According to this theory, harmful communications are more persuasive for the recipient's evaluation of the good since they are more educational than positive ones. Additionally, consumers are more inclined to propagate unfavorable information. Negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) damages a company's reputation, eventually leading to consumer losses and negatively impacting acquiring new Clients.