Feedback as a two-way street: when and why rating consumers fails

In efforts to keep ill-behaving consumers in check, managers are increasingly implementing the practice of rating consumers. We develop and test an account of when and why the practice of rating consumers backfires. Study 1 shows that consumers are more likely to misbehave toward service providers after receiving a low rating (versus those who receive a high rating or those who are merely aware that they are being rated). These findings are...