{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,5]],"date-time":"2026-08-05T23:06:58Z","timestamp":1785971218419,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":66,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,2,4]],"date-time":"2019-02-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1549238400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["INTR"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2019,2,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Purpose<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Recent research on word-of-mouth (WOM) has presented consistent evidence on the importance of secondary WOM (sWOM) on online user-generated content (UGC) and on diffusion of positive and negative commercial information. The purpose of this paper is to investigate what motivates consumers to spread, via electronic WOM communication, negative information about commercial entities adversity using malicious verbal narratives. Based on concepts related to the joy of pain (schadenfreude) and gloating behavior the authors propose a set of hypotheses designed to test two key moderators (perceived deservingness and entity\u2019s status) as well as the process of spiteful dissemination like content assimilation, dissemination time and duration.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The research consists on a series of four studies using different research methods (surveys and experiments) and a mix of quantitative and qualitative analyses.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Findings<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Results show that actively communicating about others\u2019 adversity (i.e. gloating behavior) provides an outlet to the passive observation of others\u2019 adversity (i.e. schadenfreude feelings). Results indicate that schadenfreude and gloating are linked to the perceived deservingness of a commercial entity and entity status (the tall poppy syndrome). Results also show that malicious feelings and gloating behavior cause consumers to disseminate information more widely, more rapidly, for a longer period and frequently distort its content.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Research limitations\/implications<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The findings contribute to literature on WOM by introducing an approach that highlights the potential negative effects of WOM on the dissemination of commercial information that might harm the relevant commercial entity\u2019s reputation and goodwill.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This study illuminates the prevalence of negative rhetoric in WOM and supports the theory schadenfreude motives as a trigger for gloating behavior in the form of disseminating negative, malicious and intense WOM regarding commercial setbacks. This research is the first to examine and demonstrates that when it comes to WOM communication, schadenfreude feelings and gloating behavior might play a central role in the dissemination of negative information and the two constructs\u2019 role in understanding infostorms, the sudden flow of large quantities of negative WOM using strong gleeful exultation. This study is the first to examine these phenomena in the business setting.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/intr-11-2017-0415","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,12,13]],"date-time":"2018-12-13T10:14:34Z","timestamp":1544696074000},"page":"82-103","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":21,"title":["The joy of pain"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"29","author":[{"given":"Jacob","family":"Hornik","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rinat","family":"Shaanan Satchi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Matti","family":"Rachamim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"issue":"5","key":"key2020100208004035900_ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"531","DOI":"10.1007\/s11747-012-0323-4","article-title":"The effects of social- and self-motives on the intentions to share positive and negative word of mouth","volume":"41","year":"2013","journal-title":"Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science"},{"key":"key2020100208004035900_ref002","unstructured":"Andrejevic, M. 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