Antecedents and consequences of negative emotions on online platforms: The dark side of co-creation behavior

This study examined the associations between perceptions of different justice dimensions, negative emotions, and negative engagement intentions. As competition intensifies, companies often encourage their customers to engage in co-creation behavior to enhance customer engagement. However, the benefits of this co-creation in the context of negative customer emotions remain unclear. This study recruited 570 viewers of streaming competition-based reality shows as participants; in these shows, viewers can participate in co-creation behavior. The empirical results indicate that distributive and interpersonal justice are negatively associated with the negative emotion of dislike, whereas no such associations are found for procedural or informational justice. Furthermore, dislike is positively associated with hate. Dislike is positively associated with discontinuous watching and non-purchase intention, while hate is positively associated with retaliation. Our findings highlight the dark side of co-creation behavior; when customers experience the negative emotions of dislike and hate, co-creation behavior amplifies their negative engagement.