The Impact of App Crashes on Consumer Engagement (Shi et al., 2024)

Welcome back to Revise and Resubmit, your go-to podcast for exploring groundbreaking academic research. Today’s episode takes us into the world of consumer behavior and app design with a fascinating study from the Journal of Marketing, a prestigious FT50 journal that stands among the world’s top 50 business journals as ranked by the Financial Times. We’re diving into The Impact of App Crashes on Consumer Engagement, a paper authored by an elite group of scholars: Savannah Wei Shi, the J.C. Penney Research Professor from Santa Clara University; Seoungwoo Lee, Assistant Professor at Yonsei School of Business; Kirthi Kalyanam, the L.J. Skaggs Distinguished Professor at Santa Clara; and Michel Wedel, the PepsiCo Chaired Professor at the University of Maryland. Each of these experts brings a unique perspective to understanding how technology glitches shape consumer behavior. Imagine this: you’re using your favorite app, and suddenly—it crashes. Frustrating, right? But what happens next? Do you go back to the app out of sheer curiosity, or does repeated failure push you away for good? This study doesn’t just answer those questions; it offers a nuanced framework for businesses to navigate the delicate dance between user curiosity and frustration. Through real-world data and experiments, the authors unveil surprising insights into how crashes affect engagement, from session length to content consumption. As you listen, think about your own app habits: How do crashes influence your loyalty to a platform? And what might businesses do to turn a glitch into an opportunity for deeper engagement? We extend our heartfelt thanks to Savannah Wei Shi, Seoungwoo Lee, Kirthi Kalyanam, and Michel Wedel for their brilliant insights and to Sage Publishing for bringing this impactful research to the world. Don’t forget to subscribe to Revise and Resubmit on Spotify and check out our YouTube channel, Weekend Researcher, where we break down research for curious minds. We’re also available on Amazon Prime Music and Apple Podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, consider supporting us on Patreon. Ready to explore how app crashes shape our digital lives? Let’s dive in! Reference Shi, S. W., Lee, S., Kalyanam, K., & Wedel, M. (2024). EXPRESS: The Impact of App Crashes on Consumer Engagement. Journal of Marketing, ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429241304322 Youtube channel link ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@weekendresearcher⁠ Support us on Patreon https://patreon.com/weekendresearcher