ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the role that social identity and self-categorization processes play in the experience and expression of consumer discontent. Consistent with the basic tenets of the social identity approach, the evidence here suggests that when made salient by features of social context, group memberships transform the psychology of the individual and make possible new forms of behavior. Service relationships represent the most traditional form of interaction. In these, customers and providers have personal knowledge of each other and often have a history of prior interaction, as well as an anticipated future. One of the distinct features of recent attempts to apply insights from social identity and self-categorization theories to the analysis of organizational behavior is that they provide a framework for understanding how and why individual's needs change as a function of organizational context.
