Disassembling consumer misbehaviours: the Case of trolling

This research draws on actor-network theory to explore the assemblages of human and nonhuman entities participating in online trolling. Trolling is a form of consumer misbehaviour that includes deliberate, deceptive, and mischievous attempts to provoke reactions from other online users. Despite its pervasiveness, trolling is poorly understood, with research and managing strategies focusing on deterring trolls rather than deterring trolling. Drawing on data from five case studies, we show that trolling is performed through relations, associations, and connections between various (categories of) actors, some of them (trolls, targets, and a medium) playing roles in initiating, and others (the audience, other trolls, regulators) in sustaining trolling. Such findings highlight the roles of other actors (besides misbehaving consumers) in the performance of misbehaving, and suggest that effective management of consumer misbehaviours such as trolling will include managing the socio-technical networks that allow and fuel them.