PurposeThe purpose of this research is to survey whether consumer ethnocentrism and animosity will affect consumers' perceived betrayal and cause negative word-of-mouth (NWOM).Design/methodology/approachThis study conducted a 2 (consumer ethnocentrism) × 3 (consumer animosity) between-subject experiment design to test the hypotheses. Comprised of 380 respondents, this study used ANOVA to examine the data.FindingsThe results showed that if a brand violates the perception of fairness, ethnocentrism and animosity will have a positive effect on perceived betrayal. In addition, low consumer animosity revealed a significant consumer ethnocentrism effect and low ethnocentrism revealed a significant animosity effect, while the relationship between perceived betrayal and word of mouth is negative.Originality/valueThe current research adds to the understanding about how the reaction to a domestic brand's marketing strategies that are viewed as unfair and hurt the domestic consumers' expectations.
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