Consumer brand engagement on social media in the COVID-19 pandemic: the roles of country-of-origin and consumer animosity

Abstract

PurposeThe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic unprecedentedly shocks the market. Little is known about the impact of COVID-19 on brand engagement across country-of-origin (COO) and country-of-market (COM). To address the gap, this study examines how the spread of the COVID-19 affects consumer brand engagement on social media for global brands through the mechanisms of the COO and consumer animosity.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collect consumer engagement activity data from Facebook for eight global smartphone brands and match it with the COVID-19 statistics. Ordinary least square (OLS) models are used to estimate the impact on global brands brought by the spread of the COVID-19.FindingsThe results show that consumer brand engagement decreases for all brands in a COM as the number of confirmed COVID-19 new cases increases in the COM. Consumer brand engagement decreases for a brand across all COM as the number of confirmed COVID-19 new cases increases in the brand’s COO. If a brand’s COO is imputed for the pandemic, its consumer brand engagement will receive additional negative impacts across all COM.Originality/valueThis study enriches the COO literature by showing how the spread of a pandemic affects consumer brand engagement via COO and discovers the moderating role of consumer animosity.

The aftermath of Covid-19: The rise of pandemic animosity among consumers and its scale development

“…Because the first case of Covid-19 was detected in China, the pandemic unleashed stigmatization and pandemic hate, especially against the East Asian and Chinese diaspora ( Ng, 2020 , Wang et al, 2021 ), which turned into pandemic animosity across nations worldwide ( Nawaz et al, 2020 ). Xenophobia, racism, and prejudice in the form of hostility, suspicion, and fear towards Chinese people and people arriving from China were recorded in multiple countries ( CGTN, 2020 , Halepas and Ferneini, 2020 , Jakovljevic et al, 2020 , Nawaz et al, 2020 , Ng, 2020 , Wang et al, 2021 ). Similarly, the Omicron variant, first detected in Botswana, triggered animosity towards South Africa after the country announced a surge of cases ( Mueller & Walsh, 2021 ).…”

The mediating role of product judgment and country of origin effect on health literacy and behavioral intention: A study on COVID-19 vaccines perception of Turkish consumers

“…Previous studies have observed how the lack of trust in the quality of Chinese goods creates negative thoughts in consumers, and this is how Chinese goods come to be boycotted. 26 , 56 , 72 Another hypothesis was on the effect of the country of origin of the vaccine on the intention to recommend. The country of origin has a direct impact on the quality perception of the countries and consumers tend to buy and recommend new products by relying on the quality of the country without doing much research, which supports our hypothesis.…”

“…As a result, they found that the image of the country of origin for German and Chinese vaccines was a variable associated with the intention to be vaccinated. Wang et al 26 studied the country of origin and consumer hostility during the pandemic and revealed that with the increase in cases, brand loyalty decreased, and consumer hostility had a mediating role. Elarbah and Shebli 27 investigated the effect of the country of origin and product quality on product selection, while İzmir 28 investigated the effect of the country of origin on purchasing decisions.…”

How and when do exporters benefit from an international adaptation strategy? The moderating effect of formal and informal institutional distance

“…The COVID-19 emergency has disrupted markets and marketing locally, regionally, and globally (Sheth, 2022) and has affected consumer country-of-origin perceptions and consumer animosity (Wang et al, 2022b). National protectionism and antiglobalization sentiment have thus resurfaced (Mandler et al, 2021a).…”

“…The COVID-19 emergency has disrupted markets and marketing locally, regionally, and globally (Sheth, 2022) and has affected consumer country-of-origin perceptions and consumer animosity (Wang et al. , 2022b).…”