Negative outcomes of positive brand relationships

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to understand how strong brand attachment can intensify the feeling of perceived betrayal, leading to brand hate after a negative experience with the brand. The study further investigates how consumers make causal attributions for negative experiences when strong brand attachment exists. The moderating effect of a narcissistic personality in the dissemination of negative electronic word of mouth (eWOM) following brand hate is also tested. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a within-the-subject repeated measures experimental design. A total of 202 college students were exposed to two treatments (high versus no brand attachment), involving a situation of product failure of a smart phone brand. A total of 135 responses were used to compare the outcomes of the two treatments using multivariate analysis. The data of high brand attachment treatment (N = 202) were used to test the proposed research model using partial least square-structural equation modelling. Findings The results suggest that having a strong positive relationship with the brand can generate stronger feelings of perceived betrayal and brand hate after the brand transgresses the consumer’s expectations. The results indicate that resentful customers can resort to eWOM after feeling betrayed, even though the prior relationship with the brand was strong. Originality/value This paper extends the work on perceived betrayal to study brand hate and proposes that brand hate can arise even if there is a strong brand attachment. It contributes to the growing body of literature on brand hate and its possible antecedents. Additionally, the study poses some crucial managerial implications for the brand managers by suggesting that strong brand relationships not always ensure loyalty or commitment and can lead to consequences that are damaging for the brand equity.

Antecedentes e Consequências do Brand Hate: Uma revisão da literatura

“…Independentemente de ser feita de forma privada ou online, o WOM negativo é apontado por vários autores como uma das principais consequências do Brand Hate (e.g. Curina et al, 2020;Hegner et al, 2017;Jain & Sharma, 2019;Joshi & Yadav, 2020;Zarantonello et al, 2016). A este propósito, é importante referir que atualmente os consumidores queixam-se muito mais para além da esfera privada, devido à possibilidade de o fazerem publicamente online (Kucuk, 2019a).…”

On the relationship between brand scandal and consumer attitudes: A literature review and research agenda

“…However, consumers are not directly in contact with brands to show retaliation in the form of brand hate. Brand scandals often disrupt consumers’ brand expectations, leading to intense feelings of perceived betrayal and brand hate—especially among consumers with strong consumer–brand relationships (Jain & Sharma, 2019). Consumers’ experience with a brand—that is, thoughts related to the brand’s image and consumers’ attitudes towards the brand—is subjective and may act as the possible cognitive antecedents of brand hate Zhang and Laroche (2020).…”

“…Similarly, consumers' love for a brand acts as a shield and mitigates reputational harm caused by a brand scandal (Grégoire et al, 2009, 2011; Rauschnabel & Ahuvia, 2014). Jain and Sharma (2019) and Ma (2020) argue that love for a brand may turn into hate based on time lag and consumer–brand relationship strength, which is based –brand identification. On the contrary, Vassilikopoulou et al (2009) hold that consumers, with healthy consumer–brand relationships, return to their pre‐scandal attitudes towards the brand a few months after the scandal.…”

Models for brand relationships

“…Although the focus of brand-centric research is still mostly on positive relationships and outcomes (Albert and Thomson, 2018;Veloutsou and Ruiz-Mafé, 2020), recent research also explores concepts related to negative brand relationships or feelings such as complaining (Huefner et al, 2002), brand avoidance (Lee et al, 2009;Knittel et al, 2016), brand retaliation (Thomson et al, 2012) or brand hate (Kucuk, 2010;Zarantonello et al, 2016Zarantonello et al, , 2018Hegner et al, 2017;Fetscherin, 2019). Recent research also explores the drivers and outcomes of participating in anti-brand communities (Popp et al, 2016;Dessart et al, 2020;Rodrigues et al, 2020), how the nature of brand-centric relationships may change over time (Jain and Sharma, 2019;Sakulsinlapakorn and Zhang, 2019;Kennedy and Guzm an, 2020) and how different consumers develop relationships of different strength and valence with a same brand (Osuna-Ramírez et al, 2019). Studying both negative and positive brand-centric relationships is crucial to understand the wide range of relationships consumers have with and around brands and the dynamics of these relationships.…”