Gerrath, MHEE orcid.org/0000-0001-7422-2181, Brakus, J orcid.org/0000-0002-8367-1904, Siamagka, NT et al. (1 more author) (2023) Avoiding the brand for me, us, or them? Consumer reactions to negative brand events. Journal of Business Research, 156. 113533. ISSN 0148-2963
Abstract
Consumers react negatively to wrongdoings by brands. In this regard, managers often struggle to allocate their recovery resources effectively, as some consumers react more negatively to incidents that affect only themselves while others react more strongly to events that affect many people. In three experiments, we examine how consumers react to negative brand events (NBEs) that only affect themselves (i.e., personal scope) and NBEs that affect many people, including or excluding themselves (i.e., communal scope or external scope). Drawing on self-bias theory, we find that consumers experience stronger feelings of betrayal following an NBE with a personal (vs communal or external) scope, which in turn drives avoidance. We show that this effect may be mitigated if consumers are less self-focused (i.e., score low in grandiose narcissism or egocentric selfishness) or are from a less self-focused culture (i.e., collectivists). This research provides actionable implications for brand managers regarding NBEs.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) |
Keywords: | Brand avoidance; Self-focus; Narcissism; Culture; Betrayal; Negative brand events |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Business (Leeds) > Marketing Division (LUBS) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 13 Dec 2022 16:33 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 23:10 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.113533 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:193983 |