Article2012

Brand Attachment and Consumer Emotional Response to Unethical Firm Behavior

194 citations0/0 files storedPsychology and Marketing

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Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification Customer Service Quality and Loyalty Ethics in Business and Education

Abstract

ABSTRACT Attaching consumers to a brand is a cornerstone of relationship marketing as attachment increases loyalty. This research investigates another possible benefit of attachment, its potential and limits for shielding brands from firms’ ethical missteps. Merging motivated reasoning and attachment theories, two studies focus on how brand attachment influences consumer judgments of firm ethics and the emotional and behavioral consequences developing from those. A field study indicates that attachment attenuates judgments of unethical behavior, contributes to emotional ambivalence, and affects purchase intentions. A subsequent experiment corroborates these findings and shows that the buffering role of attachment is limited to conditions when the information about firm ethics is moderately rather than extremely negative. Implications focus on advancing research on ethics and emotional ambivalence in consumer brand relationships and on managerial implications.

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References

1999Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives 1990The case for motivated reasoning.1998Consumers and Their Brands: Developing Relationship Theory in Consumer Research 2001Does Doing Good Always Lead to Doing Better? Consumer Reactions to Corporate Social Responsibility 2009Brand Experience: What Is It? How Is It Measured? Does It Affect Loyalty?1997The Company and the Product: Corporate Associations and Consumer Product Responses 1991Ethical Decision Making by Individuals in Organizations: An Issue-Contingent Model 2003Consumer–Company Identification: A Framework for Understanding Consumers’ Relationships with Companies

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