Experiencing motivational conflict on social media in a crisis situation: The case of the Chick-fil-A same-sex marriage controversy

• Published in: Computers in human behavior 2017-06, Vol.71, p.32-41
• Main Authors: Kim, Kyongseok, Kim, Jooyoung, Reid, Leonard N.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Between-subjects design; Brand crisis; Conflicts of interest; Defense motivation; Digital media; Heuristic-systematic model; Impression motivation; Motivational conflict; News; Same sex marriage; Sex; Social media; Social networks; Studies; User behavior
• ISSN: 0747-5632; 1873-7692
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2017.01.035

This study examined the relationship between motivational conflict involving social media use and attitude formation in a brand crisis situation. An online experiment was conducted with 658 participants using a 2 (news-article valence: positive vs. negative) × 2 (situational cue valence: positive vs. negative) between-subjects design. During the experiment, participants loyal to Chick-fil-A (defense-motivated) were asked to communicate the brand through the brand's social networking sites (SNSs) while receiving a cue for the SNS audience's general unfavorable opinions on the crisis issue, the Chick-fil-A same-sex marriage controversy (impression-motivated). It was found that when motivational conflict was experienced (defense vs. impression), (1) individuals' brand attitudes were affected more by objective information such as a news article than by a cue for audience opinion and (2) their positive brand-related cognitions were countervailed by their impression-related cognitions. Overall, the findings suggest that it is not always desirable for a company to encourage customers to engage in SNS-facilitated interaction in a crisis situation. •SNS users can experience a motivational conflict in a brand crisis situation.•Users experiencing a conflict form brand attitudes based on objective information.•Their positive brand-related cognitions are offset by impression-related cognitions.