I love you, but you let me down! How hate and retaliation damage customer-brand relationship

• Published in: Technological forecasting & social change 2022-01, Vol.174, p.121183, Article 121183
• Main Authors: Jabeen, Fauzia, Kaur, Puneet, Talwar, Shalini, Malodia, Suresh, Dhir, Amandeep
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Advertisements; Alliances; Avoidance; Avoidance behavior; Brand betrayal; Brand hate; Brand love; Complaints; Consumers; COVID-19; Customer satisfaction; Customers; Desire; Discontent; Hate; Hygiene; Love; Multivariate statistical analysis; Online food delivery (OFD); Online to offline (O2O); Overloading; Safety; Structural equation modeling
• ISSN: 0040-1625; 1873-5509
• DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121183

•Examines dark side of customer-brand relationship through Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework.•Stimuli (dissatisfaction, negative word of mouth, and advertisement overload) are positively associated with brand betrayal and hate.•Internal states (betrayal and hate) are positively associated with coping responses of avoidance and retaliation.•Brand love positively moderates the association of advertisement overload with brand betrayal and hate.•Brand love positively moderates the association of safety and hygiene grievances with brand betrayal. The literature on the dark side of the customer-brand relationship is still evolving. Admittedly, scholars have given it noteworthy attention in the recent past, yet gaps persist related to the products and services, antecedents, and consequents examined. Our study augments the understanding of the negative aspects of the customer-brand relationship by examining brand hate and betrayal as its two manifestations. Using online food delivery (OFD) platforms as the product/service under focus, we employ a mixed-method approach to identify the negative experiences (i.e., safety and hygiene grievances, dissatisfaction, negative word of mouth, and advertisement overload) that could stimulate the negative emotions of betrayal and hate in customers. Thereafter, we examine the desire for avoidance and retaliation as a response to these negative feelings. Our model is grounded in the Stimulus-Organism-Response framework and tested through analysis of data collected from 342 OFD users in the United States. The structural equation modelling results confirm a positive association of customer dissatisfaction, negative word of mouth, and advertisement overload with brand betrayal and hate. Betrayal and hate, in turn, associate positively with avoidance and retaliation. Brand love positively moderates the association of advertisement overload with betrayal and hate and safety and hygiene grievances with betrayal.