The Antecedents And Consequences Of Brand Avoidance

With the economic globalization and intensification of international market competition,product homogenization has become more and more serious.Brand endows the enterprise with more connotation and new vitality,and becomes the most valuable asset and effective magic weapon in the fierce competition.Only understanding consumers can help to shape a competitive brand.Scholars actively explore the psychology and behavior rules in consumers’ branddecision-making.Since the 1960s,brand choice and brand loyalty have always been research hotspots of consumer behavior,and there are many valuable conclusions that enriched this research topic,providing an important theoretical basis for enterprise’s practical activities.However,more and more scholars recognize that the traditional theories based on the paradigm of approach can not always effectively explain the failure of some enterprises in management practice.Reasons for brand choice are not always as same as the reasons for brand avoidance.Research only from positive perspective will limit overall understanding of consumer behavior.Anti-consumption research basing on the paradigm of avoidance emerged at the historic moment.Brand avoidance,as an important aspect of the anti-consumption field,has aroused the interest of more and more scholars,and provided valuable research findings.Even though,as the concept is new,and the research has started for only few years,findings in the field of brand avoidance are still limited.As the empirical research is scarce,the influencing factors are not comprehensive,the impact mechanism is not fully revealed,the viewpoints are inconsistent,and the theoretical gap exists in the effect.Therefore,research on brand avoidance theory needs to be enriched.In view of the shortcomings of the existing research results,and based on the literature review,three specific studies were carried out to explore the effect of antecedents on brand avoidance,and relationship between brand avoidance and outcome variables.The results are benefit for the academic and the industry to better understand brand avoidance and enrich the theory of brand avoidance.The main work and research findings are summarized as follows:(1)This paper explores the mechanism of employee incivility on brand avoidance and negative word of mouth,and the effect of brand avoidance on negative word of mouth.Based on the theories of service justice and emotional contagation,a dual mediation model is constructed with interpersonal fairness and negative emotion.Self-esteem level and product category are moderating variables,and the empirical test was carried out.Collect data through questionnaires,using the Bootstrap method and the group regression analysis to verify the mediating effect and the moderating effect respectively.The results show that employee incivility has effect on brand avoidance,through the dual paths of interpersonal fairness and negative emotion.Interpersonal fairness and negative emotion significant mediation role in the influence of employees incivility on brand avoidance.Self-esteem plays moderating roles in the relationship between employee incivility and interpersonal fairness,in the relationship between employee incivility and negative emotion,and in the relationship between employee incivility and brand avoidance.Brand avoidance has a significant positive effect on negative word-of-mouth.Product category plays a significant role in the relationship between employee incivility and interpersonal fairness,and there is no significant moderating effect of product category on the relationship between employee incivility and negative emotion,or on the relationship between employee incivility and brand avoidance.(2)This paper explores the mechanism of dissociative group on brand avoidance.Based on the balance theory,a theoretical model was constructed,and empirical research was used to test the hypotheses.The results show that dissociative group has positive effect on brand avoidance through undesired self-congruence and self-brand connection;undesired self-congruence is the full-mediator between dissociative group and self-brand connection;self-brand connection is the semi-mediator of undesired self-congruence and brand avoidance;brand involvement negatively moderates the relationship between dissociative group and brand avoidance as well as the relationship between dissociative group and undesired self-congruence.(3)This paper explores the mechanism of consumers’ need for uniqueness on brand avoidance and brand choice.Based on the image theory,a theoretical model was constructed,and empirical research was used to test the hypotheses.Bootstrap method and group regression analysis are used to verify the mediating effect and the moderating effect respectively.The results show that all dimensions of need for uniqueness(creative choice,unpopular choice and avoidance of similarity)have positive impact on brand choice;brand avoidance is a mediator between avoidance of similarity and brand choice,and is a mediator between creative choice and brand choice;gender and product category play moderation roles in the relationship between creative choice and brand avoidance,and relationship between avoidance of similarity and brand avoidance;gender moderates the mediation effect of brand avoidance between creative choice and brand choice;product category moderates the mediation effect of brand avoidance between creative choice and brand choice,and between avoidance of similarity and brand choice.From the theoretical aspect,the conclusions of this study make up for the lack of research on the impact of employee factors,group factors and individual characteristics on brand avoidance,provide a more detailed and comprehensive description of the mechanism of the antecedents’ role in brand avoidance.Expanding the research framework of employee incivility and enriched the reference group theory,and it fills the blank of empirical research on brand avoidance effect and improves the theory of brand avoidance.The conclusions of the study is that the organizational atmosphere of an enterprise is built to support human resource practices such as recruitment and training,and the marketing practices such as the segmentation of the target market of brand positioning and the selection and strategic advertising strategies have certain theoretical guidance and reference significance.