A Study On Psychological Mechanism Of Consumer's Boycotting To Brands

Consumer boycotts have become universal phenomenon worldwide, and brought challenges that can't be ignored by the government and enterprises. Consumer boycotts lead to the declination of market share, sales and stock prices etc., what's more, consumer boycotts may also jeopardize brand image, staff morale and consumer confidence. Compared with the extensiveness and seriousness of consumers boycott, the relevant theoretical research is relatively rare, previous studies did not give a reasonable explanation for the inherent mechanism of consumer boycott, and some of the research findings have not been tested empirically.This study focuses on the internal mechanism of consumer boycotts. Specifically,first this paper elaborates the significance and background of the research, and summarizes the theory models and empirical researches related to consumer boycotts and consumer emotions. Next, this paper developed a mechanism model to explain how adverse events would trigger the boycott from the perspective of consumer emotion. Then, the key trigger variables are extracted so as to propose a dynamic evolutionary model of emotion changes. Based on the data analysis, the following results are concluded: (1) adverse events led to negative emotions directly. The severity and the relevance of adverse have a direct impact on anger, disappointment and disgust emotions. (2) Companies'response have significant effect on the change of emotions, if the company can respond properly, consumers'negative emotions would alleviate. (3) The three negative emotions, anger, disappointment and disgust can lead to all the three types of boycott, refusal of buying, call for boycott and take preference of alternative brands. This study results will not only enrich and improve the theory of consumer behavior and brand management, but also provide suggestions and references for the companies to develop forewarning and response strategies of crisis, for the government to establish relevant policies, for the non-governmental organizations to achieve its objectives through mobilizing the public.