Abstract
Negative publicity has the potential to create negative corporate associations. However, consumers’ identification with a company might moderate the extent of this effect. This article examines the impact of consumer-company identification on reactions to variable levels of negative publicity about a company. Exposing consumers who had strong identification with a company to moderately negative publicity was found to result in less negative corporate associations than for consumers who had relatively weak identification. In contrast, consumers’ levels of identification did not affect reactions to extremely negative information, resulting in equally negative corporate associations for those with strong versus weak consumer-company identification. Thus, strong identification mitigates the effects of moderately negative publicity but does not attenuate the effects of extremely negative publicity. Consumers’ perceptions of and thoughts regarding negative information about a company partially mediated the effect of identification on attitudes and behavioral intentions.
References
Ahluwalia, Rohini. 2000. “Examination of Psychological Processes Underlying Resistance to Persuasion.”Journal of Consumer Research 27 (September): 217–232.
—. 2002. “How Prevalent Is the Negativity Effect in Consumer Environments?”Journal of Consumer Research 29 (September): 270–279.
—, Robert E. Burnkrant, and H. Rao Unnava. 2000. “Consumer Response to Negative Publicity: The Moderating Role of Commitment.”Journal of Marketing Research 37 (May): 203–214.
Anderson, Rolphe E. 1973. “Consumer Dissatisfaction: The Effect of Disconfirmed Expectancy on Perceived Product Performance.”Journal of Marketing Research 10 (February): 38–44.
Bergami, Massimo and Richard P. Bagozzi. 2000. “Self-Categorization, Affective Commitment and Group Self-Esteem as Distinct Aspects of Social Identity in the Organization.”British Journal of Social Psychology 39 (4): 555–577.
Bhattacharya, C. B. and Sankar Sen. 2003. “Consumer-Company Identification: A Framework for Understanding Consumers’ Relationships with Companies.”Journal of Marketing 67 (April): 76–88.
Boiney, Lindsley G., Jane Kennedy, and Peter Nye.. 1997. “Instrumental Bias in Motivated Reasoning: More When More Is Needed.”Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 72 (1): 1 -24.
Brown, Tom J., Thomas E. Barry, Peter A. Dacin, and Richard F. Gunst. 2005. “Spreading the Word: Investigating Antecedents of Consumers’ Positive Word-of-Mouth Intentions and Behaviors in a Retailing Context.”Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 33 (2): 123–138.
— and Peter A. Dacin. 1997. “The Company and the Product: Corporate Associations and Consumer Product Responses.”Journal of Marketing 61 (January): 68–84.
——, Michael G. Pratt, and David A. Whetten. 2006. “Identity, Intended Image, Construed Image, and Reputation: An Interdisciplinary Framework and Suggested Terminology.”Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 34 (2): 99–106.
Chaiken, Shelly, Roger Giner-Sorolla, and Serena Chen. 1996. “Beyond Accuracy: Defense and Impression Motives in Heuristic and Systematic Processing.” InThe Psychology of Action: Linking Cognition and Motivation to Behavior. Eds. Peter M. Gollwitzer and John A. Bargh. New York: Guilford, 553–578.
Dutton, Jane E., Janet M. Dukerich, and C. V. Harquail. 1994. “Organizational Images and Member Identification.”Administrative Science Quarterly 39 (34): 239–263.
Eagly, Alice H. and Shelley Chaiken. 1993.The Psychology of Attitudes. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Fedorikhin, Alexander, C. Whan Park, and Matthew Thomson. 2005. “Fitting in With the Family: The Effect of Emotional Attachment on Consumer Responses to Brand Extensions.” Working Paper. Kelley School of Business, Indiana University.
Fombrun, Charles, Naomi Gardberg, and Joy Sever. 2000. “The Reputation Quotient. A Multi-Stakeholder Measure of Corporate Reputation.”Journal of Brand Management 7 (4): 241–255.
Herr, Paul M., Frank R. Kardes, and Jaewoo J. Kim. 1991. “Effects of Word-of-Mouth and Product Attribute Information on Persuasion: An Accessibility-Diagnosticity Perspective.”Journal of Consumer Research 14 (4): 353–362.
Institute for Crisis Management. 2004. “Crisis Reports 2000–2003.” Retrieved January 16, 2005, from http://www.crisisexperts.com
Johnson, Allison R. and David W. Stewart. 2004. “A Re-Appraisal of the Role of Emotion in Consumer Behavior: Traditional and Contemporary Approaches.” InReview of Marketing Research, Vol. 1. Ed. N. Malhotra. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 3–33.
Klein, Jill and Niraj Dawar. 2004. “Corporate Social Responsibility and Consumers’ Attributions and Brand Evaluations in a Product-Harm Crisis.”International Journal of Research inMarketing 2l: 203–2l7.
Kunda, Ziva. 1990. “The Case for Motivated Reasoning.”Psychological Bulletin 108 (3): 480–498.
Lord, Charles G., Lee Ross, and Mark R. Lepper. 1979. “Biased Assimilation and Attitude Polarization: The Effects of Prior Theories on Subsequently Considered Evidence.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37: 2098–2109.
Mael, Fred, and Blake E. Ashforth. 1992. “Alumni and Their Alma Mater: A Partial Test of the Reformulated Model of Organizational Identification.”Journal of Organizational Behavior 13 (2): 103–123.
Moorman, Christine, Gerald Zaltman, and Rohit Deshpande. 1992. “Relationships Between Providers and Users of Market Research: The Dynamics of Trust Within and Between Organizations.“Journal of Marketing Research 29 (August): 314–328.
Petty, Richard E. and John T. Cacioppo. 1977. “Forewarning, Cognitive Responding, and Resistance to Persuasion.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 35 (9): 645–655.
Pratt, Michael G.. 1998. “To Be or Not to Be: Central Questions in Organizational dentification.” InIdentity in Organizations: Building Theory Through Conversations. Eds. David A. Whetten and P. C. Godfrey. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 171–207.
Preacher, Kristopher J. and Geoffrey J. Leonardelli. 2001. “Calculation for the Sobel Test: An Interactive Calculation Tool for Mediation Tests” [Computer software]. Available at http://www.unc.edu/ -preacher/sobel/sobel.htm
Sherif, Muzafer and Carl I. Hovland. 1961.Social Judgment: Assimilation and Contrast Effects in Communication and Attitude Changea. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Tajfel, Henri and John C. Turner. 1985.Psychology of Intergroup Relations. Chicago: Nelson-Hall.
Tybout, Alice M., Bobby J. Calder, and Brian Sternthal. 1981. “Using Information Processing Theories to Design Marketing Strategies.”Journal of Marketing Research 18 (February): 73–79.
Woodruff, Robert B., Ernest N. Cadotte, and Roger L. Jenkins. 1983. “Modeling Consumer Satisfaction Processes Using Experience Based Norms.”Journal of Marketing Research 20 (August): 296–304.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Sabine A. Einwiller (sabine.einwiller@fhso.ch) is a lecturer and researcher at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland. She worked on this research as a visiting scholar at the University of Southern California, visiting from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, where she received her Ph.D. She has published in journals such as theJournal of Consumer Psychology and thePersonality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Her research interests include causes and the measurement of corporate reputation and stakeholder-company identification.
Alexander Fedorikhin (sfedorik@iupui.edu) is an associate professor in the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. His research focuses on the intersection of affect and cognition in consumer decision making. He has published in such journals as theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Consumer Psychology, andOrganizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.
Allison R. Johnson (ajohnson@business.queensu.ca) is an assistant professor of marketing in Queen’s School of Business, Queen’s University. She received her Ph.D. from the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California. Her research interests include corporate social responsibility, customer-company identification, and consumer emotion.
Michael A. Kamins (mkamins@marshall.usc.edu) is an associate professor at the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business. Dr. Kamins’s current research interests he in pricing strategy in the context of online auctions as well as in the impact of color on consumers’ perceptions of products. He has published over 40 academic articles and proceedings in major academic journals, including theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Consumer Psychology, theJournal of Advertising, and theJournal of Advertising Research.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Einwiller, S.A., Fedorikhin, A., Johnson, A.R. et al. Enough is enough! When identification no longer prevents negative corporate associations. JAMS 34, 185–194 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070305284983
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070305284983