Brand hate and consumers responses: an analysis in the offline and online environment

Abstract

Within the studies investigating the consumer-brand relationships, brand hate has been partially disregarded as a research topic. This paper aims to extend the analysis of the brand hate outcomes by considering both their offline and online nature (i.e., offline/online negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) and offline/online complaining) and by also testing the role of concern for others and venting negative feelings as possible mediators on the relationship between brand hate and both offline/online behavioural outcomes. To reach this objective, structural equation modelling has been employed on a sample of 493 consumers. Findings reveal that concern for others is mainly involved when consumers perform NWOM in the offline context among their friends/family, while venting negative feelings is the main motive in the online context and for complaining to the company. The paper provides managerial implications useful to manage the consumers’ offline/online behaviours in the brand hate context.