Purpose This paper aims to the literature on negative consumer-brand relationships by advancing knowledge on the key triggers of brand hate of global and prominent brands. It investigates for the first time the role of brand in triggering brand hate, as well as behavioral and emotional brand hate outcomes, i.e. willingness to punish and negative brand engagement. Additionally, it explores the impact of product ownership and previous love feelings in the formation of brand hate. Design/methodology/approach The data collection was conducted on two Apple anti-brand communities after the given consent of its administrators. Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling. Findings The paper suggests that brand hate is a construct with four first-order formative triggers (symbolic incongruity, ideological incompatibility, negative past experience and brand inauthenticity). It also demonstrates that brand hate is a dichotomous concept that comprises negative emotional dimensions (i.e. negative brand engagement) and behavioral dimensions (i.e. brand aversion, negative word-of-mouth and willingness to punish brands). Finally, it shows how brand hate differs among users vs non-users and passionate vs non-passionate consumers of Apple. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature on negative consumer-brand relationships by advancing knowledge on the key triggers and outcomes of brand hate of global and prominent brands. More importantly, it demonstrates empirically that brand hate does not occur at a specific point of time and may result in transient hatred motivated by emotion-eliciting events (e.g. using a product) or as a long-term consumer-brand relationship that changed from love to hatred.

Purpose Extending the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this paper aims to measure the relative importance of different barriers to sustainable fashion consumption (SFC). Design/methodology/approach Existing studies have mainly adopted a qualitative methodology for identifying barriers to uptake of SFC, this study uses six of the main identified barriers: environmental apparel knowledge, perceived value, price sensitivity, product attributes and variety, availability and scepticism into the TPB framework to test and reveal which barriers have the greater impact on the TPB cognitions and consequently on building intention towards SFC. To test this model a survey study among 669 consumers from Europe, Asian and North America was conducted, structural equation modelling is used to test the research hypothesis. Findings Findings confirm the role of TPB cognitions on predicting intention and show that the proposed barriers provide a satisfactory explanation of the TPB model. Furthermore, results show that product attributes and variety and environmental apparel knowledge have the greatest impact on the TPB cognitions and on building intention towards SFC. Differences were found between the impacts of the price for the three continents. Originality/value This research contributes to the emerging sustainable fashion literature by examining the impact of different barriers to SFC in an extended TPB framework. To the best of our knowledge price sensitivity, availability and scepticism have never been studied in the context of sustainable fashion. It also provides a multifactor group analysis which uncovers differences among consumers from different continents.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyse the antecedent (Consumer Involvement) and the consequences (Brand Connection and Brand Usage Intent [BUI]) of the three dimensions of Consumer Brand Engagement (CBE) (Cognitive Processing, Affection and Activation) in luxury brand engagement on Facebook. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through an online questionnaire completed by fans/followers of luxury brands’ Facebook pages. The empirical study was conducted using structural equation modelling. Findings Consumer Involvement has a positive impact on the three dimensions of CBE (Cognitive Processing, Affection and Activation). This leads to the conclusion that Activation and Affection have an impact both on Self-Brand Connection and on BUI. Moreover, it was found that Cognitive Processing impacts only on BUI. Practical implications The results identified the factors which brand managers should focus on to increase CBE on Facebook. Originality/value This study is a pioneer, as it extends the consumer engagement model to the social media context in a hedonic and conspicuous consumption category which includes luxury brand products.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to place the antecedents and consequences of brand hate in the context of negative consumer–brand relationship in the telecommunication industry. It provides a response to the existing gap in the research on brand hate in consumer behavior in service brands.Design/methodology/approachA survey-based data was modeled after theory that aims to apply concepts to the telecommunications industry. With a solid model grounded and context-adapted, a mediation analysis of the role of brand hate in negative antecedents and consequences toward brands was performed.FindingsBrand hate was found to mediate all the negative relationships proposed, while showing to be especially significant in mediating negative word of mouth. This model appropriately fits the services' marketing brand and revealed new insights into the function of brand hate in negative relationships that are specific to service marketing consumer brands.Research limitations/implicationsBranding theory may benefit from deeper insights into the negative side of consumer–brand relationships. A broader illustration of its constituents in different industries and the recovery of the management approach to these circumstances bring innovation and a richer understanding, specially to the role of brand hate in the mediation context as seen in the literature (Hegner et al., 2017; Zarantonello et al., 2016)Practical implicationsManagerial implications include assessing brands in analyzing and relating to different emotions and concepts from customers, allowing to prioritize and mapping the customer relationship touchpoints.Originality/valueThe present study presents a first insight of brand hate in the context of the service industry of telecommunications in southern Europe while testing brand hate as a mediator involving negative predictors leading to negative outcomes in consumer–brand relationships.

This paper aims to investigate, for the first time, the mediating effect of brand love on word of mouth through brand experience, by using a comparative study of the IKEA brand in Sweden and Portugal. It also explores how the perceived functional and hedonic brand values mediate the effects of brand experience and brand love. The data collection was done via an online survey of real users of the brand IKEA in Portugal and Sweden. The paper suggests that brand love mediates the relationship between brand experience and word of mouth in both countries. This study also identifies differences in the effects of the sensory, affective, behavioral and intellectual brand dimension in brand love. Additionally, it is suggested that consumer-brand relationship duration, genre, and education levels influence brand love. This paper contributes to the fast-growing consumer-brand relationships literature by exploring the role of brand love in the context of retail brands. It also intends to provide a better understanding of how to build and nurture effective brand experiences in order to elicit intense and passionate feelings towards retail brands.