How to deal with negative publicity: the importance of consumer involvement

Abstract

Negative information about companies can have a harmful effect on consumer perceptions. However, few studies investigate how consumers process negative publicity and how companies should react to it. In order to examine this question, two experiments were carried out: first, a laboratory experiment which tests how consumers process two different types of negative publicity (product attributes or company values); second, a field experiment comparing three different responses (no answer, denial/reduction of offensiveness and corrective action) given by the company affected by the negative publicity. Results from the first study confirm the detrimental effect of negative publicity on consumer attitudes, indicate that consumers have a higher level of involvement with the message when it is concerned with the company's values and suggest a moderating role of the product involvement on the influence of negative information on corporate image. The second study extends these findings by identifying different options for company reactions from literature and testing them empirically. Results suggest again the involvement variable as a moderator, now on the influence of company reaction on product image.

Can brand image be recovered after negative publicity Effects of severity and corporate social responsibility

“…Further, recent studies have found that the effects of negative publicity on one brand can affect other brands (Dahlen and Lange, 2006), brand attitude (Li, 2015), brand evaluation (Cho, 2005), corporate image (Zhu and Chang, 2013), and consumer attitudes and intentions (Griffin et al, 1991). Scholars also have explored the effects of moderators such as consumer commitment (Ahluwalia et al, 2000), corporate advertising (Cho, 2005), and consumer involvement (de Matos and Veiga, 2005).…”

“…Literature also suggested that duration (how long) of consumer reaction to negative publicity has varying effects on corporate brand images (Henthorne and Henthorne, 1994;de Matos and Veiga, 2005). Consumers' impression of negative publicity is likely to lessen or reduce over time according to impression information theory.…”

“…First, most previous researches have limited to case studies and few consider the more realistic scenarios (Xie and Peng, 2010). Second, limited research has explored severity of negative publicity on corporate brand and consumer responses (Brady et al, 2008) and duration (how long) of consumer reaction to negative publicity (Henthorne and Henthorne, 1994;de Matos and Veiga, 2005). Third, scholars have recommended that CSR can offset the impact of negative publicity (Vanhamme and Grobben, 2009;Zhu and Chang, 2013) but researches of CSR under what kind of conditions that are likely to mitigate negative publicity are either missing or scarce (Berens, van Riel, and van Rekom, 2007).…”