Hate towards brands of educational institutions: she hates for ideology, and he hates for previous experiences

Abstract

PurposeDespite the growing competition between higher education institutions and the empirical evidence that the brand is a relevant determinant of consumer preference, research studies on negative consumer–brand relationships (CBRs) are still scarce. Thus, this research intends to fill this gap, determining the antecedents of brand hate in educational institutions and identifying gender differences regarding the determinants of brand hate.Design/methodology/approachA survey was carried out with 450 current students from higher education institutions. The proposed model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS3.FindingsAccording to the results, previous negative experiences are the most significant driver of brand hate, with higher emphasis on male students. In this sense, investment in customer experience management (CXM) consists of a relevant strategy for higher education institutions. It was also observed that female students develop hate for ideological incongruity (ethical/moral behavior) and symbolic incongruence (lack of brand identity), revealing unprecedented facets of the phenomenon.Originality/valueThis research extends the studies’ negative CBRs to educational institutions. It explores gender differences related to brand hate; a topic not explored before, but that enables a targeted approach of brand strategies. Finally, it provides managerial implications allowing the strategy to reduce negative CBRs and their consequences in educational institutions.

Passive Consequences of Brand Hate: The Mediating Role of Brand Avoidance

“…The second involves symbolic incongruity, which occurs when the consumer does not want to be associated with a brand and is related to brand avoidance. The third refers to ideological incompatibility, which refers to a set of beliefs that are incompatible with the consumer and are based on corporate social, legal, or moral irregularities (Gois et al, 2022;Hegner et al, 2017;Pinto & Brandão, 2021).…”

“…Future studies can also explore how models of negative consumer-brand relationships would operate regarding gender differences, as suggested by (Gois et al, 2022).…”

“…Studies reinforce the strategy that companies need to prevent the motives of brand hate and try to carefully remedy the behaviours that consumers could adopt (Hegner et al, 2017;Kucuk, 2021). On the other hand, a significant number of studies have aimed to determine behaviours and consequences associated with brand hate such as the decline in consumption, avoidance, boycott, retaliation, revenge, churn, brand rejection, negative word of mouth, online complaints, complaint vindictiveness, brand aggression and patronage reduction (Gois et al, 2022;Gregoire et al, 2009;Hegner et al, 2017;Lee et al, 2008;Pinto & Brandão, 2021).…”

“…The marketing literature suggests that consumers develop relationships with brands similar to the way they do with people, presenting positive or negative feelings (Gois et al, 2022). This analogy arouses interest in consumer-brand relationships (CBR) (Mahlke et al, 2020).…”

Experiential branding in higher education: an Indian case

“…The traditional perspective that the identity of universities and colleges are difficult to capture as corporate-styled brands exists because of a number of reasons such as lack of communication strategies, appropriate brand building activities, lack of partners and infrastructure (Chapleo, 2015; Subbarayalu, 2022). In the absence of effective branding, negative consumer brand relationship may persist among students based on their actual experience or perceived ideological incongruence (Gois et al. , 2023).…”