Brand Hate and Diversity: An Abstract

Abstract

Diversity is vital for firm success. Yet, the relationships of its relevant concepts and brand hate have not been widely discussed in academic studies. This research gap is important to both theoretical development and marketing practitioners because better understanding negative brand emotions can help to prevent potential losses related to branding and diversity. The current research on brand hate is limited (e.g., Zarantonello et al., 2018; Zhang & Laroche, 2020). This research contributes to the field of branding and diversity in two aspects. First, what diversity related measures are antecedents of brand hate? By answering this question, the current paper emphasizes the importance of these antecedents. Second, what diversity related measures are outcomes of brand hate? With this question in mind, the authors examine the consequences of brand hate and how a multi-dimensional construct of brand hate relates its diversity related outcomes. The survey was published online through Prolific. The data was collected in March 2021. There were a total of 225 respondents in this study. A procedure of exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis was performed. The composite reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity were calculated. All were within the recommended values (Brown, 2015; Field, 2000). Structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS 28 was conducted to test our proposed hypotheses. The quantitative analysis results in this research uncovered diversity-related antecedents of brand hate. We propose that diversity is associated with the brand hate emotions and is usually external to consumers. Consumers can cognitively evaluate a brand such as its brand hate incidents. The data suggested that brand hate can be associated with observable behavioral reactions of negative word-of-mouth. In addition, brand hate can lead to physiological reactions such as consumer general attitudes toward the brand.