Should Corporation Care about Negative Brand Publicity? Understanding the Impact of Negative Brand Publicity on Employees' Corporate Brand Pride

Abstract

This article examines the effects of perceived negative brand publicity on employee emotions, attitudes and brand supporting behaviors. Drawing on Affective-Events-Theory (AET), it attempts to identify underlying affective and cognitive processes leading to behavioral change. Using data gathered from a large-scale survey of employees in Germany, our results show that perceived negative brand publicity affects emotional and attitudinal corporate brand pride of employees. In addition, higher levels of perceived negative brand publicity were negatively associated with brand-supporting behavior, such as employee referrals and word- of-mouth (WOM). We show that corporate brand experience through internal communications can be an effective tool in mitigating harmful effects of perceived negative brand publicity.