Framing effects among complaint bystanders: Small changes of words – big changes of attitude

The study of shame has a long tradition in intra- and interpersonal psychology. This research investigates whether consumers can experience brand shame after self-relevant service failures. Specifically, this research proposes that consumers follow a complex shame-inducing process in the aftermath of unpleasant brand experiences. The moderating role of strong relational ties between consumers and brands existing prior to these incidents is examined.
A scenario-based, large-scale online survey among consumers who have recently experienced a self-relevant service failure with a beloved brand was conducted. Confirmatory factor analysis ensured the reliability and validity of the measurement model. For testing the theorized moderated-mediation model, data was analyzed by means of regression analysis. The proposed model was tested against, among others, common method bias and alternative models.
Results show that brand shame is a key mediator between customer dissatisfaction and brand anger when self-relevant service failures happened. Moreover, consumer-brand identification intensifies brand-detrimental effects. It is shown to influence the connection between consumers’ inward- (i.e., brand shame) and resulting outward-directed (i.e., brand anger) negative emotions on brands.
This research is the first to introduce the concept of brand shame to the branding literature. Furthermore, it shows that consumer-brand identification moderates the direct and indirect (via brand shame) unfavorable effects of failure-induced dissatisfaction on brand anger. The study hence also adds insights to the increasing ‘love-becomes-hate’ literature.