How to Deal with Negative Publicity: the Importance of Consumer Involvement

Journal Title: BAR: Brazilian Administration Review - Year 2005, Vol 2, Issue 1

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.

Authors and Affiliations

Matos, Celso Augusto de; Veiga, Ricardo Teixeira

Keywords

Related Articles

Brazilian Multinationals’ Ownership Mode: The Influence of Institutional Factors and Firm Characteristics

This work investigates whether host countries institutional factors and firm characteristics can help the understanding of Brazilian multinationals’ choices of ownership mode for their foreign direct investments (FDI)....

Tourism Cluster Competitiveness and Sustainability: Proposal for a Systemic Model to Measure the Impact of Tourism on Local Development

This article proposes a model to measure tourism cluster impact on local development with a view to assessing tourism cluster interaction, competitiveness and sustainability impacts on the economy, society and the envi...

IT Business Value Model for Information Intensive Organizations

Many studies have highlighted the capacity Information Technology (IT) has for generating value for organizations. Investments in IT made by organizations have increased each year. Therefore, the purpose of the present...

Cultural Meanings and Consumers’ Discourses about Their Brand Abandonment

Although we know a lot about how brand meanings are created and perpetuated in relation to and through cultural discourses, remarkably little work has been done in the marketing field to develop a better comprehension a...

Multinationals and Interdependence in Internationalisation Processes

This article deals with interdependence and the internationalisation process of multinationals (MNCs); a topic that has received scarce attention in the literature (e.g. Bell & Young, 1998; Holm et al., 1995). By review...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP40384
  • DOI -
  • Views 387
  • Downloads 0

How To Cite

Matos, Celso Augusto de; Veiga, Ricardo Teixeira (2005). How to Deal with Negative Publicity: the Importance of Consumer Involvement. BAR: Brazilian Administration Review, 2(1), -. https://www.europub.co.uk/articles/-A-40384