IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v90y2018icp164-170.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Love or hate, depends on who's saying it: How legitimacy of brand rejection alters brand preferences

Author

Listed:
  • Hu, Miao
  • Qiu, Pingping
  • Wan, Fang
  • Stillman, Tyler

Abstract

Brand rejection, defined as messages or actions of rejection originating from brands or their representatives and targeted towards consumers, is an increasingly documented phenomenon among companies and brands. The current research examines the perceived legitimacy of brand rejection as a novel and critical moderator for the outcomes of brand rejection. We theorize and show that when brand rejection is deemed to be legitimate, consumers who are rejected show increased preferences towards the focal brand compared to those who did not experience rejection, replicating past research. However, when brand rejection is deemed to be illegitimate, rejected consumers show decreased preferences for the rejecting brand compared to those who did not experience rejection. We further theorize and test that the interactive effects of brand rejection and rejection legitimacy are mediated by perceived brand status. Managerial insights on how legitimacy of brand rejection impacts branding strategies are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Hu, Miao & Qiu, Pingping & Wan, Fang & Stillman, Tyler, 2018. "Love or hate, depends on who's saying it: How legitimacy of brand rejection alters brand preferences," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 164-170.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:90:y:2018:i:c:p:164-170
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.05.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296318302315
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.05.006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Morgan K. Ward & Darren W. Dahl, 2014. "Should the Devil Sell Prada? Retail Rejection Increases Aspiring Consumers' Desire for the Brand," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 41(3), pages 590-609.
    2. Kerwin Kofi Charles & Erik Hurst & Nikolai Roussanov, 2009. "Conspicuous Consumption and Race," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(2), pages 425-467.
    3. Sahaym, Arvin, 2013. "Born with a silver spoon of legitimacy but struggling for identity? The paradox of emerging spin-offs in a new sector," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(11), pages 2210-2217.
    4. Aime, Federico & Meyer, Christopher J. & Humphrey, Stephen E., 2010. "Legitimacy of team rewards: Analyzing legitimacy as a condition for the effectiveness of team incentive designs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 60-66, January.
    5. Jonah Berger & Morgan Ward, 2010. "Subtle Signals of Inconspicuous Consumption," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(4), pages 555-569, December.
    6. Chaney, Damien & Lunardo, Renaud & Bressolles, Grégory, 2016. "Making the store a place of learning: The effects of in-store educational activities on retailer legitimacy and shopping intentions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 5886-5893.
    7. Wan, Fang & Ansons, Tamara L. & Chattopadhyay, Amitava & Leboe, Jason P., 2013. "Defensive reactions to slim female images in advertising: The moderating role of mode of exposure," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 120(1), pages 37-46.
    8. SandIkcI, Özlem & Ekici, Ahmet, 2009. "Politically motivated brand rejection," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 208-217, February.
    9. Jaehoon Lee & L. J. Shrum, 2012. "Conspicuous Consumption versus Charitable Behavior in Response to Social Exclusion: A Differential Needs Explanation," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 39(3), pages 530-544.
    10. Park, Hyun-Soo & Auh, Seigyoung & Maher, Amro A. & Singhapakdi, Anusorn, 2012. "Marketing's accountability and internal legitimacy: Implications for firm performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(11), pages 1576-1582.
    11. DUBOIS, Bernard & LAURENT, Gilles & CZELLAR, Sandor, 2001. "Consumer rapport to luxury : Analyzing complex and ambivalent attitudes," HEC Research Papers Series 736, HEC Paris.
    12. Damien Chaney & Renaud Lunardo & Grégory Bressolles, 2016. "Making the store a place of learning: The effects of in-store educational activities on retailer legitimacy and shopping intentions," Post-Print hal-02047954, HAL.
    13. Sara Loughran Dommer & Vanitha Swaminathan & Rohini Ahluwalia, 2013. "Using Differentiated Brands to Deflect Exclusion and Protect Inclusion: The Moderating Role of Self-Esteem on Attachment to Differentiated Brands," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 40(4), pages 657-675.
    14. Cromie, John G. & Ewing, Mike T., 2009. "The rejection of brand hegemony," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 218-230, February.
    15. Derek D. Rucker & Adam D. Galinsky, 2008. "Desire to Acquire: Powerlessness and Compensatory Consumption," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 35(2), pages 257-267, April.
    16. Arnold, Stephen J. & Handelman, Jay & Tigert, Douglas J., 1996. "Organizational legitimacy and retail store patronage," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 229-239, March.
    17. Stokburger-Sauer, Nicola E. & Teichmann, Karin, 2013. "Is luxury just a female thing? The role of gender in luxury brand consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(7), pages 889-896.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shijiao Chen & Jing A. Zhang & Hongzhi Gao & Zhilin Yang & Damien Mather, 2022. "Trust Erosion During Industry-Wide Crises: The Central Role of Consumer Legitimacy Judgement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 175(1), pages 95-116, January.
    2. David Amani & Ismail Juma Ismail, 2022. "Investigating the predicting role of COVID-19 preventive measures on building brand legitimacy in the hospitality industry in Tanzania: mediation effect of perceived brand ethicality," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-14, December.
    3. Veloutsou, Cleopatra & Chatzipanagiotou, Kalliopi & Christodoulides, George, 2020. "The consumer-based brand equity deconstruction and restoration process: Lessons from unliked brands," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 41-51.
    4. Hu, Miao & Chen, Jie & Chen, Qimei & He, Wei, 2020. "It pays off to be authentic: An examination of direct versus indirect brand mentions on social media," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 19-28.
    5. Rui Chen & Hao Shen & Chun-Ming Yang, 2022. "Chooser or suitor? The effects of mating cues on men’s versus women’s reactions to commercial rejection," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 659-679, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gurzki, Hannes & Woisetschläger, David M., 2017. "Mapping the luxury research landscape: A bibliometric citation analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 147-166.
    2. Wang, Yajin, 2022. "A conceptual framework of contemporary luxury consumption," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 788-803.
    3. Semaan, Rania W. & Lindsay, Val & Williams, Paul & Ashill, Nick, 2019. "The influence of gender roles in the drivers of luxury consumption for women: Insights from the gulf region," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 165-175.
    4. Koo, Jayoung & Im, Hyunjoo, 2019. "Going up or down? Effects of power deprivation on luxury consumption," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 443-449.
    5. Park, Sehoon & Kim, Chaeyeong & Park, Jane, 2023. "How power distance belief, self-construal, and relationship norms impact conspicuous consumption," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    6. Shrum, L.J. & Wong, Nancy & Arif, Farrah & Chugani, Sunaina K. & Gunz, Alexander & Lowrey, Tina M. & Nairn, Agnes & Pandelaere, Mario & Ross, Spencer M. & Ruvio, Ayalla & Scott, Kristin & Sundie, Jill, 2013. "Reconceptualizing materialism as identity goal pursuits: Functions, processes, and consequences," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1179-1185.
    7. Dang, Ngoc Bich & Bertrandias, Laurent, 2023. "Social robots as healing aids: How and why powerlessness influences the intention to adopt social robots," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    8. Desmichel, Perrine & Kocher, Bruno, 2020. "Luxury Single- versus Multi-Brand Stores: The Effect of Consumers’ Hedonic Goals on Brand Comparisons," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 203-219.
    9. Wang, Yajin & John, Deborah Roedder & Griskevicious, Vladas, 2021. "Does the devil wear Prada? Luxury product experiences can affect prosocial behavior," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 104-119.
    10. Zheng, Xiaoying & Baskin, Ernest & Peng, Siqing, 2018. "Feeling inferior, showing off: The effect of nonmaterial social comparisons on conspicuous consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 196-205.
    11. Wang, Wangshuai & Ma, Tianjiao & Li, Jie & Zhang, Mo, 2020. "The pauper wears prada? How debt stress promotes luxury consumption," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    12. Elodie Gentina & L. J. Shrum & Tina M. Lowrey, 2018. "Coping with Loneliness Through Materialism: Strategies Matter for Adolescent Development of Unethical Behaviors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 103-122, September.
    13. Youngseon Kim & Nikki Wingate, 2017. "Narrow, powerful, and public: the influence of brand breadth in the luxury market," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(5), pages 453-466, October.
    14. Ostovan, Nima & Khalili Nasr, Arash, 2022. "The manifestation of luxury value dimensions in brand engagement in self-concept," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    15. Ho, Foo Nin & Wong, Jared & Brodowsky, Glen, 2023. "Does masstige offer the prestige of luxury without the social costs? Status and warmth perceptions from masstige and luxury signals," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PA).
    16. Enrica N. Ruggs & Jennifer Ames Stuart & Linyun W. Yang, 2018. "The effect of traditionally marginalized groups in advertising on consumer response," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 319-335, September.
    17. Nieves García-de-Frutos & José Manuel Ortega-Egea & Javier Martínez-del-Río, 2018. "Anti-consumption for Environmental Sustainability: Conceptualization, Review, and Multilevel Research Directions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(2), pages 411-435, March.
    18. Déborah Philippe & Alain Debenedetti & Damien Chaney, 2022. "How brands mobilize status, reputation, and legitimacy cues to signal their social standing: The case of luxury watchmaking," Post-Print hal-03657352, HAL.
    19. Jebarajakirthy, Charles & Das, Manish, 2021. "Uniqueness and luxury: A moderated mediation approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    20. Dixon, Darcie & Mikolon, Sven, 2021. "Cents of self: How and when self-signals influence consumer value derived from choices of green products," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 365-386.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:90:y:2018:i:c:p:164-170. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.