IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v201y2025i3d10.1007_s10551-025-05955-5.html

Why and When Do Historical Brand Transgressions Matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Fabien Pecot

    (TBS Business School)

  • Renaud Lunardo

    (Kedge Business School)

  • Damien Chaney

    (EM Normandie)

  • Eugene Y. Chan

    (Ted Rogers School of Management, Toronto Metropolitan University)

Abstract

While many brands face the after-effects of historical transgressions, prior research provides little insight into these issues. Against this backdrop, this research presents five experiments providing convergent evidence for a lingering negative effect of historical brand transgressions (HBTs) on present brand evaluation, an effect that is due to a detrimental effect of HBTs on perceptions of brand warmth. Studies 1 and 2 establish the main effect and mediation. Studies 3–5 examine mitigating effects. Study 3 checks if high institutional pressure can serve as an excuse strategy that buffers the negative effects of a transgression. Studies 4 and 5 test the mitigating effect of different response styles (recognition, apology, and/or compensation). Together, these results contribute to the business ethics and marketing literature by defining the concept of HBT and showing why it harms a current brand’s evaluation and how brands can mitigate its negative effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabien Pecot & Renaud Lunardo & Damien Chaney & Eugene Y. Chan, 2025. "Why and When Do Historical Brand Transgressions Matter?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 201(3), pages 621-637, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:201:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-025-05955-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-025-05955-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-025-05955-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-025-05955-5?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wassili Lasarov & Stefan Hoffmann & Ulrich Orth, 2023. "Vanishing Boycott Impetus: Why and How Consumer Participation in a Boycott Decreases Over Time," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(4), pages 1129-1154, February.
    2. Mansur Khamitov & Yany Grégoire & Anshu Suri, 2020. "A systematic review of brand transgression, service failure recovery and product-harm crisis: integration and guiding insights," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 519-542, May.
    3. Minju Han & George E Newman & Rosanna K Smith & Ravi Dhar & Margaret C Campbell & Kevin Lane Keller, 2021. "The Curse of the Original: How and When Heritage Branding Reduces Consumer Evaluations of Enhanced Products," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 48(4), pages 709-730.
    4. Matthew J. Hornsey & Cassandra M. Chapman & Heidi Mangan & Stephen Macchia & Nicole Gillespie, 2021. "The Moral Disillusionment Model of Organizational Transgressions: Ethical Transgressions Trigger More Negative Reactions from Consumers When Committed by Nonprofits," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(4), pages 653-671, September.
    5. Chen, Zhifeng & Hang, Haiming & Pavelin, Stephen & Porter, Lynda, 2020. "Corporate Social (Ir)responsibility and Corporate Hypocrisy: Warmth, Motive and the Protective Value of Corporate Social Responsibility," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(4), pages 486-524, October.
    6. Robert Phillips & Judith Schrempf-Stirling & Christian Stutz, 2020. "The Past, History, and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(2), pages 203-213, October.
    7. Dutta, Sujay & Pullig, Chris, 2011. "Effectiveness of corporate responses to brand crises: The role of crisis type and response strategies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(12), pages 1281-1287.
    8. Paolo Antonetti & Benedetta Crisafulli & Aybars Tuncdogan, 2021. "“Just Look the Other Way”: Job Seekers’ Reactions to the Irresponsibility of Market-Dominant Employers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(2), pages 403-422, November.
    9. Wim Van Lent & Andrew D. Smith, 2020. "Using Versus Excusing: The Hudson’s Bay Company’s Long-Term Engagement with Its (Problematic) Past," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(2), pages 215-231, October.
    10. Yany Grégoire & Mansur Khamitov & François A. Carrillat & Mina Rohani, 2025. "The attenuation effects of time and “sensemaking” surveys on customer revenge," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 172-196, January.
    11. Arndt, Aaron D. & Ford, John B. & Babin, Barry J. & Luong, Vinh, 2022. "Collecting samples from online services: How to use screeners to improve data quality," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 117-133.
    12. Ryoo, Yuhosua, 2022. "Moral credentials versus moral credits: Two paths to consumers’ licensing of brand transgressions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 13-31.
    13. Oriol Iglesias & Stefan Markovic & Jatinder Jit Singh & Vicenta Sierra, 2019. "Do Customer Perceptions of Corporate Services Brand Ethicality Improve Brand Equity? Considering the Roles of Brand Heritage, Brand Image, and Recognition Benefits," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(2), pages 441-459, January.
    14. Claas Christian Germelmann & Jean-Luc Herrmann & Mathieu Kacha & Peter Darke, 2020. "Congruence and Incongruence in Thematic Advertisement–Medium Combinations: Role of Awareness, Fluency, and Persuasion Knowledge," Post-Print hal-03031674, HAL.
    15. Trump, Rebecca K., 2014. "Connected consumers' responses to negative brand actions: The roles of transgression self-relevance and domain," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(9), pages 1824-1830.
    16. Chi Zhang & Saim Kashmiri & Melissa Cinelli, 2019. "How Does Brand Age Influence Consumer Attitudes Toward a Firm’s Unethical Behavior?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 699-711, September.
    17. Halkias, Georgios & Diamantopoulos, Adamantios, 2020. "Universal dimensions of individuals' perception: Revisiting the operationalization of warmth and competence with a mixed-method approach," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 714-736.
    18. Andrea C. Morales & On Amir & Leonard Lee, 2017. "Keeping It Real in Experimental Research—Understanding When, Where, and How to Enhance Realism and Measure Consumer Behavior," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(2), pages 465-476.
    19. Ramona Demasi & Christian Voegtlin, 2023. "When the Private and the Public Self Don’t Align: The Role of Discrepant Moral Identity Dimensions in Processing Inconsistent CSR Information," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(1), pages 73-96, September.
    20. Diego M. Coraiola & Robbin Derry, 2020. "Remembering to Forget: The Historic Irresponsibility of U.S. Big Tobacco," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(2), pages 233-252, October.
    21. Paolo Antonetti & Ilaria Baghi, 2021. "When Blame-Giving Crisis Communications are Persuasive: A Dual-Influence Model and Its Boundary Conditions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(1), pages 59-78, August.
    22. Bob Fennis & Wolfgang Stroebe, 2014. "Softening the Blow: Company Self-Disclosure of Negative Information Lessens Damaging Effects on Consumer Judgment and Decision Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(1), pages 109-120, March.
    23. Brunk, Katja H., 2010. "Exploring origins of ethical company/brand perceptions -- A consumer perspective of corporate ethics," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 255-262, March.
    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. de Villartay, Sophie & Julienne, Eric & Laporte, Marie-Eve & Berger-Remy, Fabienne, 2026. "Why consumers react differently to brand transgressions: Functional vs. ethical breaches and psychological contracts," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).

    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. Valor, Carmen & Antonetti, Paolo & Zasuwa, Grzegorz, 2022. "Corporate social irresponsibility and consumer punishment: A systematic review and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 1218-1233.
    2. Ali Besharat & Kimberly A. Whitler & Saim Kashmiri, 2024. "When CEO Pay Becomes a Brand Problem," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 190(4), pages 941-973, April.
    3. Agnihotri, Arpita & Bhattacharya, Saurabh & Vrontis, Demetris, 2024. "Can salespersons help firms overcome brand image crisis? Role of facial appearance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    4. Francioni, Barbara & De Cicco, Roberta & Curina, Ilaria & Cioppi, Marco, 2025. "The strength of stance: The impact of brand activism on resistance to negative information, purchasing, and premium paying intents across different types of failures," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    5. Mahmud, Riaj & Guzmán, Francisco, 2025. "The cost of contradiction: exploring consumer negative responses to activist brands’ moral transgressions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    6. Didem Gamze Isiksal & Elif Karaosmanoglu, 2020. "Can self-referencing exacerbate punishing behavior toward corporate brand transgressors?," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(6), pages 629-644, November.
    7. Didem Gamze Isiksal & Elif Karaosmanoglu, 0. "Can self-referencing exacerbate punishing behavior toward corporate brand transgressors?," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 0, pages 1-16.
    8. Stefanie Wannow & Martin Haupt & Martin Ohlwein, 2024. "Is brand activism an emotional affair? The role of moral emotions in consumer responses to brand activism," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 31(2), pages 168-192, March.
    9. Ryoo, Yuhosua, 2022. "Moral credentials versus moral credits: Two paths to consumers’ licensing of brand transgressions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 13-31.
    10. Thi Thanh Huong Tran & Fabian Bartsch, 2025. "Consumers’ Responses to Moral Transgressions in the Fashion Industry: Comparative Insights from Western Developed and Southeast Asian Emerging Markets," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 196(4), pages 773-806, February.
    11. Gwarlann Kerviler & Nico Heuvinck & Elodie Gentina, 2022. "“Make an Effort and Show Me the Love!” Effects of Indexical and Iconic Authenticity on Perceived Brand Ethicality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 89-110, August.
    12. Jose Ribamar Siqueira Junior & Enrique Horst & German Molina & Laura H. Gunn & Felipe Reinoso-Carvalho & Burcu Sezen & Nathalie Peña-García, 2023. "Branding in the eye of the storm: the impact of brand ethical behavior on brand commitment during the COVID-19 crisis in a South American country," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 95-115, March.
    13. Amélie Guèvremont & Bianca Grohmann, 2018. "Does brand authenticity alleviate the effect of brand scandals?," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(4), pages 322-336, July.
    14. Khalifa, Dina & Shukla, Paurav, 2021. "When luxury brand rejection causes brand dilution," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 110-121.
    15. Mangus, Stephanie M. & Shi, Huanhuan & Folse, Judith Anne Garretson & Jones, Eli & Sridhar, Shrihari, 2024. "Communicating with B2B buyers after “Dropping the Ball”: Using digital and non-digital communication formats to recover from salesperson transgressions," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 194-219.
    16. Mohamed Didi Alaoui & Fabien Pecot & Altaf Merchant & Mathieu Kacha, 2024. "Step back in time! A construal level perspective on advertisements using brand longevity cues," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 503-518, September.
    17. Daisy Lee & Calvin Wan & Tiffany C. H. Leung, 2025. "How can conscientious brands best influence consumers’ sustainable behaviours? The role of sustainable brand equity in consumer responses to carbon offsetting messages," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 32(6), pages 510-527, November.
    18. Omar Merlo & Andreas B. Eisingerich & Wayne D. Hoyer, 2024. "Immunizing customers against negative brand-related information," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 140-163, January.
    19. Pascal Nguyen & Nahid Rahman & Ruoyun Zhao, 2024. "Do firms adjust their payout policy to public perception of their social irresponsibility ?," Post-Print hal-05075880, HAL.
    20. Paolo Antonetti & Carmen Valor & Branko Božič, 2026. "Mitigating Moral Emotions After Crises: A Reconceptualization of Organizational Responses," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 203(4), pages 787-805, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:kap:jbuset:v:201:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-025-05955-5. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.