IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/jobman/v32y2025i1d10.1057_s41262-024-00368-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When brand cynicism turns into brand hate: the mediating role of brand hate on the relationship between brand cynicism and negative WOM

Author

Listed:
  • Ramazan Kurtoğlu

    (Yozgat Bozok University)

  • Tuğba Özbölük

    (Yozgat Bozok University)

  • Behiye Altın

    (Yozgat Bozok University)

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effect of brand cynicism on negative WOM and analyse the mediating role of brand hate in this relationship. The study focuses on brand cynicism, which refers to a defensive attitude towards brands' efforts to convince consumers, who have lost their trust in the brand and think that they have been deceived or sacrificed for the brand's interests. An online survey is conducted to collect data. Results of the study show that brand cynicism has a significant effect on brand hate, and brand hate has a significant effect on the negative WOM variable. Our results also demonstrate that brand hate has a full mediating role in the relationship between brand cynicism and negative WOM, which means, brand cynicism affects negative WOM indirectly through brand hate. The paper can be regarded as a significant contribution to brand cynicism literature which is fairly new and an unexplored area.

Suggested Citation

  • Ramazan Kurtoğlu & Tuğba Özbölük & Behiye Altın, 2025. "When brand cynicism turns into brand hate: the mediating role of brand hate on the relationship between brand cynicism and negative WOM," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 32(1), pages 65-78, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:jobman:v:32:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41262-024-00368-7
    DOI: 10.1057/s41262-024-00368-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41262-024-00368-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41262-024-00368-7?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. Lia Zarantonello & Simona Romani & Silvia Grappi & Marc Fetscherin, 2018. "Trajectories of brand hate," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(6), pages 549-560, November.
    2. Philippe Odou & Pauline de Pechpeyrou, 2011. "Consumer cynicism : From resistance to anti‐consumption in a disenchanted world?," Post-Print hal-02048706, HAL.
    3. East, Robert & Hammond, Kathy & Lomax, Wendy, 2008. "Measuring the impact of positive and negative word of mouth on brand purchase probability," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 215-224.
    4. Fetscherin, Marc, 2019. "The five types of brand hate: How they affect consumer behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 116-127.
    5. Xinshu Zhao & John G. Lynch & Qimei Chen, 2010. "Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and Truths about Mediation Analysis," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(2), pages 197-206, August.
    6. Gunkel, Marjaana & Schlaegel, Christopher & Taras, Vas, 2016. "Cultural values, emotional intelligence, and conflict handling styles: A global study," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 568-585.
    7. repec:ucp:bkecon:9780226316529 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Dominique Roux, 2007. "Ordinary Resistance As a Parasitic Form of Action: a Dialogical Analysis of Consumer/Firm Relations," Post-Print hal-02022224, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Haase, Janina & Wiedmann, Klaus-Peter & Labenz, Franziska, 2022. "Brand hate, rage, anger & co.: Exploring the relevance and characteristics of negative consumer emotions toward brands," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 1-16.
    2. Alvarez, Claudio & David, Meredith E. & George, Morris, 2023. "Types of Consumer-Brand Relationships: A systematic review and future research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    3. Relling, Marleen & Schnittka, Oliver & Sattler, Henrik & Johnen, Marius, 2016. "Each can help or hurt: Negative and positive word of mouth in social network brand communities," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 42-58.
    4. Akrout, Houcine & Mrad, Mona, 2023. "Measuring brand hate in a cross-cultural context: Emic and Etic scale development and validation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    5. Jorge Costa & António Azevedo, 2023. "Beyond Brand Hate: Are You Willing to Forgive a Negative Experience with Your Smartphone Mobile Communications’ Brand?," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(2), pages 83-96, May.
    6. Sameeni, Maleeha Shahid & Qadeer, Faisal & Ahmad, Wasim & Filieri, Raffaele, 2024. "An empirical examination of brand hate influence on negative consumer behaviors through NeWOM intensity. Does consumer personality matter?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    7. 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.
    8. Japutra, Arnold & Kumar Roy, Sanjit & Pham, Tram-Anh N., 2021. "Relating brand anxiety, brand hatred and obsess: Moderating role of age and brand affection," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    9. Khalil-ur-Rehman & Mohammad Adnan & Naveed Ahmad & Miklas Scholz & Muhammad Khalique & Rana Tahir Naveed & Heesup Han, 2021. "Impact of Substantive Staging and Communicative Staging of Sustainable Servicescape on Behavioral Intentions of Hotel Customers through Overall Perceived Image: A Case of Boutique Hotels," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-17, August.
    10. 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.
    11. Roy, Sanjit K. & Sharma, Apurv & Bose, Sunny & Singh, Gaganpreet, 2022. "Consumer - brand relationship: A brand hate perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 1293-1304.
    12. Hang Nguyen & Roger Calantone & Ranjani Krishnan, 2020. "Influence of Social Media Emotional Word of Mouth on Institutional Investors’ Decisions and Firm Value," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(2), pages 887-910, February.
    13. Jabeen, Fauzia & Kaur, Puneet & Talwar, Shalini & Malodia, Suresh & Dhir, Amandeep, 2022. "I love you, but you let me down! How hate and retaliation damage customer-brand relationship," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    14. Raphael Odoom & John Paul Basewe Kosiba & Priscilla Teika Odoom, 2024. "Brand hate experiences and the role of social media influencers in altering consumer emotions," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 31(5), pages 529-542, September.
    15. FeCheng Ma & Farhan Khan & Kashif Ullah Khan & Si XiangYun, 2021. "Investigating the Impact of Information Technology, Absorptive Capacity, and Dynamic Capabilities on Firm Performance: An Empirical Study," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, November.
    16. Nosheena Yasir & Nasir Mahmood & Hafiz Shakir Mehmood & Osama Rashid & An Liren, 2021. "The Integrated Role of Personal Values and Theory of Planned Behavior to Form a Sustainable Entrepreneurial Intention," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-21, August.
    17. Mia M. Vainio & Daiva Daukantaitė, 2016. "Grit and Different Aspects of Well-Being: Direct and Indirect Relationships via Sense of Coherence and Authenticity," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 2119-2147, October.
    18. Yu Ding & Wayne S. DeSarbo & Dominique M. Hanssens & Kamel Jedidi & John G. Lynch & Donald R. Lehmann, 2020. "The past, present, and future of measurement and methods in marketing analysis," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 175-186, September.
    19. Lefroy, Kathryn & Tsarenko, Yelena, 2014. "Dependence and effectiveness in the nonprofit-corporate alliance: The mediating effect of objectives achievement," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(9), pages 1959-1966.
    20. Thuy-Van Tran & Sinikka Lepistö & Janne Järvinen, 2021. "The relationship between subjectivity in managerial performance evaluation and the three dimensions of justice perception," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 369-399, September.

    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:pal:jobman:v:32:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41262-024-00368-7. 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.palgrave.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.