IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v12y2025i1d10.1057_s41599-025-05058-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How the product-harm crisis influences consumer boycotts: the role of social distance

Author

Listed:
  • Yalin Li

    (Suqian University)

  • Min Zhao

    (Hubei University of Economics
    Hubei Internet Finance Information Engineering Technology Research Center)

Abstract

Product-harm crises can be categorized into two types on the basis of the number of enterprises involved: single-enterprise and group product-harm crises. Although the incidence of group product-harm crises is increasing, prior research has focused predominantly on single-enterprise product-harm crises, with limited attention paid to group product-harm crises, particularly their impact. This study aims to examine how a product-harm crises influence consumer boycott behaviour by investigating the mediating role of blame attribution and perceived betrayal, as well as the moderating role of social distance. Through a scenario-based experimental survey, three studies were conducted, collecting a total of 726 samples to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that consumers exhibit stronger boycott intentions in response to group product-harm crises than in response to single-enterprise product-harm crises. Crucially, this effect is mediated by blame attribution and perceived betrayal. Additionally, social distance moderates the relationships between product-harm crises and consumer boycotts, perceived betrayal, and blame attribution.

Suggested Citation

  • Yalin Li & Min Zhao, 2025. "How the product-harm crisis influences consumer boycotts: the role of social distance," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-05058-6
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-05058-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-025-05058-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-025-05058-6?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. Peng Cheng & Jiuchang Wei & Yue Ge, 2017. "Who should be blamed? The attribution of responsibility for a city smog event in China," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 85(2), pages 669-689, January.
    2. Gerrath, Maximilian H.E.E. & Brakus, J. Joško & Siamagka, Nikoletta Theofania & Christodoulides, George, 2023. "Avoiding the brand for me, us, or them? Consumer reactions to negative brand events," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    3. Rebecca K. Trump & Kevin P. Newman, 2017. "When do unethical brand perceptions spill over to competitors?," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 219-230, June.
    4. Martin Reimann & Deborah J. MacInnis & Valerie S. Folkes & Arianna Uhalde & Gratiana Pol, 2018. "Insights into the Experience of Brand Betrayal: From What People Say and What the Brain Reveals," Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(2), pages 240-254.
    5. Wang, Haizhong & Shen, Manqiong & (Amy) Song, Yiping & Phau, Ian, 2020. "Do up-displayed eco-friendly products always perform better? The moderating role of psychological distance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 198-212.
    6. Francisco-José Cossío-Silva & María-Ángeles Revilla-Camacho & Beatriz Palacios-Florencio & Dolores Garzón Benítez, 2019. "How to face a political boycott: the relevance of entrepreneurs’ awareness," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 321-339, June.
    7. Zhongmin Wang & Alvin Lee & Michael Polonsky, 2018. "Egregiousness and Boycott Intensity: Evidence from the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(1), pages 149-163, January.
    8. Z. Lin & D. Denghua Yuan & R. Filieri & R. Ran Liu & M. Mengqin Zheng, 2020. "Managing the product-harm crisis in the digital era: The role of consumer online brand community engagement," Post-Print hal-04713686, HAL.
    9. Karl, Marion & Kock, Florian & Ritchie, Brent W. & Gauss, Jana, 2021. "Affective forecasting and travel decision-making: An investigation in times of a pandemic," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    10. Qing Li & Haiying Wei & Daniel Laufer, 2019. "How to Make an Industry Sustainable during an Industry Product Harm Crisis: The Role of a Consumer’s Sense of Control," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-15, May.
    11. Duman, Sumeyra & Ozgen, Ozge, 2018. "Willingness to punish and reward brands associated to a political ideology (BAPI)," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 468-478.
    12. Ilaria Baghi & Veronica Gabrielli, 2021. "The role of betrayal in the response to value and performance brand crisis," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 203-217, June.
    13. Yu, Qionglei & McManus, Richard & Yen, Dorothy A. & Li, Xiang (Robert), 2020. "Tourism boycotts and animosity: A study of seven events," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    14. Kim, Changju & Kim, Woonho & Nakami, Shinya, 2022. "Do online sales channels save brands of global companies from consumer boycotts? A geographical analysis," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    15. Yuan, Denghua & Lin, Zhibin & Filieri, Raffaele & Liu, Ran & Zheng, Mengqin, 2020. "Managing the product-harm crisis in the digital era: The role of consumer online brand community engagement," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 38-47.
    16. Ahmad Aljarah & Bassam Dalal & Blend Ibrahim & Eva Lahuerta-Otero, 2022. "The attribution effects of CSR motivations on brand advocacy: psychological distance matters!," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(7-8), pages 583-605, June.
    17. Thanh Hoai Nguyen & Hai Quynh Ngo & Pham Ngoc Nha Ngo & Gi-Du Kang, 2018. "Understanding the Motivations Influencing Ecological Boycott Participation: An Exploratory Study in Viet Nam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-17, December.
    18. Weiner, Bernard, 2000. "Attributional Thoughts about Consumer Behavior," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 27(3), pages 382-387, December.
    19. 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.
    20. 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.
    21. Suzanne C. Makarem & Haeran Jae, 2016. "Consumer Boycott Behavior: An Exploratory Analysis of Twitter Feeds," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 193-223, March.
    22. Haiyue (Felix) Xu & Lisa E Bolton & Karen Page Winterich & Amna Kirmani & Sankar Sen, 2021. "How Do Consumers React to Company Moral Transgressions? The Role of Power Distance Belief and Empathy for Victims," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 48(1), pages 77-101.
    23. Paolo Antonetti & Stan Maklan, 2016. "An Extended Model of Moral Outrage at Corporate Social Irresponsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 429-444, May.
    24. Hua, Lian-Lian & Prentice, Catherine & Han, Xiaoyun, 2021. "A netnographical approach to typologizing customer engagement and corporate misconduct," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    25. James C. Ward & Amy L. Ostrom, 2006. "Complaining to the Masses: The Role of Protest Framing in Customer-Created Complaint Web Sites," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 33(2), pages 220-230, July.
    26. Schoofs, Lieze & Claeys, An-Sofie, 2021. "Communicating sadness: The impact of emotional crisis communication on the organizational post-crisis reputation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 271-282.
    27. Kathleen Cleeren & Marnik G. Dekimpe & Harald J. Heerde, 2017. "Marketing research on product-harm crises: a review, managerial implications, and an agenda for future research," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(5), pages 593-615, September.
    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. Kim, Changju & Yan, Xiuyan & Kim, Jungkeun & Terasaki, Shinichiro & Furukawa, Hiroyasu, 2022. "Effect of consumer animosity on boycott campaigns in a cross-cultural context: Does consumer affinity matter?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    2. Liu, Wumei & Zhang, Heng & Kevin Li, Shaobo & Liu, Yan, 2025. "The time-healing effects: A multi-method study on how time affects consumers’ attitude change following the occurrence of brand scandals," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    3. Saeed, Najiya & Akhtar, Naeem & Attri, Rekha & Yaqub, Muhammad Zafar, 2024. "How violation of consumers’ expectations causes perceived betrayal and related behaviors: Theoretical perspectives from expectancy violation theory," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    4. 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.
    5. Tolunay, Asli & Veloutsou, Cleopatra, 2025. "Don’t make me hate you, my love! Perceived brand betrayal and the love-becomes-hate phenomenon," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    6. 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.
    7. Yu, Heyao & Legendre, Tiffany S. & Ma, Jing, 2021. "We stand by our brand: Consumers’ post-food safety crisis purchase intention and moral reasoning," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 79-87.
    8. Tom Joonhwan Kim & Youjae Yi & Jongan Choi, 2020. "The boomerang effect of brand personality congruency in a product-harm crisis," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 45(4), pages 645-661, November.
    9. Emrah Oney & Iman Aghaei, 2024. "Consumer complaint intentions: the impact of general and specific self-confidence," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(2), pages 390-410, June.
    10. Chih-Chien Wang & Shu-Chen Chang & Pei-Ying Chen, 2021. "The Brand Sustainability Obstacle: Viewpoint Incompatibility and Consumer Boycott," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-23, May.
    11. Barbarossa, Camilla & Buzeta, Cristian & De Pelsmacker, Patrick & Moons, Ingrid, 2022. "Foreign company misconduct and how consumers’ punitive intent is influenced by country stereotypes and the perceived similarity between the foreign country and the home country," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(5).
    12. Janina Garbas & Sebastian Schubach & Martin Mende & Maura L. Scott & Jan H. Schumann, 2023. "You want to sell this to me twice!? How perceptions of betrayal may undermine internal product upgrades," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 286-309, March.
    13. Gerrath, Maximilian H.E.E. & Brakus, J. Joško & Siamagka, Nikoletta Theofania & Christodoulides, George, 2023. "Avoiding the brand for me, us, or them? Consumer reactions to negative brand events," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    14. Vijay Kumar, 2022. "Product Recalls in European Textile and Clothing Sector—A Macro Analysis of Risks and Geographical Patterns," Stats, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-18, October.
    15. Arora, Swapan Deep & Chakraborty, Anirban, 2021. "Intellectual structure of consumer complaining behavior (CCB) research: A bibliometric analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 60-74.
    16. 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.
    17. Yang, Zhiyong & Freling, Traci & Sun, Sijie & Richardson-Greenfield, Pam, 2022. "When do product crises hurt business? A meta-analytic investigation of negative publicity on consumer responses," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 102-120.
    18. Vivek Astvansh & Anshu Suri & Hoorsana Damavandi, 2024. "Brand warmth elicits feedback, not complaints," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1107-1129, July.
    19. repec:hal:journl:hal-04680681 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Olga Untilov & Stéphane Ganassali, 2020. "Product‐harm science communication: The halo effect and its moderators," Post-Print hal-02957579, HAL.
    21. Jun Zhang & Joon Soo Lim, 2021. "Mitigating negative spillover effects in a product-harm crisis: strategies for market leaders versus market challengers," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(1), pages 77-98, January.

    More about this item

    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:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-05058-6. 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: https://www.nature.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.