When Good Consumers Turn Bad: Psychological Contract Breach in Committed Brand Relationships

Nicole Votolato Montgomery, Sekar Raju, Kalpesh Kaushik Desai, H. Rao Unnava

Journal of Consumer Psychology · 2018 · Volume 28 · Issue 3

Abstract

To better understand the conditions under which committed consumers continue to support their preferred brand after a transgression versus turn against the brand and the underlying theoretical process, we study the interplay between brand commitment and specific types of transgressions. Across three scenario-based and field studies, we show that consumers have psychological contracts with brands, which dictate the terms of the relationship, and for committed consumers, violations of any aspect in (out of) the contract results in a negative (indifferent) response. Furthermore, we demonstrate that consumer trust is the underlying mechanism: committed consumers exhibit more negative responses to in-contract transgressions as a result of their lower trust in the brand.

Keywords

Branding, Loyalty and relationships, Attitudes and persuasion

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