This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Einwiller, S. A. Articles by Kamins, M. A. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Enough Is Enough! When Identification No Longer Prevents Negative Corporate Associations

University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland, sabine.einwiller{at}fhso.ch

Alexander Fedorikhin

Indiana University, sfedorik{at}iupui.edu

Allison R. Johnson

Queen’s University, ajohnson{at}business.queensu.ca

Michael A. Kamins

University of Southern California, mkamins{at}marshall.usc.edu

Negative publicity has the potential to create negative corporate associations. However, consumers’ identification with a company might moderate the extent of this effect. This article examines the impact of consumer-company identification on reactions to variable levels of negative publicity about a company. Exposing consumers who had strong identification with a company to moderately negative publicity was found to result in less negative corporate associations than for consumers who had relatively weak identification. In contrast, consumers’ levels of identification did not affect reactions to extremely negative information, resulting in equally negative corporate associations for those with strong versus weak consumer-company identification. Thus, strong identification mitigates the effects of moderately negative publicity but does not attenuate the effects of extremely negative publicity. Consumers’ perceptions of and thoughts regarding negative information about a company partially mediated the effect of identification on attitudes and behavioral intentions.

Key Words: consumer-company identification • corporate associations • negative publicity

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 34, No. 2, 185-194 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0092070305284983


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. Veloutsou Brands as relationship facilitators in consumer markets Marketing Theory, March 1, 2009; 9(1): 127 - 130. [Abstract] [PDF]