Sympathy or shock: how transgression diagnosticity impacts consumer perceptions and intentions regarding person-brands
Journal of Product & Brand Management
ISSN: 1061-0421
Article publication date: 10 October 2023
Issue publication date: 27 November 2023
Abstract
Purpose
Moral transgressions committed by person-brands can negatively impact consumers through the transgression’s diagnosticity (severity, centrality and consistency). This paper aims to test how a transgression’s centrality and consistency impact important consumer perceptions and behavioral intentions toward a person-brand, holding constant the transgression in question. These outcomes are crucial for person-brands to understand how to minimize and manage the impact of a given transgression.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses three online consumer experiments to manipulate transgression diagnosticity via centrality and consistency and identifies the resulting impact on consumer-brand identification, trustworthiness and consumer digital engagement intentions through PROCESS models.
Findings
High-diagnosticity transgressions lower consumer digital engagement intentions regarding the person-brand and their endorsed products. This effect is serially mediated by consumer-brand identification, as predicted by social identity theory, and by perceived trustworthiness of the person-brand.
Practical implications
Person-brands should emphasize the nondiagnostic nature of any transgressions in which they are involved, including a lack of centrality and consistency with their brand, and guard against the appearance of diagnostic transgressions.
Originality/value
This paper shows that transgression diagnosticity impacts consumer engagement through the pathway of consumer-brand identification and trustworthiness. It also manipulates aspects of diagnosticity that can be influenced by the person-brand (centrality and consistency) while holding the transgression constant. As such, this paper extends the literature on transgressions, on person-branding strategy, and on social identity theory.
Keywords
Citation
Matthews, A.L. and Luebke, S.S.F. (2023), "Sympathy or shock: how transgression diagnosticity impacts consumer perceptions and intentions regarding person-brands", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 32 No. 8, pp. 1399-1411. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-10-2022-4179
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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