An investigation on brand hate: understanding negative psychology of consumers in the service sector

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship among the brand hate reasons, antecedents, and its consequences. This study follows the four-step model of reasons, antecedents, and consequences of brand hate. Reasons included are product related such as poor food quality, Safety & hygiene. These reasons lead to antecedents of brand hate such as dissatisfaction, which leads to brand hate and its consequences, which are brand avoidance and complaining behavior. The study model is based on the Triangular theory of hate. This study collected data from primary sources of data through the use of a structured questionnaire. This research study follows a causal research design. The target population of the study was all food consumers of Pakistani, who had experienced any food brand in the last 06 months and had extremely negative feelings about that brand. Data screening was through Excel and was analyzed through SPSS and WarpPLS. Results showed a positively significant relationship between the reasons, antecedents, and consequences of brand hate. The findings indicated that the root cause of brand hate is customer dissatisfaction due to poor food quality and concerns about the safety & hygiene of food, which leads to brand avoidance and complaining behavior of food consumers. The outcomes of this research hold significance for the band managers, who can be helped through superior information and comprehension of such a brand hate study.