A Configurational Approach to Consumer Animosity: An Abstract

Antonetti, P; Manika, D

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-42545-6_138

A Configurational Approach to Consumer Animosity: An Abstract

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Danae Manika ORCiD

Downloads

Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.

Abstract

© 2020, The Academy of Marketing Science.Disgruntled consumers often punish a brand because of the misdeeds of its country-of-origin. Consumer animosity reduces ownership and intentions to buy products from the target country (Klein et al. 1998; Riefler and Diamantopoulos 2007) and increases product avoidance and negative word of mouth (NWOM) from consumers aiming to damage economically the hostile nation (Harmeling et al. 2015). Animosity research has relied heavily on structural equation modeling (SEM), testing whether and to what extent one single model explains the outcomes of interest (Woodside 2013). However, crises are very complex social phenomena, ignored by SEM approaches. One contested area, in the animosity literature is the contradictory findings on the impact of animosity on quality perceptions of products originating from the target country. Scholars find that animosity is independent of product quality judgments (Fong and Burton 2008; Funk et al. 2010; Klein 2002; Maher et al. 2010), while others indicate that high levels of animosity reduce product quality perceptions and in turn, this explains negative behavioral reactions such as NWOM and product avoidance (Ettenson and Klein 2005; Leong et al. 2008). To complement existing SEM-based research, this is the first study to use a set-theoretic, person-centered approach to explore the configuration of causes that explain animosity in two different contexts. We use Harmeling’s et al. (215) animosity model as our basis. Data were collected from China and the USA, examining evaluations of Japan and China, respectively; and analyzed through fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) (Ragin 2008). With a fsQCA approach we are able to identify a typology of the main explanatory models able to account for the outcomes of animosity. We demonstrate multiple causal configurations for all outcomes examined (product quality judgments, NWOM, and product avoidance). In some configurations animosity is independent of product quality while in others the hostility also affects quality perceptions. Based on the two mediating emotions examined (i.e., anger and fear) between cognitive animosity beliefs and outcomes (as per Harmeling et al. 2015), we find that while animosity beliefs and anger explain animosity in the majority of causal combinations, they cannot be considered necessary features of the outcomes of animosity. SEM-based analysis therefore underestimates the causal complexity associated with international crises and leads to misleading predictions for sizable sub-groups of consumers. Consequently, future research might consider the most appropriate marketing campaign for the sub-group of consumers based on the identified configurations.