Dark side of consumer-brand relationships: A brand hate perspective in anti-brand social media communities

Abstract The extant literature on dark side of consumer-brand relationship is still growing. Recently, researchers have given it notable concentration, yet some gaps exist specifically in context of social media brand communities. The present work adds to the understanding of the negative sides of consumer-brand relationship via empirically investigating brand hate in social media based anti-brand communities specifically in an emerging market context of India. This study makes use of survey method to approach 387 users of social media platforms to empirically test an integrated model of precursors and consequents of brand hate in anti-brand social media communities. The data was analyzed using structural equation modeling and its findings confirm positively stronger association of symbolic incongruity and negative past experience with brand hate. Brand hate; in turn, strongly affect non-purchase intention, negative word-of mouth and retaliation. Results have managerial and useful implications for the brand managers.