IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/jobman/v30y2023i3d10.1057_s41262-022-00301-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The influence of COVID-19 pandemic on consumer–brand relationships: evidence of brand evangelism behaviors

Author

Listed:
  • Hemant C. Sashittal

    (School of Business)

  • Avan R. Jassawalla

    (State University of New York at Geneseo)

  • Ruchika Sachdeva

    (Fairfield University)

Abstract

The paper reports findings from a two-stage study of consumer–brand relationships conducted between April 2021 and June 2021, at a time the COVID-19 pandemic had forced consumers to live through social distancing mandates and school/office closures. Initial exploration via focus groups began in April 2021 for the purpose of generating grounded theory, hypotheses, and measurement scales relevant to their experiences of brand consumption during this period. The second study tested the grounded hypotheses based on a nationwide sample of consumers in June 2021. The study finds evidence of three distinct brand-related behaviors in response to the COVID-19-induced stresses; i.e., heightened intentionality about brand choices, heightened concern for brand sponsors’ ethical behaviors toward their employees, and engagement in brand evangelism behaviors.

Suggested Citation

  • Hemant C. Sashittal & Avan R. Jassawalla & Ruchika Sachdeva, 2023. "The influence of COVID-19 pandemic on consumer–brand relationships: evidence of brand evangelism behaviors," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 30(3), pages 245-260, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:jobman:v:30:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1057_s41262-022-00301-w
    DOI: 10.1057/s41262-022-00301-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41262-022-00301-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41262-022-00301-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lim, Weng Marc & Aggarwal, Arun & Dandotiya, Ravi, 2022. "Marketing luxury services beyond affluence in the new normal: Insights from fine dining during the coronavirus pandemic," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. François Maon & Valérie Swaen & Kenneth de Roeck, 2021. "Coporate branding and corporate social responsibility: Toward a multi-stakeholder interpretive perspective," Post-Print hal-03275858, HAL.
    3. Lang, Le Dang & Lim, Weng Marc & Guzmán, Francisco, 2022. "How does promotion mix affect brand equity? Insights from a mixed-methods study of low involvement products," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 175-190.
    4. Swimberghe, Krist R. & Astakhova, Marina & Wooldridge, Barbara Ross, 2014. "A new dualistic approach to brand passion: Harmonious and obsessive," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(12), pages 2657-2665.
    5. Carolina Serrano Archimi & Emmanuelle Reynaud & Hina Mahboob Yasin & Zeeshan Ahmed Bhatti, 2018. "How Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility Affects Employee Cynicism: The Mediating Role of Organizational Trust," Post-Print hal-03510847, HAL.
    6. Sheth, Jagdish, 2020. "Impact of Covid-19 on consumer behavior: Will the old habits return or die?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 280-283.
    7. Rebecca K. Trump & Kevin P. Newman, 2021. "Emotion regulation in the marketplace: the role of pleasant brand personalities," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 231-245, June.
    8. James C. Ward & Amy L. Ostrom, 2006. "Complaining to the Masses: The Role of Protest Framing in Customer-Created Complaint Web Sites," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 33(2), pages 220-230, July.
    9. Laura Marie Edinger-Schons & Lars Lengler-Graiff & Sabrina Scheidler & Jan Wieseke, 2019. "Frontline Employees as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Ambassadors: A Quasi-Field Experiment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(2), pages 359-373, June.
    10. Sarkar Sengupta, Aditi & Balaji, M.S. & Krishnan, Balaji C., 2015. "How customers cope with service failure? A study of brand reputation and customer satisfaction," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 665-674.
    11. Carolina Serrano Archimi & Emmanuelle Reynaud & Hina Mahboob Yasin & Zeeshan Ahmed Bhatti, 2018. "How Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility Affects Employee Cynicism: The Mediating Role of Organizational Trust," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(4), pages 907-921, September.
    12. Cindy Chung & Peter Darke, 2006. "The consumer as advocate: Self-relevance, culture, and word-of-mouth," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 269-279, December.
    13. Nicole Koschate-Fischer & Wayne D. Hoyer & Nicola E. Stokburger-Sauer & Jan Engling, 2018. "Do life events always lead to change in purchase? The mediating role of change in consumer innovativeness, the variety seeking tendency, and price consciousness," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 516-536, May.
    14. Mbaye Fall Diallo & Norchène Ben Dahmane Mouelhi & Mahesh Gadekar & Marie Schill, 2021. "CSR Actions, Brand Value, and Willingness to Pay a Premium Price for Luxury Brands: Does Long-Term Orientation Matter?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(2), pages 241-260, March.
    15. Ke-Hai Yuan & Zhiyong Zhang, 2012. "Robust Structural Equation Modeling with Missing Data and Auxiliary Variables," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 77(4), pages 803-826, October.
    16. Won-Moo Hur & Tae-Won Moon & Hanna Kim, 2020. "When does customer CSR perception lead to customer extra-role behaviors? The roles of customer spirituality and emotional brand attachment," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(4), pages 421-437, July.
    17. Munyaradzi W. Nyadzayo & Civilai Leckie & Lester W. Johnson, 2020. "The impact of relational drivers on customer brand engagement and brand outcomes," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(5), pages 561-578, September.
    18. Magdalena Öberseder & Bodo Schlegelmilch & Patrick Murphy & Verena Gruber, 2014. "Consumers’ Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility: Scale Development and Validation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 101-115, September.
    19. Mansur Khamitov & Xin (Shane) Wang & Matthew Thomson & Vicki G MorwitzEditor & J Jeffrey InmanEditor & JoAndrea Hoegg, 2019. "How Well Do Consumer-Brand Relationships Drive Customer Brand Loyalty? Generalizations from a Meta-Analysis of Brand Relationship Elasticities," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 46(3), pages 435-459.
    20. Masataka Ban & Nobuhiko Terui & Makoto Abe, 2011. "A brand choice model for TV advertising management using single-source data," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 373-389, November.
    21. Carolina Serrano-Archimi & Emmanuelle Reynaud & Hina Mahboob Yasin & Zeeshan Ahmed Bhatti, 2018. "How Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility Affects Employee Cynicism: The Mediating Role of Organizational Trust," Post-Print hal-01796415, HAL.
    22. Fernanda Muniz & Francisco Guzmán, 2021. "Overcoming the conflicting values of luxury branding and CSR by leveraging celebrity endorsements to build brand equity," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(3), pages 347-358, May.
    23. Tanya Mark & Colette Southam & Jan Bulla & Sergio Meza, 2016. "Cross-category indulgence: Why do some premium brands grow during recession?," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(5), pages 114-129, September.
    24. Morabia, A. & Costanza, M.C., 2005. "The obesity epidemic as harbinger of a metabolic disorder epidemic: Trends in overweight, hypercholesterolemia, and diabetes treatment in Geneva, Switzerland, 1993-2003," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 95(4), pages 632-635.
    25. Ali B. Mahmoud & Dieu Hack-Polay & Nicholas Grigoriou & Iris Mohr & Leonora Fuxman, 2021. "A generational investigation and sentiment and emotion analyses of female fashion brand users on Instagram in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(5), pages 526-544, September.
    26. repec:ucp:bkecon:9780226316529 is not listed on IDEAS
    27. Maon, Francois & Swaen, Valérie & De Roeck, Kenneth, 2021. "Coporate branding and corporate social responsibility: Toward a multi-stakeholder interpretive perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 64-77.
    28. Pengji Wang & Adrian T. H. Kuah & Qinye Lu & Caroline Wong & K. Thirumaran & Emmanuel Adegbite & Wesley Kendall, 2021. "The impact of value perceptions on purchase intention of sustainable luxury brands in China and the UK," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(3), pages 325-346, May.
    29. Richard P. Bagozzi & Rajeev Batra & Aaron Ahuvia, 2017. "Brand love: development and validation of a practical scale," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 1-14, March.
    30. Andrea Stanaland & May Lwin & Patrick Murphy, 2011. "Consumer Perceptions of the Antecedents and Consequences of Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(1), pages 47-55, August.
    31. Duygu Turker, 2009. "Measuring Corporate Social Responsibility: A Scale Development Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(4), pages 411-427, April.
    32. Fuller, Christie M. & Simmering, Marcia J. & Atinc, Guclu & Atinc, Yasemin & Babin, Barry J., 2016. "Common methods variance detection in business research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 3192-3198.
    33. Linda Thorne & Lois S. Mahoney & Kristen Gregory & Susan Convery, 2017. "A Comparison of Canadian and U.S. CSR Strategic Alliances, CSR Reporting, and CSR Performance: Insights into Implicit–Explicit CSR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 85-98, June.
    34. Naresh K. Malhotra & Sung S. Kim & Ashutosh Patil, 2006. "Common Method Variance in IS Research: A Comparison of Alternative Approaches and a Reanalysis of Past Research," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(12), pages 1865-1883, December.
    35. Pradeep K. Chintagunta, 1999. "Variety Seeking, Purchase Timing, and the "Lightning Bolt" Brand Choice Model," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(4), pages 486-498, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Boisvert, Jean & Christodoulides, George & Sajid Khan, M., 2023. "Toward a better understanding of key determinants and consequences of masstige consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    2. Sun, Xiaochi & Foscht, Thomas & Eisingerich, Andreas B., 2021. "Does educating customers create positive word of mouth?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    3. Dash, Ganesh & Alharthi, Majed & Albarrak, Mansour & Aggarwal, Shalini, 2024. "Saudi millennials’ panic buying behavior during pandemic and post-pandemic: Role of social media addiction and religious values and commitment," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    4. Yang Cheng & Yuan Wang & Feihong Pan, 2022. "The Impact of CSR Perceptions on Employees’ Turnover Intention during the COVID-19 Crisis in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-14, July.
    5. Shuchi Gupta & Nishad Nawaz & Abhishek Tripathi & Saqib Muneer & Naveed Ahmad, 2021. "Using Social Media as a Medium for CSR Communication, to Induce Consumer–Brand Relationship in the Banking Sector of a Developing Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-16, March.
    6. İsmail Gökhan Cintamür, 2023. "Linking Customer Justice Perception, Customer Support Perception, and Customer Citizenship Behavior to Corporate Reputation: Evidence from the Airline Industry," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(2), pages 111-132, May.
    7. Guosen Miao & Guoping Chen & Fan Wang & Anupam Kumar Das, 2023. "The Effect of Corporate Greenwashing on Employees’ Environmental Performance: Person–Organization Values Fit Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-19, February.
    8. Hossein Esfandyari & Shahla Choobchian & Yadgar Momenpour & Hossein Azadi, 2023. "Sustainable rural development in Northwest Iran: proposing a wellness-based tourism pattern using a structural equation modeling approach," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-15, December.
    9. Felipe Lillo-Viedma & Pedro Severino-González & Valentin Santander-Ramírez & Leidy Y. García & Nataly Guiñez-Cabrera & Nicolás Astorga-Bustos, 2022. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Network Analysis: Unionized Workers’ Perceptions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-15, April.
    10. Mohamed Fathy Agina & Hazem Ahmed Khairy & Mohamed A. Abdel Fatah & Youssef H. Manaa & Rabab M. Abdallah & Nadir Aliane & Jehad Afaneh & Bassam Samir Al-Romeedy, 2023. "Distributive Injustice and Work Disengagement in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Mediating Roles of the Workplace Negative Gossip and Organizational Cynicism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-24, October.
    11. Huynh Thi Thuy Giang & Luu Tien Dung, 2022. "The effect of internal corporate social responsibility practices on firm performance: the mediating role of employee intrapreneurial behaviour," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 1035-1061, May.
    12. Eveland, Vicki Blakney & Crutchfield, Tammy Neal & Tsang, Ronald C.W. & Sabol, Misty A., 2024. "Using PLS-SEM to test the relationship model of corporate social performance across the product/service continuum: When do shared values matter?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    13. Mark Anthony Camilleri, 2021. "The Employees’ State of Mind during COVID-19: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-17, March.
    14. Dipankar Biswas & Rajib Sarkar, 2023. "Rise of marigold floriculture, a new stirring door walk through economic, social, and entertainment factors in Eastern India: a combined approach of multi-group structural equation modeling and cluste," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 137-172, February.
    15. Park, Inyoung & Lee, Jieon & Lee, Daeho & Lee, Changjun & Chung, Won Young, 2022. "Changes in consumption patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic: Analyzing the revenge spending motivations of different emotional groups," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    16. Tewari, Alok & Mathur, Smriti & Srivastava, Smriti & Gangwar, Divya, 2022. "Examining the role of receptivity to green communication, altruism and openness to change on young consumers’ intention to purchase green apparel: A multi-analytical approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    17. Haiyan Kong & Naipeng (Tom) Bu & Yue Yuan & Kangping Wang & YoungHee Ro, 2019. "Sustainability of Hotel, How Does Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility Influence Employees’ Behaviors?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-16, December.
    18. Wallace, Elaine & Torres, Pedro & Augusto, Mário & Stefuryn, Maryana, 2021. "Outcomes for self-expressive brands followed on social media: Identifying different paths for inner self-expressive and social self-expressive brands," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 519-531.
    19. Anat Shteigman & Michal Levi-Bliech & Arie Reshef, 2022. "Guidance as A Key Factor for Quality Outcomes in Experiential Learning and Its Influence on Undergraduate Management Students throughout the Covid-19 Pandemic," International Journal of Higher Education, Sciedu Press, vol. 11(5), pages 169-169, October.
    20. Bhatti, Zeeshan Ahmed & Arain, Ghulam Ali & Akram, Muhammad Shakaib & Fang, Yu-Hui & Yasin, Hina Mahboob, 2020. "Constructive voice behavior for social change on social networking sites: A reflection of moral identity," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:jobman:v:30:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1057_s41262-022-00301-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.