Felt betrayed or resisted? The impact of pre‐crisis corporate social responsibility reputation on post‐crisis consumer reactions and retaliatory behavioral intentions

We develop and test a model that illustrates the effects of pre‐crisis corporate social responsibility (CSR) reputation on consumers' perceived betrayal, resistance to negative information, and retaliatory behavioral intentions, accounting for two types of brand crises, namely, corporate ability and corporate responsibility crises. To enhance the external validity and generalizability of our model testing results, we collect data from 1,045 randomly selected adults across the United States. The results from multi‐group structural equation modeling show that when a brand's pre‐crisis CSR reputation is stronger, consumers are less likely to feel betrayed. Stronger pre‐crisis CSR reputation also leads consumers to be more resistant to negative information about the brand. However, the two types of brand crises moderate the effects of pre‐crisis CSR reputation on consumers' reactions and retaliatory behavioral intentions. The results from our research significantly deepen and advance the understanding of the differences in consumer reaction processes between these two crisis types, highlighting consumers' perceived betrayal as the emotional mechanism through which those different consumer responses arise. The results further help practitioners better conceptualize how to respond to a given crisis to minimize consumers' negative feelings and thereby reduce their retaliatory behaviors.