"Yes, I forgive you, but…": Exploring the individual’s willingness to forgive a human brand when a transgression occurs

• Autor(a) principal: José, Bárbara Sofia Lucas
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/28345
• topic: Human brand; Commitment; Resilience to negative information; Brand trust; Brand loyalty; Brand forgiveness; Coping behaviours; Marca pessoal; Compromisso; Resiliência à informação negativa; Confiança -- Trust; Lealdade; Perdão; Comportamentos de cópia

With the increased usage of social media platforms, performing transgressions by individuals are more likely to occur, and human brands are no exception. The present study aims to understand an individual's willingness to forgive a human brand when the human brand performs a transgression and, therefore, fulfil the literature gaps. With this, the conceptual framework aims to analyse if Affection, Passion, Connection and Authenticity influence Commitment; Relatedness and Competence influences Resilience to Negative Information; Attractiveness, Expertise and Trustworthiness impact Brand Trust. Moreover, to understand these relationships towards Brand Forgiveness and its impact on Brand Switching, Fighting, and Reengage, which are related to consumer coping behaviours and the outcome of Brand Forgiveness. A questionnaire was developed to collect data. With a total of 332 answers, the collected data were analysed using the partial squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The study focuses on U.S. residents and addresses the most followed social media influencers, Kylie Jenner and Selena Gomez, on Instagram and Charli D'Amelio on TikTok. Moreover, a scenario of an incongruity transgression was introduced to understand the respondent's willingness to forgive. Results demonstrate that Commitment, Resilience to Negative Information, and Brand Loyalty positively influences Brand Forgiveness. Moreover, individuals do forgive human brands when a transgression occurs. However, they may switch or say negative things about it to others.