When Do Consumers Forgive? A Causal Attribution Model of Marketer Transgression and the Moderating Effects of Self-Construal

Abstract

Even well-respected, high-reputation brands sometimes fail their customers. For example, the automobile market leader at the time, Toyota, announced three recalls from 2009 to 2010 because of pedal problems. How did the public, especially Toyota’s recent and old customers, react to the recent recalls or similar information, what we refer to as brand transgressions in this research? Toyota’s plight is not uncommon and the role that consumer-brand relationships play is likely to be of great interest to marketers and researchers. Prior research on brand transgressions suggests that positive re lationships buffer consumer responses to transgressions, such that brands with which consumer..