The Role Of Negative Information In Dissolving Consumer Identification With Companies

Abstract

A benefit of strong consumer identification with a company has been hypothesized to be consumers’ greater resilience to negative information about the company. The positive consequences of strong consumer-company identification, however, have been proposed to have their limits, or “zone of tolerance”.  The present study extended and tested the “zone of tolerance” hypothesis by measuring reactions of company-identified consumers when confronted with negative information that challenged their strong identification with the company.