The Influence Of Negative Information On Brand Evaluation:the Moderating Effect Mechanism Of Brand National Identity

In the context of economic globalization and the Internet economy,especially with the deepening implementation and influence of the initiative of the Community of Shared Future for mankind,it has become a common goal for enterprises of all countries to build brands with global influence.In the market,domestic and foreign brands coexist with the same category of products,and fiercely compete for consumers and market share.Existing studies show that,from the perspective of consumers,the national identity of a brand is an important attribute characteristic of a brand,which will affect consumers’ identification and classification of the brand,and then affect consumers’ processing of brand-related information and final brand evaluation.Therefore,the national identity of brand has become an important research issue in the field of brand management.In the context of negative information,the research on the relationship between consumers and brands is one of the focuses of management circles.Especially with the advent of the era of big data and artificial intelligence,the propagation speed of brand information is getting faster and faster.Once the negative information of a brand appears,it will spread quickly through online and offline channels.Compared with positive information,negative information is more diagnosable to consumers and will directly affect consumers’ evaluation of the brand,thus diluting brand equity.Based on the existing research conclusions in the theoretical circle and practical cases in real life,once negative events happen to both domestic and foreign brands,they will reduce customers’ evaluation of the brand.In the context of different types of negative information,brand national identity has an important moderating effect on consumer brand evaluation,but there is no theoretical in-depth and systematic research on its mechanism.Through the study of theories and classic cases,it can be found that the existing situation is more complicated than the research conclusion.The construct of "country of origin of brand" adopted by most scholars cannot fully explain some existing phenomena in reality.Is a brand’s national identity(domestic or foreign)a natural barrier or a double-edged sword in the face of negative information?How should researchers and practitioners understand this phenomenon and make more accurate theoretical explanations and predictions? At present,these problems need to be solved urgently but have not been fully paid attention to by the academic circle,which provides a good research opportunity for this study.In order to solve the above problems,this study determined the research theme of "the mechanism of national brand identity on brand evaluation in the context of negative information".The basic research idea is to build a research framework model based on the psychological contract theory,comprehensive brand theory,social identity theory,consumption value orientation theory and other theories.On the basis of referring to the existing maturity scale,It defines the types of psychological contracts established between consumers and brands with different national identities and the measures they violate,and then studies how consumers perceive and deal with different types of negative information under the conditions of different national identities of brands.Through theoretical deduction and empirical analysis,By introducing brand psychological contract breach,this paper explores the psychological mediating mechanism of the moderating effect of brand national identity on negative information and brand evaluation,finally identifies the boundary conditions for the effect of brand national identity,forms the theory of brand national identity in the context of negative information,and deepens and extends the existing theoretical researches on brand national identity and corporate negative information.In order to provide theoretical reference and practical guidance for enterprise marketing practice.Based on the review of the existing research literature,four main contents of the research are clarified.The first is basic research,which focuses on the national identity of brands(domestic brand vs.How to encourage consumers to form different types of psychological contracts in the process of establishing psychological contract relationship with brands;The second is to explore whether there is differentiated impact based on brand national identity under different types of negative information situations,that is,starting from different types of negative information situations,to study the differentiated impact of brand national identity on brand equity dilution caused by negative information(research on the moderating effect of brand national identity).Thirdly,the concept of psychological contract and the theory of psychological contract breach are introduced as mediating variables,and the mediating mechanism of the moderating effect of brand national identity is studied deeply.Fourthly,two variables,brand strength and consumption value orientation,are introduced as moderating variables to further explore and identify the boundary conditions and situational conditions of brand national identity effect.On this basis,the basic hypothesis of the research is proposed,the theoretical model of the research is constructed,and 5 groups of behavioral experiments are designed.Supplemented by questionnaire survey,data collection and statistical analysis are carried out,and then the basic hypothesis of the research is tested empirically through theoretical deduction and scientific empirical research,in an attempt to deepen and extend the existing research on the theory of brand national identity in the context of negative information.Then open the black box of consumer psychological mechanism of brand national identity effect,that is,deeply analyze the intermediary mechanism of brand national identity effect,further identify the boundary conditions of brand national identity effect,so as to deepen the research on brand national identity and company negative information,and provide theoretical reference and guidance for enterprise brand marketing management practice.On the basis of following the scientific research paradigm and standard research process,this study draws the following conclusions: First,under the condition of other conditions being equal,consumers tend to establish relational psychological contracts with domestic brands and transactional psychological contracts with foreign brands.Second,when the company is in the dynamic negative information situation,the brand evaluation of foreign brands is less than that of domestic brands.When the company is in the situation of social responsibility negative information,the brand evaluation of domestic brands is less than that of foreign brands.Domestic brand identity can not provide a natural shield against negative information in any situation.When the company has negative information of power type,domestic brand identity can effectively reduce the dilution of brand equity in negative information situation,that is,when the company is in the situation of power type negative information,Consumers’ brand evaluation of domestic brands is significantly higher than that of foreign brands.When negative information of social responsibility occurs in the company,the negative impact on domestic brands is significantly higher than that on foreign brands.At this point,the domestic brand identity is not an effective barrier for enterprises to resist negative information.Thirdly,when the company is in the negative information situation,the breach of consumer psychological contract plays a partial mediating role in the effect of brand national identity on consumer brand evaluation,and the type of company negative information situation moderates the mediating role of consumer brand psychological contract in the relationship between brand national identity and company brand evaluation.Fourthly,brand strength and consumption value orientation have a moderating effect on brand national identity.In the context of negative corporate competence information,with the increase of brand strength,the moderating effect of brand national identity on the relationship between brand evaluation becomes smaller.However,when brand strength is very high,the moderating effect of brand national identity on the relationship between negative corporate competence information and brand evaluation becomes less significant.In the context of negative corporate social responsibility information,with the increase of brand strength,the moderating effect of brand national identity on the relationship between brand evaluation becomes larger.However,when brand strength is very low,the moderating effect of brand national identity on the relationship between negative corporate social responsibility information and brand evaluation becomes less significant.Different consumer value orientations have different moderating effects on different negative information situations: Compared with consumer cosmopolitanism,consumer ethnocentrism strengthens the moderating effect of brand national identity on the relationship between negative corporate competence information and brand evaluation;Compared with consumer ethnocentrism,consumer cosmopolitanism strengthens the moderating effect of brand national identity on the relationship between negative corporate social responsibility information and brand evaluation.This study focuses on the theory of corporate brand relationship,introduces the theory of psychological contract and its breach,and puts forward the systematic theory of brand national identity.It points out that different national identities of brands and psychological contracts constructed by consumers are different,which will affect the psychological contract breach of consumers under different negative information situations,and ultimately affect consumers’ evaluation of corporate brands.At the same time,the effect of brand national identity is regulated by brand strength and consumption value orientation,which can deepen brand managers’ understanding of the mechanism of brand national identity in the formation of consumer brand evaluation in the context of consumers’ understanding of negative information,and has important theoretical support and practical guiding significance for company brand evaluation and brand equity maintenance.The research conclusion of this paper further deepens and extends the theory of national brand identity and provides a new explanation for consumers’ brand evaluation mechanism in the context of negative information.In practice,it can provide theoretical support and decision-making basis for enterprises in the relationship management between consumers and brands,the prevention and treatment of brand negative information events,and provide important reference for brand marketers at home and abroad.