The effects of brand relationship norms on consumer attitudes and behavior

The key premise underlying this work is that different relationships carry with them specific norms of behavior. Three experiments tested the general hypothesis that consumers' brand evaluations are guided by the norms of consumer-brand relationships. Two types of consumer-brand relationships were examined—‘exchange’ relationships in which people provide benefits to others in order to get something back, and ‘communal’ relationships in which benefits are given to demonstrate concern for other's needs. It was hypothesized that the degree of consistency between the actions taken by a brand and the norms of the particular relationship influence consumers' evaluation of those actions.; Results of Experiment 1 showed that charging a fee for providing a special service violated communal relationship norms but not exchange relationship norms, causing communal relationship participants to evaluate the brand poorly relative to the exchange participants. Results of Experiment 2 showed that an offer of an inexpensive gift rather than cash compensation for filling out a questionnaire is perceived as a violation of relationship norms by exchange participants but not by communal participants, leading the former to have a lower evaluation of the brand. Finally, results of Experiment 3 showed that relative to communal participants, exchange participants experienced greater violation of relationship norms, and evaluated the brand lower in response to a request for help from the brand if the request was made after some time gap rather than immediately after they had sought help from the brand. Mediation analysis supported the hypothesis that a violation of relationship norms influenced participants' evaluation of the brand as well as their assessment of the relationship strength.; Findings are consistent with the premise that analogous to interpersonal relations, brand-consumer relationships carry with them socially sanctioned norms of behavior and adherence to or violation of these norms influences the appraisal of specific marketing actions.