Journal article
Can negative buzz increase awareness and purchase intent?
Marketing letters, v 31(1), pp 89-104
01 Mar 2020
Abstract
Consumers are regularly exposed to negative information about brands through word-of-mouth, news, reviews, and social media. Prior literature on consumers' response to negative brand information has shown that when more negative information is available about a brand, sales are depressed. In contrast, we find that an increase in negative information about a brand may lead to an increase in brand awareness and purchase intent for the brand. Using four years of weekly survey data tracking customers' attitudes towards computer and automobile brands, we estimate VARX models that relate a survey measure of exposure to negative information about a brand (negative buzz) with brand awareness, positive feeling toward the brand, and purchase intent for the brand. As expected, for automotive brands, we find that a shock in negative buzz leads to higher brand awareness and negative effects on positive feeling and purchase intent. However, for computers, we find that an increase in negative buzz is followed by increases in awareness, positive feeling, and purchase intent. This suggests there are circumstances when negative buzz should not be suppressed.
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Details
- Title
- Can negative buzz increase awareness and purchase intent?
- Creators
- Jung Ah Han - Richard Stockton College of New JerseyElea McDonnell Feit - Drexel UniversityShuba Srinivasan - Boston University
- Publication Details
- Marketing letters, v 31(1), pp 89-104
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- Number of pages
- 16
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Marketing
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000499235800001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85076095301
- Other Identifier
- 991019189301904721
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Business