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Drawing on the theory of planned behavior, this study aims to conduct an empirical investigation on whether and how psychological and motivational factors (i.e. attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control) affect actual purchase behavior. It does so through the lens of boycott intention and gender differences in the context of boycott campaigns.

Focusing on the South Korean boycott campaign against Japanese companies, this study employs a structural equation model using survey data from 571 South Korean consumers to test the hypotheses.

While the three psychological and motivational factors inhibit all three dimensions of actual purchase behavior (i.e. purchase frequency, number of items purchased and purchase amount) through increased boycott intention, perceived behavioral control of boycotts directly curb South Korean consumers from purchasing Japanese products. Additionally, the effect of boycott intention on overall actual purchase behavior is stronger for men than for women, suggesting a moderating role of gender.

To mitigate the devastating impact of unexpected consumers' boycott campaigns, this study advises that global brand management and attractive online channels are essential while considering the differential impact of gender.

By conceptualizing three dimensions of actual purchase behavior capturing behavioral changes before and after a boycott, this study highlights the linkages between psychological and motivational factors, intentions and behaviors. Additionally, this study attempts to clarify the previously conflicting evidence on gender's role in boycott campaigns while taking a culture-inclusive psychologies approach to gender.

This exploratory research examined how emphasizing a brand’s unethical behaviour through high moral intensity news framing influences consumer boycott intention.

The hypotheses were tested and validated using two experimental studies that expose customers of real retail and personal care product brands to news articles that have high and low moral intensity news frames.

The results showed high moral intensity news framing’s positive effect on consumer boycott intention. The frame’s influence is moderated by moral awareness and partially mediated by perceived moral intensity and moral judgement. The findings suggest that consumers’ perception of the frame and their attitude towards the brand will have a substantial role in boycott intention.

These research outcomes aid in the understanding of news framing effects on boycott intention, providing both insights for consumer activists and managerial implications for stewards of brands.

While previous research have examined the impact of news frames on the typical audience, there has been relatively little focus on news framing’s impact on consumers and their decision to boycott brands. This study addresses this gap by applying the work on emphasis framing to a consumer decision-making context. It also introduces moral intensity framing to the news frame classification. In addition, this study expands current conceptualizations of individual ethical decision-making to help explain consumer boycott intent.

Consumer animosity in the wake of Russia–Ukraine war has gained significance in consumer behavior research. In this line, this study aims to examine the critical influence of consumer animosity in developing brand attitude and its ensuing outcomes – brand boycott behavior and brand-country image – the moderating role of perceived intrusiveness on the relationship between consumer animosity and brand attitude and the moderating role of altruism between brand attitude and behavioral outcomes.

Using the data obtained from 411 European consumers, data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling to examine the proposed relationships.

The findings revealed a strong negative influence of consumer animosity on brand attitude, which eventually leads to brand boycott behavior and a negative brand-country image. This work also confirmed the boundary condition of perceived intrusiveness on the effect of consumers’ animosity on brand attitude. Furthermore, the authors validated the moderating effects of altruistic behavior on the relationships between brand attitude and boycott behavior and brand-country image.

This study offers theoretical, practical and policy implications in international marketing domain. The authors acknowledged a few shortcomings and made some recommendations for future research.

In the context of the Russian–Ukraine war, this study creates a novel conceptual framework based on consumer animosity. In the current scenario, provide critical perspective on how European customers’ animosity to Russian brands develops their adverse attitudes. This study also highlighted the alternatives to Russian brands when they were boycotted during the Russia–Ukraine war.

The purpose of this paper was identification and empirical assessment of the differentiation of consumers' attitudes in Ukraine and Poland to Russian brands and other brands offered on the Russian market after Russia’s aggression against Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

The main research methods include a systematic literature review and the authors' own surveys conducted in November 2022. The research sample comprised 950 consumers – 67% of them were Poles, 30% – Ukrainians and 3% from other countries.

A respondents' country (Poland and Ukraine) does not impact attitudes to brands offered on the Russian market after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Moreover, it does not affect and differentiate emotional engagement in the conflict and assistance to war victims. Cluster analysis resulted in identifying two groups on the basis of consumers' declared emotional reactions to the war. The first group was smaller (N = 353, 37.2%), referred to as “indifferent consumers”, and was characterized by a greater inclination to purchase brands offered in Russia. The other cluster, referred to as “sensitive consumers” (N = 597, 62.8%), comprises those engaged in offering assistance to war victims, showing strong emotions in connection with the aggression and military activities and characterized by a clearly negative attitude to Russian and other offered brands and an inclination to boycott these brands.

A short time horizon, the study confined to two countries, difficulties in reaching Ukrainian respondents due to power failures in Ukraine in the period of conducting the survey (November 2022), a non-representative research sample – overrepresentation of people aged 18–25 years.

The research study contributes to the knowledge about consumer brand attitudes and preferences under unique social, economic and market conditions. These conditions were created by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as well as the international and global character of the war in Ukraine. The significant implications of the study refer to brand communication policies and companies' CSR-related declarations. A number of consumers' errors were recorded, resulting from wrong brand retrieval, which were rectified at a later stage as a result of international restrictions imposed on Russia, harsh media criticism and social international embargoes imposed on brands offered in Russia. The marketing communication of contemporary global brands should give consideration to the informative function of CSR activities, and the communication process should be continuous. Critical attitudes and an inclination to boycott brands point to the possible consequences faced by inconsistent and ethically doubtful brand policies. This implication is clearly confirmed by the results of the study.

The authors also wish to highlight the implications for practice and society. As mentioned earlier, Polish consumers involved in providing aid to victims of the war also expressed their opposition to the war by boycotting Russian products and international brands remaining in Russia. Popularization of the research results obtained by the authors can be a form of sensitizing the public to the need for long-term relief, awakening global awareness of the essence and importance of sanctions imposed on Russia, as well as the possibility of expressing opposition through individual purchasing decisions and boycotting brands still present in Russia.

The study allowed for identifying consumers' differentiated brand attitudes in two countries: a country inflicted by war (Ukraine) and a front-line country, strongly supporting Ukraine (Poland). The research contributes to consumer behavior theories and studies of consumer attitudes and preferences from the perspective of international corporations' CSR activities under the unique conditions of war. Also, it contributes to the knowledge of the mechanism of forming attitudes to Russian and international brands offered in Russia among CEE consumers.

This study aimed to investigate the influence of brand-targeted animosity on consumers' boycott intentions for target fashion products via their cognitive and affective evaluations, in the context of the “Xinjiang cotton ban” incident. The moderating role of xenocentrism was also examined.

Data were collected through an online survey in China using convenience sampling, and 411 valid responses were obtained. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 for the descriptive statistics, frequency analysis and reliability analysis. AMOS 24.0 was employed for the confirmatory factor and structural equation modeling analyses. Bootstrapping analysis using PROCESS Macro was employed to analyze the moderating effects.

This study found that consumers' brand animosity directly and positively affected boycott intentions and that this influence was sequentially mediated through cognitive-affective evaluations. However, cognitive product judgment did not directly affect boycott intentions. The results showed that xenocentrism had a moderating effect on the relationship between animosity and cognitive judgment. The higher the xenocentrism of consumers, the weaker the negative effect of animosity was on cognitive judgment.

This study bridges the gap in the literature on animosity and xenocentrism in a fashion-related context through examining the consequences of brand animosity.

The purpose of this article is to offer a conceptual assessment of a contemporary consumer boycott of a global sports brand. A critical commentary is offered of the “Boycott PUMA” campaign with an examination of the positions and motivations of the different parties involved, specifically PUMA, the “Boycott PUMA” campaign, the Israeli Football Association and UEFA/FIFA.

This article is a position and conceptual paper, designed to generate a discussion on what is an emotive consumer boycott campaign. A distinction is made between political boycotts and consumer boycotts, whether it is possible to separate sport from politics, and if PUMA's claimed position of neutrality in this conflict can be achieved.

The focus here is on PUMA's corporate social responsibility statement in which they claim that sport and politics do not mix, with their response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 undermining this claim. PUMA's commitment to social justice is being used by the “Boycott PUMA” activists to expose the disconnect between PUMA's stated vision and its actions.

PUMA's brand has been built on creating a particular type of brand image, with a positive image and brand awareness essential for this sports apparel company. If the company finds itself in a media spotlight their brand equity can become damaged.

With very little research available on the Israel/Palestine from a sport sponsorship and marketing perspective, this article offers an original and much needed assessment of a potentially significant campaign.

This study aims to investigate some factors that might drive Muslims in Indonesia to get involved in a French brands boycott movement by examining the moderating role of brand judgment and counterargument.

An online survey has been conducted to 1,063 respondents from all over Indonesia. The respondents are selected using the purposive sampling technique. The model is assessed using covariance-based structural equation modeling, which includes the assessment of measurement and structural model. An interaction moderation technique is applied to examine the effect of moderators on the structural model.

This study shows that the French brand boycott is strongly affected by consumer animosity, perceived efficacy and subjective norms. Moreover, this study also found that the effect of animosity on boycott intention is dampened by brand judgment and counterargument.

First, multinational companies are advised to be careful in creating a campaign. They should avoid sensitive words or the use of specific figures or places highly respected by Muslims. A sensitive campaign might spread hatred, and it is directly connected with the boycott movement based on history. Second, it is pivotal for multinational companies to focus more on product or brand values instead of controversial issues. Finally, multinational companies are also advised to strengthen brand love. When brand love is strong, it is difficult for them to stop patronizing the brand or even switch to other brands.

Prior studies’ findings are still inconclusive in explaining some factors that lead to the success of a boycott call-to-action. Therefore, this study contributes to boycott literature by revealing the importance of brand judgment and counterargument to moderate consumer animosity and boycott intention link.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and others (LGBTQI+) movement has been the focus of companies that seek to win over consumers by supporting diversity. Any positioning, however, that is not perceived as being consistent and genuine can harm the brand's image. Through a queer theoretical perspective, the authors explore perceptions of LGBTQI+ consumers regarding brand activism.

Qualitative research was carried out that involved interviewing Brazilian consumers who are part of the LGBTQI+ community.

Aspects of the identity of these individuals draw closer to those brands that share the same values the individuals have. Brand activism is perceived positively in terms of the brand's representativeness and social impact. When activism is perceived as inauthentic, activism generates a backlash and consumers begin to boycott brands as the consumers associate positioning with woke-washing practices.

The results indicate that to adopt an activist stance with regard to the LGBTQI+ public, brands need to be consistent in the brands' communication and advertising and in brands' organizational culture and diversity. This research provides important indicators for brands that genuinely want to support the LGBTQI+ community and is the first to use queer theory to analyze brand activism.

This review aims to synthesize the brand hate literature and suggest directions for future research on brand hate.

This study adopted an integrative literature review method to synthesize and assess the brand hate literature.

The synthesis showed that social identity theory, disidentification theory and duplex theory are prominently used in brand hate studies, and a larger portion of brand hate research was conducted in Western countries. Further, brand-related, self-congruity, personal factors, information influence and brand community influence are the major types of antecedents of brand hate which can produce soft or hard consequences. Lexicometric analysis showed causes of brand hate, consumers' negative emotional and behavioral outcomes and community anti-brand behavior as key themes of brand hate research.

The synthesis has followed predefined criteria for the inclusion research papers. Thus, the review is limited to articles that fulfilled the criteria for inclusion.

The finding will help marketers, specially brand managers, craft strategies to handle brand hate.

The brand hate literature is still developing and remains incoherent, suggesting that a synthesized review is needed. This study has systematically reviewed and synthesized the brand hate literature to study its development over time and proposes a framework which provides a comprehensive understanding of brand hate.

The purpose of this qualitative comparative study was to explore the brand-switching behavior of Muslim consumers in selected cities from Pakistan and Malaysia.

Data were collected through interviews which were conducted with 30 participants including universities (5), shopping malls (5) and restaurant locations (5) of each country. The constant comparative analysis was used to analyze the data.

Results revealed that a demonstration of awareness of American brands, their image and perceived quality causes Muslim consumers to switch away from American brands to non-American brands. In addition, this study also showed that the certain reasons compel consumers to stay with American brands.

The findings are helpful for American brands in reconsidering their strategies while segmenting the Muslim consumers as target market.

This is the first paper of its kind to explore Muslim consumer brand-switching behavior by using a qualitative method.