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The purpose of this paper is to bring to light how betrayal can be found between individuals in organizations, and gives examples of how this can be avoided and managed effectively to create more collaborative and supportive working environments.

This is a viewpoint paper which discusses how betrayal is viewed and responded to by leaders in organizations. This paper makes use of the authors' personal experiences of leadership.

This article proposes a framework for recognizing patterns in behavior in organizations; especially between individuals, from which feelings of betrayal can occur.

The article describes “betrayal” in the context of small, medium and large organizations; however this is deemed to be something which is defined by the individual who has experienced the feelings of betrayal, making this a difficult concept to define universally.

The findings in this viewpoint can be applied to experiences of leadership and betrayal across the public sector.

This paper explains that naming the feeling of betrayal enables the proposal of a new framework, in which patterns in behavior can be identified which will enable leaders to understand their own responses and those of their employees. This will allow leaders be more readily aware of the “psychological contract” which exists between them and their colleagues, and to learn how to manage their relationships more effectively in light of this and the subtle expectations of their employees.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are typical corporate strategies that provide hospitality business competitiveness. However, some recent evidence shows that when the merged and acquired (M&Aed) restaurants have strong local characteristics, consumers feel betrayed and perceive the M&As, legitimate business activities, as immoral actions. Building upon expectancy violation theory and moral foundation theory, this study aims to examine the moderating role of locavorism on the indirect effects of preexisting relationship quality on desire for avoidance and psychological loss through brand betrayal and moral judgment.

This study used the M&A of Whataburger chain restaurant as the scenario and recruited 399 Texas Whataburger consumers. A moderated mediation model was developed to examine the mechanisms through which preexisting relationship quality on negative responses to M&A of local restaurants.

The results showed preexisting relationship quality influences desire for avoidance and psychological loss negatively through brand betrayal and moral judgment. The indirect effects of relationship quality on the desire for avoidance and psychological loss become more accentuated among locavores.

The results implied that merging and acquiring (M&Aing) companies should closely monitor consumer dialogues to promptly respond to post-M&A uncertainties when M&Aed company has a strong local identity.

The unique contribution of this study is showing why consumers have extreme negative emotions and judgment of immorality when M&A decisions are made for local hospitality brands through the lens of brand betrayal and moral foundation theory. The results can help M&Aing companies mitigate consumers’ negative responses to M&A of local restaurants.

This paper aims to explore the impact of corporate social responsibility and hypocrisy on the relationship among psychological contract violation, trust and perceived betrayal.

This study used purposive sampling and selected students in Taiwan as the research participants. The theory of psychological contract violation and consumer awareness process in violation hypocrisy on psychological contract violation were used to investigate the effect of its impact on trust and perceived betrayal. Then, the moderating effect of social responsibility and hypocritical on trust, and the mediating effect of trust between psychological contract violation and perceived betrayal were analyzed.

The results indicated that hypocrisy had a significant and negative impact on psychological contract violation toward trust; hypocrisy had a significantly positive impact on psychological contract violation toward perceived betrayal; trust had a significantly negative impact on perceived betrayal; perceived betrayal had a significantly positive impact on both direct and indirect revenges; trust had a mediating effect between hypocrisy toward psychological contract violation and perceived betrayal; and higher hypocrisy would produce a stronger effect through trust on the relationships between hypocrisy toward psychological contract violation and perceived betrayal.

Perception of consumers would differ whenever there were failures of service recovery occurred; especially, stronger betrayal feeling would be perceived with the companies who emphasized social responsibility and did not carry out what they should do. Research results could be references for companies whom advertising and praising social responsibility.

This study aims to examine how culture influences consumer attitudes toward the brands of products they own during a product-harm crisis. To this end, average consumers from two countries - the USA, representing a highly individualistic society and China, a less individualistic (i.e. collectivist) society – are compared.

The study conducts an invariance test of the measurement model for a more rigorous comparison of the two countries. Structural equation modeling is performed to identify how average consumers respond to a product-harm crisis (e.g. iPhone explosion) based on survey results of 188 American and 197 Chinese consumers.

These results reveal that in both countries, an individual’s susceptibility to a normative interpersonal influence determines their brand consciousness, which, in turn, enhances consumer attachment to well-known brands, resulting in favorable brand attitudes. During a brand crisis, an owned brand’s buffering effect is observed among consumers high in brand consciousness in collectivistic but not in individualistic societies. The moderating role of feelings of betrayal on the brand attachment-consumer attitude relationship is also reported.

Culture shapes consumer behavioral patterns. In today’s global market, a company’s decisions are no longer limited by borders and many companies experience product failures. Thus, findings that show consumers’ distinguishable psychological experiences between different cultures contribute to crisis management literature.

This paper aims to understand how strong brand attachment can intensify the feeling of perceived betrayal, leading to brand hate after a negative experience with the brand. The study further investigates how consumers make causal attributions for negative experiences when strong brand attachment exists. The moderating effect of a narcissistic personality in the dissemination of negative electronic word of mouth (eWOM) following brand hate is also tested.

The study uses a within-the-subject repeated measures experimental design. A total of 202 college students were exposed to two treatments (high versus no brand attachment), involving a situation of product failure of a smart phone brand. A total of 135 responses were used to compare the outcomes of the two treatments using multivariate analysis. The data of high brand attachment treatment (N = 202) were used to test the proposed research model using partial least square-structural equation modelling.

The results suggest that having a strong positive relationship with the brand can generate stronger feelings of perceived betrayal and brand hate after the brand transgresses the consumer’s expectations. The results indicate that resentful customers can resort to eWOM after feeling betrayed, even though the prior relationship with the brand was strong.

This paper extends the work on perceived betrayal to study brand hate and proposes that brand hate can arise even if there is a strong brand attachment. It contributes to the growing body of literature on brand hate and its possible antecedents. Additionally, the study poses some crucial managerial implications for the brand managers by suggesting that strong brand relationships not always ensure loyalty or commitment and can lead to consequences that are damaging for the brand equity.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how service failure affects customers’ negative response and how service recovery affects perceived justice in the context of different relationship norms.

It includes four studies that examine how relationships influence customer reactions to service failures. In study 1, the paper examines how service failures affect customers’ negative reaction. In study 2, the paper examines how service recoveries influence perceived justice. Study 3 and study 4 test the robustness of the results of study 1 and study 2. All studies have a 2×2 between-subjects design.

The results show that individuals in exchange relationships experience a stronger feeling of betrayal than those in communal relationships during service failures. Further, individuals feel more betrayed and show greater negative responses during process failures. They perceive greater justice when offered physical recoveries, which, in turn, contributes to higher service-recovery satisfaction.

This study was conducted in Taiwan. Customer reactions to service failures may vary according to cultural and environmental contexts.

Service providers are encouraged to cultivate relationships with customers and identify different types of customers to compensate them more effectively, according to their preferences.

This study introduces relationship norms to investigate consumer responses to service failures. The main contributions are twofold; it investigates the effect of relationship norms on customer responses to service-failure types and service-recovery types.

This study aims to investigate the interplay between brand and consumer personalities in shaping brand hate and its consequences. More specifically, it investigates the relationship between fallacious character of the brand, brand betrayal feelings and brand hate, and identifies two response routes leading to consumer avoidance and revenge. Furthermore, the study explores the moderating impact of narcissism on the relationships between brand hate and its outcomes.

Data are collected from an online survey of a French representative consumer panel where participants were asked to cite a particular brand they hate, and then assess the different constructs tested in the model. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used for data analysis.

The study sheds light on the possible mediators and moderators of brand hate. Particularly, brand betrayal is hypothesized as a mediator between fallacious character of the brand and brand hate. Moreover, the study assesses the impact of narcissism on the relationship between brand hate and desire for avoidance and revenge. Findings show that active brand hate leads to a desire for revenge, whereas passive brand hate positively influences desire for avoidance. Finally, the current research suggests that consumer narcissism fuels desire for revenge on the brand.

To the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to integrate brand personality (the fallacious character of the brand) and consumer personality (narcissism). The study describes the mechanism through which brand transgressions activate two response routes to brand hate associated with the desires for revenge and avoidance.

This study unpacks the relationship between violations of organizational promises, as perceived by employees and their job performance, considering the mediating effects of job-related anxiety and moderating effects of psychological contract type.

Multi-source, multi-wave data were collected from employees and their supervisors in Pakistan.

Feelings of organizational betrayal may reduce job performance due to the higher anxiety that employees experience in their daily work. This mediating role of enhanced job-related anxiety in turn is stronger to the extent that employees believe that their psychological contract contains relational obligations but weaker when it contains transactional obligations.

The study gives organizational decision makers pertinent insights into how they can mitigate the risk that employees who are angry about broken organizational promises stay away from performance-enhancing work activities, namely, by managing the expectations that come along with psychological contracts. In so doing, they can avoid imposing dual harms on employees, from both a sense that they have been betrayed and the risk of lower performance ratings.

This study offers expanded insights into the process that underpins the translation of psychological contract violations into diminished job performance, by pinpointing the simultaneous roles of experienced job-related anxiety and beliefs about employer obligations.

This paper aims to investigate how employees’ perceptions of psychological contract violation or sense of organizational betrayal, might diminish their job satisfaction, as well as how their access to two critical personal resources – emotion regulation skills and work-related self-efficacy – might buffer this negative relationship.

Two-wave survey data came from employees of Pakistani-based organizations.

Perceived contract violation reduces job satisfaction, but the effect is weaker at higher levels of emotion regulation skills and work-related self-efficacy.

For organizations, these results show that the frustrations that come with a sense of organizational betrayal can be contained more easily to the extent that their employees can draw from relevant personal resources.

This investigation provides a more complete understanding of when perceived contract violation will deplete employees’ emotional resources, in the form of feelings of happiness about their job situation. A sense of organizational betrayal is less likely to escalate into reduced job satisfaction when employees can control their negative emotions and feel confident about their work-related competencies.

This paper aims to identify the ways that customers respond to customer-to-customer comparisons that may drive loyal customers to engage in undesirable behaviors. The research examines the role that jealousy and envy play in restoring equity through revenge-seeking intentions.

The study uses survey research methodology. The measurement model is validated using CFA, and hypotheses are tested using structural equation modeling. The mediated relationships are calculated using the bootstrap method, and moderated mediation is calculated by creating estimands to test the effects.

Customers who feel either jealousy or envy may engage in revenge-seeking behaviors, such as vindictive complaining and negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Customers who perceive that a firm is unfairly favoring other customers develop feelings of jealousy and betrayal, and this tendency is strengthened when the customer has a high level of prior trust. Customers typically develop envy when their attention and perceptions of inequity center on another customer, rather than on the firm’s actions and anger drives this effect.

Customers can pursue revenge-seeking actions when unfair actions influence the formation of envy and jealousy through the development of perceived betrayal. Companies can focus on the comparisons that customers make to address revenge-seeking and better manage online relationships preemptively.

The paths that customers take to revenge through jealousy and envy are conceptualized in a communal relationship setting and further developed. Further distinctions of jealousy and envy are made, and the role of prior trust in enhancing revenge-seeking is found.