By INSTITUTIONAL COMMUNICATION | EGADE BUSINESS SCHOOL
In a new session of the Research Seminar at EGADE Business School, Professor Jatinder Jit Singh, from the Department of Marketing and Business Intelligence, presented his ongoing study titled “Can Affective Commitment Mitigate Unethical Consumer Behavior toward Brands Involved in Value-based Transgressions?”
The session was held on July 17 at EGADE Monterrey and broadcast to the school’s other campuses.
The research explores a lesser-studied phenomenon in consumer behavior: how affective commitment—the emotional connection people feel toward a brand—can have ambivalent effects when that brand commits an ethical transgression.
“If I'm truly committed to a brand and feel an emotional connection with it, and that brand commits a transgression, how will I behave? Will that commitment help or hurt the brand?” the professor asked during his presentation.
The study encompasses six different investigations, ranging from surveys conducted with Volkswagen owners following the 2015 emissions scandal to controlled experiments with brands such as Coca-Cola and Nike. It also incorporates the analysis of over 92,000 tweets related to the Volkswagen case, to understand the emotions expressed publicly by consumers.
One of the most surprising findings is that consumers who are emotionally invested in a brand may respond more harshly when they feel that the brand has violated their values.
“Commitment can have a positive effect, but it can also go in the opposite direction. Some consumers, when they feel betrayed, may become more negative and behave unethically toward the brand,” Singh explained.
The experiments demonstrated that the type of transgression is significant. When it involves an ethical or moral failure (such as poor labor conditions), the “backfiring commitment” effect becomes stronger, as opposed to performance-based issues (like a defective product).
Singh also noted that the dominant emotion is not anger, but shame:
“Committed individuals feel ashamed when the brand transgresses, and that leads them to brand-harming intentions. But if the brand offers an apology, that shame no longer translates into negative behavior.”
Through this study, Singh and his coauthors—researchers from the University of New South Wales in Sydney and UT Austin—contribute novel evidence on the risks and complexities of emotional brand ties.
“The message we want to share is: be careful with commitment. It can act in both directions depending on the context and the type of transgression,” he concluded.
The Research Seminar is a space created by the Faculty of EGADE Business School to foster academic exchange, strengthen applied research, and spark new collaborations among its faculty.
