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Belief In A Just World: An Investigation Of Underdog Brand Effects, Jungyoung (Tiffany) Shin

Doctoral Dissertations

In today’s society, when companies neglect ethical or social issues involved in business practices, these types of behavior could result in consumer boycotts or anti-consumption. The majority of previous research in anti-consumption assumed that consumers’ brand avoidance is a result of a brand or a company’s moral failure, however, more recent research indicates that this may not be the case. In fact, consumer avoidance of a brand may happen as a result of brand positioning status in the marketplace – coined as “underdog effects”. Although it is still questionable how individuals make judgments about underdogs in the hospitality …