品牌犯错下微博品牌拟人化对消费者宽恕的影响研究

The Study on the Influence of Micro-blog Brand Anthropomorphism on Consumer Forgiveness in Brand Transgression Context

众多品牌正积极实施拟人化的营销策略来加强与消费者的关系,却甚少关注到拟人化的风险。有研究关注在品牌犯错后品牌拟人化对消费者态度或评价的影响,却在作用方向上未能达成一致的结论。本研究聚焦于在品牌犯错后,消费者对拟人化的品牌和非拟人化的品牌在宽恕意愿上的差异及其内在机制。通过两个实验发现:当品牌犯能力型错误时,拟人化的品牌会获得更高的消费者宽恕意愿;当品牌犯道德型错误时,非拟人化的品牌会获得更高的消费者宽恕意愿。移情在品牌拟人化对消费者宽恕的影响中起中介作用,但移情并不是所有犯错类型调节的中介,即不论品牌犯何种错误,拟人化都比非拟人化更能够促使消费者产生移情心理。本研究在理论上对拟人化在品牌犯错情境下的相关研究进行了补充与扩展,并丰富了消费者宽恕相关影响因素的研究;在实践上,本研究结果揭示了拟人化营销在品牌犯错后的风险,可以为品牌拟人化营销策略的启用提供建议指导。

Many brands are actively implementing anthropomorphic marketing strategies to strengthen their relationships with consumers,but little attention has been paid to the risks of anthropomorphism.Few studies have focused on the impact of brand anthropomorphism on consumer attitudes or evaluations after brand mistakes,but failed to reach a consensus on the direction of the influence.This study focuses on the differences in consumers willingness to forgive and its underlying mechanism between anthropomorphic brands and non-anthropomorphic brands after brand makes mistakes.Through two experiments,we found that when the brand makes a competence-based mistake,the anthropomorphic brand will get a higher willingness of consumers to forgive.When the brand makes an integrity-based violation,the non-anthropomorphic brand will get a higher willingness of consumers to forgive.Empathy mediates the influence of brand anthropomorphism on consumer forgiveness,but empathy is not a mediator in the relationship that is mediated by the mistake type.In other words,no matter what kind of mistake a brand makes,anthropomorphism can promote consumers empathy than non-anthropomorphism.This study theoretically complements and extends the research on anthropomorphism in the context of brand's mistakes,and enriches the research on the influencing factors of consumer forgiveness.In practice,the results reveal the risk of anthropomorphic marketing after brand makes mistakes,which can provide suggestions and guidance for the use of anthropomorphic marketing strategies.