Softening the Blow: Company Self-Disclosure of Negative Information Lessens Damaging Effects on Consumer Judgment and Decision Making |
| |
Authors: | Bob M. Fennis Wolfgang Stroebe |
| |
Affiliation: | 1. Department of Marketing, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV, Groningen, The Netherlands 2. Department of Marketing, BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo, Norway 3. Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 1, 3584 CS, Utrecht, The Netherlands 4. Department of Social Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
|
| |
Abstract: | Is self-disclosure of negative information a viable strategy for a company to lessen the damage done to consumer responses? Three experiments assessed whether self-disclosing negative information in itself lessened the damaging impact of this information compared to third-party disclosure of the same information. Results indicated that mere self-disclosure of a negative event positively affected consumers’ choice behavior, perceived company trustworthiness, and company evaluations compared to third-party disclosure. The effectiveness of the self-disclosure strategy was moderated by the initial reputation of a company, such that its impact was only observed for companies that had a poor reputation at the outset. For them, self-disclosure considerably lessened the impact of negative information compared to third-party disclosure. For companies that enjoyed a positive reputation, type of disclosure did not affect consumer responses. Mediation analysis showed that perceptions of company trustworthiness underlie the effects of the self-disclosure strategy on consumer judgment. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|