Impact of brand hate on consumer well-being for technology products through the lens of stimulus organism response approach.

Consumer well-being is a micromarketing concept that emphasizes on contributions of marketing activities in social welfare. The major objective of the current study is to analyze the impact of self-incongruence on brand dissatisfaction, brand hate, and consumer well-being. This study has utilized the Self-incongruity Theory and the Stimulus-Organism-Response model to test the impact of self-incongruity on anti-consumption and consumer voice behaviors, and subsequent effects on consumer well-being. Data were collected from young consumers of technology products from major cities of Pakistan. A total of 592 consumers answered a paper-and-pencil questionnaire using purposive sampling technique. The data were analyzed by partial least square structural equation modeling. The findings of this study reveal that functional and symbolic incongruity predict brand hate and dissatisfaction, which is positively related with brand retaliation. Brand retaliation is negatively related with consumer well-being. This study offers implications for product designers, marketers, advertisers and other stakeholders to improve congruence between what young consumers of technology products expect and what brands are offering to mitigate negative attitudes and behaviors and increase consumer well-being.

"Wow! It's Cool": How Brand Coolness Affects the Customer Psychological Well-Being Through Brand Love and Brand Engagement.

In this era of razor-edge competition, marketers strive to outperform their rivals by improving their brands. Increasing brand coolness may be the best way to do it. This study used a stimulus organism response (SOR) model by integration with brand attribution theory to conduct a cross sectional study using purposive sampling technique and surveying young consumers of smart gadgets in Pakistan. A total of 1,178 responses were received and analyzed by structural equation modeling. The results found a positive impact of brand coolness (stimulus) on brand love and brand engagement (both modeled as organism). Brand experience moderated these links. Brand love and brand engagement also mediated the relationship between brand coolness and consumer well-being and delight (both modeled as response). The findings suggest a very important contribution to theory and practice by testing unexploited outcomes of brand coolness. Especially, this study contributes to the consumer well-being literature, again an unexploited aspect of marketing literature. Despite the uniqueness of the findings, the cross sectional design of this study remains a major limitation. Future research may supplement the findings with the help of longitudinal studies. Marketers and practitioners may benefit from this study by improving the coolness of their brands so they may not only increase consumer engagement with the brand but they will also make consumers happy with their brands.

Habit-Does It Matter? Bringing Habit and Emotion into the Development of Consumer's Food Waste Reduction Behavior with the Lens of the Theory of Interpersonal Behavior.

The immense food waste, generated by restaurants is not only a serious burden for the foodservice business but also a cause of anguish for the emerging nations in which eating out is becoming increasingly trendy. Consumers' food wastes account for a significant portion of restaurant food waste, indicating the need for a change in consumers' behavior to minimize food waste. To examine this problem, our study sought to identify the elements that influence restaurant consumers' behaviors on food waste reduction, reuse, and recycling. The influence of anticipated positive emotions, awareness of consequences, environmental knowledge, and social norms on waste reduction intentions were examined by using a quantitative technique in the investigation. Furthermore, the influence of habits, waste reduction intentions, and facilitating conditions on food waste reduction, reuse, and recycling behaviors have also been investigated. The study collected 1063 responses and employed the PLS-SEM approach to verify the hypotheses. The results suggested that anticipated positive emotions, awareness of consequences, environmental knowledge, and social norms all have substantial impacts on waste reduction intentions. In addition, habits, waste reduction intentions, and facilitating conditions have noteworthy influences on consumers' behaviors towards food waste reduction, reuse, and recycling in restaurants. Understanding these elements could help in correcting customers' waste behaviors in restaurants. The findings in this study are useful for managers, policymakers, and researchers who want to solve the problems of food waste. The implications, limits, and suggestions for further studies have also been discussed in our study.