Abstract

This thesis on brand hate comprises two manuscripts. The first essay: Understand Brand Hate adopts grounded theory method and examines the brand hate construct coherently. Guided by the triangulated method, the depth interviews were carried out among 25 participants across 12 nationalities, and related brand hate documents were collected. Overall, 179 brand hate cases were obtained on 71 brands. Atlas.ti was used to conduct the qualitative analysis. Results present the attributes of brand hate, including associations, antecedents, and consequences. Three different brand hate states are also uncovered in the findings, which are mild brand hate, moderate brand hate, and strong brand hate. Three dimensions of brand hate are also suggested by the findings from essay 1: emotional, cognitive, and physical. In the second essay: Dimensions of Brand Hate: Scale Development and Validation, a comprehensive measurement scale of brand hate is developed based on the work that is done in the first essay. Through a series of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), the second essay develops a nine-factor measurement scale consisting 28 items. More importantly, the essay 2 confirms the observation in essay 1 that brand hate is a multidimensional construct with three dimensions. The nine-factor measurement scale is further validated through testing a group of causal relationships between brand hate and negative word-of-mouth, complaint, protest, and patronage reduction. This work contributes to the understanding of consumer-brand relationship both theoretically and practically.