Abstract: This paper explores how the interaction of entrepreneurs’ negative exposure events and entrepreneur’s image affect consumer perception of his or her image. To clarify the internal influence mechanism with the evidence from the previous literature, we divide entrepreneur negative exposure event into two types: incompetence and immorality. The results of the experimental studies indicate that: if the entrepreneur’s image is “Expertise” type, the difference of consumer’s evaluation on the entrepreneur’s image encountered with negative exposure between incompetence and immorality is not significant; If the entrepreneur’s image is “Trustworthiness” or “Attractiveness” type, consumer’s evaluation on the entrepreneur’s image will be significantly lower when the entrepreneur is encountered with immorality than incompetent.

Key words: entrepreneur&rsquo, s image

摘要： 本文旨在探究企业家负面曝光事件的类型和企业家形象的交互是如何影响消费者对企业家评价的感知。为厘清其内在影响机制，本文在结合本土文化特征的基础上，将企业家负面曝光事件划分为与能力相关的负面曝光事件和与道德相关的负面曝光事件两种类型。研究结果发现：当企业家是专业型的，消费者对遭遇道德负面曝光和遭遇能力负面曝光的企业家形象的评价没有显著差异。当企业家是可靠型和吸引力型，相对于遭遇能力的负面曝光，消费者对遭遇道德负面曝光的企业家形象的评价更差。