Abstract:

Frequent occurrences of brand endorsers' scandals produce serious negative effect not only on brand endorsers and brand owners, but also on consumer's brand cognition and consumptive choice. Extant related work, however, focuses primarily on the important effects of brand endorsers' scandals on brand companies' stock prices, customers' willingness to buy and the spillover effects and so on, but lacks deep insights and effective researches on questions of whether, how and when brand endorsers' scandals influence consumers' brand trust, which not only directly destroys the completeness of the brand endorsement theory system, but also seriously affects companies' brand endorsement marketing and the practicality of the brand crisis management.
Based on the psychological contract violation theory, the cynicism psychology theory as well as the consumer traditional theory, through constructing a model of moderated mediation, this article conducts an in-depth exploration of the internal mechanism and its boundary conditions underlying how brand endorsers' scandals affect consumers' brand trust, which are empirically tested by using experimental methods. Statistical methods used in the article include ANOVA, regression, Bootstrap mediation test and cognitive response test.
Experiment 1, with sun glasses as experiment goods and telling a lie(Brand Endorser's Immoral Scandal,BEIS)and drunk driving(Brand Endorser's Unlawful Scandal,BEUS)as respective experimental manipulation as well as 184 undergraduate students as experimental subjects, tests both the direct and the mediating effects of brand endorsers' scandals on consumers' brand trust. Its results are as follows: (1) Brand endorsers' scandals do negatively affect consumer's brand trust, and moreover BEIS gives rise to more negative impact than does BEUS; (2) Both the Psychological Contract Violation (PCV) and the Cynicism Psychology(CP) commonly mediate the impact of brand endorsers' scandals on consumers' brand trust; (3) Neither the product expertise nor the brand endorser attachment has disturbing influence on the experimental results.
Experiment 2, with smart TV as experimental goods and committing adultery (BEIS) and taking drugs (BEUS) as respective experimental manipulation as well as 247 undergraduate students as experimental subjects, effectively tests both the moderating and the mediating effects of brand endorsers' scandals on consumers' brand trust. Its results are as follows: (1) The consumer traditionality moderates the effect of brand endorsers' scandals on CP, but does not moderate the effect of brand endorsers' scandals on PCV; (2) The mediating effect of PCV is significant for both the high traditional or the low traditional consumers, but the mediating effect of CP is significant only for the low traditional consumers; (3) Neither psychological reactance response nor perceived empathy becomes potential alternative explanation.
These findings, for one thing, have an important theoretical significance for deepening and enriching theories concerning brand endorsers' scandals, brand trust and brand crisis response, and for another, also have a significant managerial implication for brand owners to rightly operate brand endorsement or effectively cope with brand endorsers' scandals, for brand endorsers to strictly behave themselves, for consumers to rationally treat brand endorsers' scandals and for regulators to effectively govern brand endorsement. Certainly, due to such restrictions as research conditions and research methods, the article also has some limitations to be improved relating to the influence mechanism, contrasts with other scandals, products' price impact, the longitude effect and the experimental methods.

Key words: Brand Endorsers' Scandal, Psychological Contract Violation, Cynicism Psychology, Brand Trust, Consumer Traditionality

摘要：

日益频发的品牌代言人丑闻无论是给代言人还是给品牌商以及消费者都带来了巨大的消极影响,但目前相关的研究却极为匮乏。通过两个实验研究发现:虽然品牌代言人悖德丑闻与违法丑闻都会降低消费者的品牌信任,但前者较之于后者的影响更严重;心理契约违背与犬儒主义心理会共同在品牌代言人丑闻对消费者品牌信任的影响中起中介作用;消费者传统性不仅会直接调节品牌代言人丑闻对犬儒主义心理的影响,而且会对双中介产生调节作用,但不会对品牌代言人丑闻影响心理契约违背产生直接的调节作用。该研究不仅对深化和完善品牌代言危机等理论具有重要意义,而且对品牌商、代言人、消费者和监管机构等有重要的管理启示。

关键词: 品牌代言人丑闻, 心理契约违背, 犬儒主义心理, 品牌信任, 消费者传统性