How Fashion Luxury Brands Communities Express Negativity: a Netnographic Approach
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MASTER IN ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION How Fashion Luxury Brands Communities Express Negativity: A Netnographic Approach Mafalda Jacques dos Santos Barata M 2020 HOW FASHION LUXURY BRANDS COMMUNITIES EXPRESS NEGATIVITY: A NETNOGRAPHIC APPROACH Mafalda Jacques dos Santos Barata Dissertation Master in Economics and Business Administration Supervised by: Amélia Maria Pinto da Cunha Brandão, PhD 2020 Bibliographic Note Mafalda Jacques dos Santos Barata was born on 15th July of 1995 in Porto, Portugal. In 2013 she enrolled in the Management course in Católica Porto Business School. In September 2015 she moved to Amsterdam to experience tu study during fall semester at HvA - Hogeschool Van Amsterdam (University of Applied Sciences). The six months she spent abroad were crucial for her personal growth as well as for her academic expansion, given that HvA promotes both experimental and theoretical education. The biggest challenge at a academic level was learning of SAP’s software functionalities within a fictional company inside the university, which gave her tangible insights about working in a company. In January 2017 she concluded her bachelor degree with an average grade of fourteen out of twenty, with the intention to enroll in a master’s degree in September of that year. During that period, she got an internship in the Super Bock Group in marketing department. For three months she participated in the internationalization of their products to Spain. By September 2017 she had enrolled in the Master’s in Economics and Business Administration at FEP School of Economics and Management, with the aim to expand her knowledge in the management field as well as learning about economics. During the master’s degree, she perceived her vocation for marketing studies and therefore chose a marketing project to conclude her Master’s degree. i. Acknowledgments Firstly, I would like to dedicate this work to my grandfather, Eng. João Jacques de Sousa. For 25 years you were my biggest life supporter, admirer and teacher. Thank you for teaching me how to be resilient, ambitious, patient and a hard worker. There are no sufficient words to thank you for turning me the person I have become. I am deeply happy to have had the chance for you to read part of this work and saw your pride. Then, you turned to be my inner strength and motivation to conclude this cycle of my life. Hope you are proud of me, wherever you are. Also, the conclusion of this academic cycle would not be possible without the great support and guidance of my supervisor Amélia Brandão. I am and always will be grateful for your demanding requests and expectations on this work, making me want to perform better in each day of this process. I feel so lucky to have crossed my path with you and to have gained so much knowledge from you. Then, I am deeply thankful to my parents and grandmothers, who always strive for giving me the best education. Your unconditional love, support, motivation, patience and high expectations encouraged me to work hard every day of my life, to achieve all the success you believed I could reach. Thank you for celebrating each small personal and academic victory with me. Knowing your happiness and pride on the conclusion of this work, means the world to me. To my sister Carolina, thank you for your support. You have always known what to say and how to help. Also, I do know you are my biggest fan, which inspires me to be a better person, student, and professional. Finally, but with enormous importance, I would like to show my gratitude to all my closest friends, they know who they are. All of your comprehension, support, motivation, kindness and care were fundamental during these months. A special thanks to my best friend Catarina, who is my life and academic partner. All the days and nights we spent together working on our projects, all the emotional support, friendship and fellowship, were the most important part of this journey and will always be remembered with love and happiness. ii. Abstract Purpose: The aim of this paper is to understand what are the antecedents of consumers’ negativity towards luxury brands in the context of online communities, as well as the ways they express such negativity. Methodology: A symbolic and non-participatory netnographic approach is implemented on two online plataforms: An anti-brand community and Social Media Network – Twitter. Focusing on two luxury brands (Louis Vuitton and Michael Kors), a non-intrusive analysis of public content is conducted. Findings: Consumers negativity towards luxury brands is commonly based on the non- delivering of promised values of quality, service, hedonic experiences, and self-identity creation. Also, misconducting of corporate social responsibility actions proved to be a source of negativity. Consumers, thus, express their displeasure through brand hate, brand avoidance, brand aversion and anti-consumption behavior, especially engaging in brand boycotting activities. Finally, user-generated content shows to have a great importance on influencing other consumers’ perceptions and feelings. Research Limitations: A netnographic approach limits the generalization of results. Also, this study is limited to two luxury fashion brands, which do not allow generalizations to other brands and other categories of the luxury industry. Furthermore, given the used platforms is not possible to outline a valuable generational profile. Practical Implications: Brand practitioners must ensure they deliver the promised values to consumers on every stages of their experience. Additionally, companies should play more attention to the new generation of consumers and their unprecedented values and beliefs, by performing an exemplar corporate social responsibility conduct. Originality/Value: The investigation of antecedents and outcomes of negativity in the luxury industry reflects a gap in the literature. Also, the new values of younger consumers have only recently been target of attention. Therefore, the combining of these two themes provide useful insights for luxury brands management, as well as extend previous literature about both brand negativity and luxury brands. Keywords: Negative relationships; Brand Negativity; Anti-Brand Communities; Luxury; Social Media iii. Resumo Objetivo: Este artigo visa compreender quais são os antecedentes da negatividade dos consumidores em relação às marcas de luxo, no contexto das comunidades online, bem como as formas como expressam essa negatividade. Metodologia: É implementada abordagem netnográfica simbólica e não participativa em duas plataformas online: uma comunidade anti-marca e uma rede social - Twitter. O estudo foca-se em duas marcas de luxo (Louis Vuitton e Michael Kors), e é conduzida uma análise não intrusiva do conteúdo público. Resultados: A negatividade dos consumidores em relação às marcas de luxo é geralmente baseada no não cumprimento da proposta de valor assente na qualidade, serviço, experiências hedônicas e criação de identidade. Adicionalmente, uma má conduta da responsabilidade social das empresas demonstrou ser também fonte de negatividade. Os consumidores, portanto, expressam o seu descontentamento através de ódio pela marca, evitação, aversão e eliminação do consumo, especialmente envolvendo-se em atividades de boicote à marca. Finalmente, o conteúdo gerado online mostra ter uma grande importância na influência das percepções e sentimentos dos outros consumidores. Limitações do estudo: uma abordagem netnográfica limita a generalização dos resultados. Além disso, este estudo está limitado a duas marcas de moda de luxo, o que não permite generalizações para outras marcas e outras categorias da indústria de luxo. Além disso, as plataformas utilizadas não permitem traçar um perfil geracional valioso. Implicações práticas: os gestores devem garantir que entregam os valores prometidos aos consumidores em todas as etapas da sua experiência. Por outro lado, as empresas devem prestar mais atenção à nova geração de consumidores e aos seus valores e crenças, desempenhando uma conduta exemplar de responsabilidade social. Originalidade/valor: a investigação dos antecedentes e resultados da negatividade na indústria de luxo reflete uma deficiência na literatura. Ao mesmo tempo, os novos valores dos consumidores mais jovens só foram alvo de atenção recentemente. Portanto, a combinação desses dois temas fornece visões úteis para a gestão das marcas de luxo, bem como estende a literatura anterior sobre a negatividade da marca e marcas de luxo. Palavras-Chave: Relações negativas; Negatividade em relação à marca; Comunidades anti marca; Luxo; Redes Sociais iv. INDEX 1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................. 1 2. LITERATURE REVISION .................................................................................................................. 4 2.1. NEGATIVE CONSUMER-BRAND RELATIONSHIPS ..................................................................................... 4 2.2.1 Brand hate .................................................................................................................................................. 5 2.2.2. Brand avoidance ...................................................................................................................................10 2.2.3. Brand Aversion .......................................................................................................................................11 2.2.4.