Crisis Communication Strategies and Purchase intentions:
The moderating role of Emotional attachment in the case of Luxury
Fashion Firms
Bianca Maria Fumagalli
12281662
Master’s Thesis
Graduate School of Communication
Master’s programme in Corporate Communication
Dr. S.C. (Suzanne) de Bakker
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Abstract
Nowadays, the luxury fashion market is one of the most lucrative ones, where luxury firms are worldwide famous, and their actions are always under the public eye. Due to their continuous mediatic exposure and the extremely high prices of the products they sell, luxury fashion firms need to be able to successfully manage all reputational crises they may happen to face. A lot has been said about crisis communication and the most effective ways to manage these critical situations in order to maintain a high corporate reputation, but little research has studied crisis communication in the luxury fashion brand field. This research aimed at filling these gaps by investigating the effects of different crisis response strategies (rebuild vs. denial) and customers’ level of emotional
attachment to luxury fashion brands on the purchase intentions people have towards these firms. Moreover, the study attempted at examining to what extent different levels of emotional attachment influenced the relationship between crisis response strategy and customers’ motive to purchase luxury fashion products. These effects have been examined through an online experimental survey among 120 participants. Two different fictional messages have been created, one communicating a fictional crisis denying any corporate involvement, and the other one including an apology to all stakeholders for the accident and offering a compensation to all victims. Results confirmed that both a rebuild crisis response strategy and higher levels of emotional attachment have a more positive effect on purchase intentions compared respectively to a denial strategy and lower levels of emotional attachment. Moreover, the moderation analysis showed that the effect of a rebuild
response strategy on people’s purchase intention is more prominent for customers with higher levels of attachment to brands compared to lower levels of it.
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Introduction
The luxury fashion brand market is increasingly becoming more and more economically relevant, and it has been estimated to value around $260 billion in the last years (D’Arpizio, Levato, Zito, Kamel & De Montgolfier, 2017). Additionally, due to the increased demand for luxury goods in emerging markets such as China, India, and the Middle East, the business is about to expand more than ever. Undoubtedly, the luxury fashion market attracts millions of individuals all around the world, appealing both young and more mature people, all craving for the coolest and latest items that fashion companies have to offer.
While the economic and social significance of this market is not in doubt, it is also true that such valuable companies need consider carefully the way they communicate their brand all around the world. In fact, it is not so uncommon to read news about luxury fashion brands facing
reputational crisis, such as the recent Dolce & Gabbana case in China.
In fact, in November 2018 the famous Italian luxury company faced a massive crisis due to a perceived inappropriate advertisement. Rungruengwiwat (2019) reported that the brand was trying to expand its market into China, blending in Italian influences with Chinese culture by representing the model using chopsticks to eat some Italian popular dishes. However, the advertisements were judged too stereotypical and offensive by Chinese citizens. Needless to say, the campaign created a severe clash between the Chinese population and the brand. Making the situation much worse, the company declared that Dolce & Gabbana’s Instagram page had been hacked and used to reply to direct messages in a hateful and sometimes racist way. The consequences had been extremely negative for the brand. In fact, many Chinese celebrities announced that they would have not attended The Great Show Event hosted by the firm. Consequently, the designers had to cancel their Shanghai show after dozens of celebrities declined the invitation and Vogue China refused to feature any D&G advertisements (Ganev, 2019). As reported by Lannes (2019), Chinese consumers account for a third of global purchases of luxury products and according to statistics, while D&G
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was losing important share of market, its competitors, such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci, were increasingly expanding in the market. It is evident how the crisis was poorly managed by the brand itself, amplifying the backlash through social media and causing disastrous outcomes.
The Dolce & Gabbana case is just one out of several examples of poorly managed crises that badly affected luxury fashion brands. In fact, at the beginning of 2019, Gucci faced a similar
situation when its woollen balaclava jumper had been condemned on social media for resembling blackface. Gucci rapidly removed the sweater from its website and stores, immediately apologizing on social media for the offense. Additionally, one month later Gucci announced the plan of
launching global scholarship programs in several African countries, finally restoring its reputation (Yeung, 2019).
As showed, crises are increasingly relevant social, political and economic forces, responsible of producing changes that have a higher impact than any other phenomenon. These events have a strong impact in undermining the economic stability of a company and being able to address any unexpected events is an essential skill when talking about crisis communication
(Sellnow & Seeger, 2013). Additionally, these situations usually have the power to interrupt normal business transactions and can threaten the existence of the organization itself (Fearn-Banks, 1996). Therefore, it is clear how important crisis management is, defined as a set of factors planned to tackle crises and diminish the actual damages delivered. To prevent or lessen the negative outcomes it is crucial to protect not only the perceived reputation of the organization but also the stakeholders from possible damages, and this may be done by choosing the right strategy to communicate the crisis, which could positively or negatively affect the overall crisis perception (Coombs, 2007b). Specifically, the term “crisis communication” is used to refer to every situation in which an unexpected event occurs, a circumstance with a potentially negative outcome affecting an organization, company, or industry, as well as products, services or reputation (Coombs & Holladay, 1996).
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Depending on type and magnitude of a crisis, the response strategy chosen needs to be properly adapted (Coombs, 2007). Specifically, this study investigates the effects of the communication strategy chosen by a company to tackle a preventable crisis on people’s future behaviour towards it. The focus will be placed on people’s purchase intentions towards fashion brands facing a crisis. The perception that consumers have of the company affected by the crisis can have severe effects on its revenues. Specifically, customers can change their purchase intentions, according to how a company tackles the crisis.
The examples of Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci clearly show two completely different ways to deal with a crisis, causing opposed outcomes for the companies involved in it. In fact, both crises were preventable, which means that the companies could have avoided them, but the strategies used were opposing. On the one hand, Dolce & Gabbana denied the magnitude of the crisis, saying that the situation had been amplified and misunderstood. On the other hand, Gucci management promptly apologised to anyone who could have felt offended and immediately repaired the
situation. It resulted that D&G have been blamed for the inappropriate behaviour for the following months, badly affecting the firm’s revenues, and people still negatively feel about what happened, while Gucci’s reputation had been successfully restored and the accident has generally been forgotten by the public opinion (Yeung, 2019). As showed, a wrong move can indeed make the situation irreparably worse. Therefore, it is needed to scientifically address how a crisis can be managed, to analyse how people react in terms of their intentions to buy a certain labelled product. Therefore, the first Research Question will read as:
RQ1: In case of a preventable crisis, to what extent do crisis response strategies influence consumers’ purchase intentions towards luxury fashion brands?
The emotional attachment an individual has towards brands is an extremely relevant variable especially in the case of luxury firms. In fact, due to the high prices of the products, customers’
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choice to buy a good of a certain firm instead of another may be based on the emotional bonds between the two parties (Grisaffe & Nguyen, 2011). The emotional values help to offer a satisfying and unforgettable experience while consuming luxury fashion products (Brun, 2008).
Moreover, the luxury fashion world has been associated to the idea of myths that these brands are able to create in customers’ minds.The myths of fashion determine our purchasing behaviour in irrational and instinctive ways (Ciappei & Surchi, 2011). This perception is deeply rooted in personal and collective psychology and given the symbolic power of luxury fashion brands in people’s mind, purchase intentions are tied with emotional attachment to these brands. Moreover, attachment to brands may lead to recurring purchases, thus increasing the strength of the bond between brand and customer (Kapferer & Bastien, 2009). Therefore, engaging with customers at an emotional level is a crucial factor for success in the luxury fashion industry. Indeed, luxury firms are gradually shifting their corporate focus from “building social status” to “customer emotional attachment” in order to build enduring loyalty with their clients (Cailleux, Mignot, & Kapferer, 2009). For these reasons, it is extremely relevant to investigate the role of emotional attachment as having a direct effect on purchase intentions towards luxury fashion brands. In this way, the results will provide the basis for an enduring customer-brand association. Moreover, as discussed above through the crises in which the two luxury firms have been involved, crisis response strategies have a crucial role on people’s perception of the company and on their future purchase. Additionally, since the level of emotional attachment is said to be determinant when purchasing a product, this study also wants to investigate its role as moderator of the relationship between response strategy and purchase intentions towards luxury fashion firms. Therefore, the current paper aims also at answering the following Research Questions:
RQ2a: In case of a preventable crisis, to what extent do different levels of emotional attachment influence consumers’ purchase intentions towards luxury fashion brands?
6 RQ2b: In case of a preventable crisis, to what extent do different levels of emotional
attachment moderate the relationship between crisis response strategy and purchase intentions towards luxury fashion brands?
Undoubtedly, a lot has already been said regarding the right way to communicate a crisis, and in general, the great majority of experts agree on the fact that “when it comes to crisis
communications, if you always focus on building a relationship with your customers, fans and followers, you will always find yourself communicating in the right direction” (Agnes, 2018:1). In fact, previous papers have analysed the effect of crisis communication and the consequences that these can have on stakeholders’ general perception about an organization, but not on the direct effects on purchases (Coombs, 2007; Liu, Austin & Jin, 2011). Previous research mostly focused on emotional attachment to brands and how it is affected by corporate branding or advertisement (Theng-So, Grant-Parsons & Yap, 2013). However, little research has been done on the effect that emotional attachment has on intentions to buy, but no research focused on the specific case of luxury fashion brands. Thus, it is relevant to add this study to the luxury fashion brands literature, since people may behave differently towards these high-priced brands, given the strong symbolic values and the sense of power that the purchase of these products triggers, compared to more common and affordable brands.
Regarding this research gap, the model proposed contributes to the luxury fashion brands literature by examining how customer’s different levels of emotional attachment influence the relationship between the strategy used when a crisis is preventable and their level of purchase intentions. The results may be relevant for luxury fashion companies’ professionals to successfully administrate their communication in crisis situations. This may lead to a better reputation of the company and to a future increase in customers’ loyalty and emotional affiliation to the brand. Consequently, this process may result in the creation of a long-term relationship between client and firm, culminating in purchases repeated over time and increased revenues.
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Theoretical Background
Purchase intentions
Bagozzi and Burnkrant (1979) define purchase intentions as personal action tendencies towards a certain brand. In other words, they refer to consumers’ desire to obtain a product created by a certain brand, which may be based either on individual will or on the reflection of other people’s judgements. Intentions differ from attitudes, such that attitudes are summary evaluations, while intentions represent a person’s motivation based on his or her conscious plan to adopt a certain behaviour, such as the purchase of a product (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993). Moreover, intentions are used to forecast future behaviour and proved to be reliable predictors of customers’ future purchase choice, being considered easy-to collect antecedents of actions (Juster, 1966; Morrison, 1979; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975; Chandon, Morwitz & Reinartz, 2005). The Hierarchy of Effect Model (HOE) examines the factors that influence the decision to purchase a product. The model highlights that consumers perceive information through three mental stages, namely cognitive, affective and conative (Jung & Seock, 2016). According to it, consumers first obtain awareness on the brand, then they develop positive or negative attitudes towards it and finally take actions, either purchasing a product or not; this final stage includes purchase behaviour (Kotler & Bliemel, 2001). When purchasing a luxury brand, both affective (what we feel) and cognitive attitudes (what we believe) play a key-role in the purchase intention and final decision. Phau and Prendergast (2000) state that intentions are based on conscious and reasoned thoughts, especially when the good to purchase is a luxury one. The purchase of luxury product in fact implies the investment of a great amount of money and it usually requires a long reasoning before the actual purchase. Even though consumers purchase luxury brands mostly for symbolic reasons of social affirmation, luxury is a subjective concept that depends on consumer's perception of his or her personal consideration of the product (Phau & Prendergast, 2000).This is because purchasing a luxury good is surely a decision
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we take following our feelings and instinct but also, we want to be sure on the rationale of our actions (Keller, 2001; Morris, Woo, Geason, & Kim, 2002; Petty, Wegener, & Fabrigar, 1997).
Crisis clusters
According to the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) by Coombs (2007), there are three main crisis types, namely victim, accidental and preventable cluster. First, the victim cluster includes crises with weak attributions of organizational responsibility. For instance, natural disasters, such as earthquakes, rumours affecting the company’s name, or workplace violence fall in this category. Secondly, the accidental cluster involves crises in which the organizational actions leading to the accident were unintentional. Some examples of accidental crisis are when technical accidents cause environmental damages, or when technology issues cause industrial disasters. Finally, in the preventable cluster the organization is perceived as entirely responsible for the crisis, which could have been avoided with a more appropriate corporate behaviour. A preventable crisis occurs when human error causes industrial accidents, when laws and regulations are violated by the company management, or when stakeholders are placed in a situation of risk by the company (Coombs, 1998). The crises that affected Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci are both classified as preventable, since the firms could have avoided the situation, taking more appropriate actions and more carefully thinking about the consequences of their commercial decisions. The crisis type chosen to be the core of this research will be a preventable one, since it has already been introduced with real-life examples and according to recent surveys is the most frequently occurring type of crises, over the victim and accidental clusters (Harrison, 2019).
Crisis response strategies
The more an organization is thought to be responsible for the crisis, the more negative the consequences on its reputation will be if the crisis is not addressed properly (Coombs, 1998). Therefore, the choice of which is the strategy to use must be based on the type and magnitude of the
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crisis itself and the level of reputational threat inflicted. In general, there are three main crisis response strategies that can be adopted, namely denial, diminish and rebuild. When the reputational threat resulting from a crisis is moderate, such as in the case of a victim cluster, it is sufficient that organizations offer objective information to minimize the reputational damage. In this case, managers may use defensive denial strategies. A denial strategy claims that no crisis exists and looks for a scapegoat, affirming that the organization does not have any implication in the crisis. Conversely, when the crisis is considered as accidental, the proper strategy to adopt is a diminish one. Here, the communication management admits that a crisis has occurred, and that the
organization is involved in it, but it also attempts to change the attribution stakeholders may make about the situation, trying to diminish the damage. Yet, the company’s managers may affirm that the organization has minimal responsibility, or that the crisis is not as severe as it appears (Coombs, 2006). However, it is important to mention that this research will not include a diminish strategy, because thought to be less easily recognizable for people that may be not familiar with the topic. Finally, if the reputational threat is severe, as in a preventable cluster, which is the case of the examples proposed above and the fictional crisis that will be presented later, it is strongly recommended to use a rebuild crisis response strategy, restoring the reputation of the company (Coombs, 1998). Previous research (Coombs & Holladay, 1996; Huang, 2006) has confirmed that in case of a preventable crisis, managers should adopt a rebuild strategy, which includes a sincere apology to stakeholders and offers a compensation for the damages. Furthermore, a rebuild strategy needs to be perceived as genuine. Specifically, a response that contains emotional cues is perceived as more genuine and empathic than when emotions are not present, expressing concern for the crisis, victims, and stakeholders (Van der Meer & Verhoeven, 2014).
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Previous research has found that in case of a preventable crisis, the use of a rebuild strategy defined above, usually has more positive effects on the overall perceived situation compared to a denial strategy (Coombs & Holladay, 2008; Claeys, Cauberghe, & Vyncke, 2010). When judging a situation, people use both rational and emotional judgements and their considerations reflect the feelings and perceptions that the company is transmitting them (Zajonc & Markus, 1982). Using rational judgements, when the crisis is preventable, consumers exposed to a sincere apology will feel that the company is taking responsibility of the accident and will perceive it as an appropriate behaviour (Coombs, 2007). Consequently, they may be more inclined than people exposed to a denial strategy to positively judge the company’s management, as being able to admit its fault and apologise, acknowledging that the whole situation could have been prevented. When using
emotional judgements, people that will read an apology, may perceive the company as sincerely disheartened and will be moved by feelings in purchasing that brand’s product. It is assumed that when the crisis is preventable, the adoption of a sincere apology will trigger people’s positive feelings towards that company, while a denying any implication may be perceived as dishonest. As a consequence, positive feelings will increase the level of willingness to buy that company’s product. Therefore, it is predicted that:
H1: In case of a preventable crisis, participants’ exposure to rebuild strategy will lead to a more positive level of purchase intentions towards luxury fashion brands than participants’
exposure to a denial strategy.
Emotional attachment
Emotional attachment refers to the strength of the bond that customers have with a given brand (Thomson, MacInnis & Park, 2005). To better explain this concept, the Attachment Theory by Bowlby (1979) will be introduced. This theory was originally conceived to explain the visceral
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attachment that infants form with their caregivers. What caused this deep connection was a need for ease, safety and support that children were feeling. Applying this theory to brands, the attachment created is similarly based on comfort, trust and security that the brand transmits to the customer (Patwardhan & Balasubramanian, 2011). Emotional attachment to brands consists of three forces, namely self-connection of consumers with brands, feelings of warmth for brands, and customer’s liking of brands, that can be classified into three dimensions, such as affection, connection and passion (Thomson, MacInnis & Park, 2005; Dwivedi, Johnson, Wilkie, & De Araujo-Gil, 2018).
Influence of Emotional Attachment on Purchase Intentions
Interestingly, the concept of fashion brands has been associated to the term “Mythopoiesis” which refers to the creation of a myth, defined as an emblematic symbol characterized by a
narrative rich of sense and allegorical values, able to orient the generation of sense (Boccardi, Ciappei, Zollo & Laudano, 2016). Fashion brands are perceived as intangible concepts, creating high symbolic products that have the ambition to express a way of being and living through luxury clothing. The symbolic value of a brand is related to a narrative able to create myths in people’s mind (Sherry, 2005). This is especially true for fashion brands with high symbolic values, where myths can be incorporated by the brand itself. Therefore, highly symbolic fashion brands, such as luxury ones, are some of the myths of our times, since the names of companies and products, are able not only to shape beliefs, but also to influence individual and collective behaviour (Balmer, 2001). Especially for fashion firms, it is essential to propose values and impose tastes, creating identity and reputation which make brands desirable and preferable over the others (Ciappei & Surchi, 2011).
Linked to this, based on the concept of Mythopoiesis introduced above, the myth that luxury brands create in people’s mind and the desire to express a wealthy way of being, may lead them to increased levels of emotional attachment and therefore to high level of purchase intentions.
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Moreover, the previously introduced Attachment Theory predicts that in the context of attraction in romantic relationships, unstable feelings or low levels of interest in respectively discovering each other, inhibit exploration behaviours, causing less motivation of being in that relationship, hence conducting to the end of it (Aron & Aron, 2006). Applying this concept to luxury fashion brands, this would bring people with low levels of emotional connection towards a certain firm not to buy any product of that brand. Therefore, we predict that:
H2a: In the case of luxury fashion brands, higher levels of emotional attachment will lead to a more positive level of customers’ purchase intentions, compared to lower levels of emotional attachment.
Moderation effect
Previous studies found that unethical firm’s behaviour can encourage consumers’ negative judgment about the firm (Folkes & Kamins, 1999). These negative emotions may influence consumer behaviour towards the company, harming sales, profits, and stock price (Einwiller, Fedorikhin, Johnson & Kamins, 2006).
Based on previous research (Coombs & Holladay, 2008), we stated that in case of a preventable crisis, which is the scenario proposed in this study, a rebuild crisis response strategy will have more positive effects on individuals’ purchase intentions compared to a denial strategy. We also predicted that a high level of emotional attachment to the brand facing the crisis will lead to increased purchases. Purchase intention is thought to be influenced by a series of factors such as brand loyalty, brand equity and brand awareness (Jalilvand, Samiei & Mahdavinia, 2011). In the specific case of luxury consumption context, consumers are highly affected by their internal drive, such as emotional attachment to brands. This choice also reflects people’s need to satisfy their socio-psychological desire to a more valuable good than a regular one, expressing the desire to
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embrace a high-quality lifestyle (Shukla, 2011). In addition, the choice of purchasing a luxury good is also influenced by the behaviour of the brand itself, by cultural and social values (Grewal,
Krishnan, Baker & Borin, 1998).
In case of a preventable crisis, it is expected that people exposed to a rebuild strategy will be more willing to purchase a good and this effect will be even more pronounced if they show to have high emotional attachment to the brand, compared to low attached costumers. This trend may be explained thanks to the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) developed by Petty and Cacioppo (1986). The model analyses how people choose to manage and process the information they receive, identifying the concept of motivation as a central element.
On the one hand, motivated people can engage in issue-relevant thinking. It follows that people will be more likely to make relevant association, deeply analyse the situation and draw inferences, ending up with an overall evaluation of the situation. People with high levels of emotional attachment, will be more committed to the brand and in understanding the firm’s behaviour, being also more willing to argument and going deeper in comprehending the entire situation (White, 2011). In the case of a rebuild strategy, highly attached people will be able to deeply understand the situation, interpreting the use of rebuild as a truthful apology from the company, perceiving its intention to remedy the crisis. Consequently, their level of purchase intention will increase.
On the other hand, when elaboration, and therefore attachment, is low, the acceptance or rejection of a negative information, such as a crisis, is not based on a careful consideration, but rather the recipients will draw a simple inference based on various cues (White, 2011). Linking these findings to our research, in case of a rebuild strategy it is expected that low attached people will be less thoughtful in judging the information related to the crisis than highly attached people, thus they will be less willing to purchase because of the bad behaviour of the company itself.
Therefore, using emotional attachment as moderator of the relationship between crisis response strategy on purchase intentions, it is expected that:
14 H2b: In case of a preventable crisis, the effect of a rebuild crisis response strategy on purchase intentions will be stronger for people with higher levels of emotional attachment than for people with lower levels of it.
Method
Design
To conduct this study, a quantitative approach was chosen. This research design is a 2 between-subjects (rebuild vs. denial strategy), to which participants have been randomly assigned X 2 quasi-experimental design (high vs. low emotional attachment), since this variable was not
manipulated. The method chosen to gather the data was a survey-embedded experiment.
Stimulus material
The crisis response strategy factor is the way a company’s communication management decide to announce that the crisis had occurred to stakeholders. It has two conditions, namely rebuild and denial response strategy (Coombs & Holladay, 2002). All participants have been asked to read a text explaining the crisis that occurred to the brand. The text proposed the fictional crisis that the brand Stella McCartney, worldwide known for its sustainable luxury fashion, had faced. Stella McCartney was chosen as brand due to it is famous for its environmental and eco-friendly philosophy and for the sustainable materials used for its products. Therefore, it had been easily created a preventable crisis, which may generate a scandal because of the great contrast with the brand’s motto. It is crucial to say that the brand was not facing any crisis while the experiment was conducted, thus the situation proposed was totally fictional and made up for the purposes of the research.
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For what concerns the manipulation, all participants were asked to first read a news report published by the fictional newspaper Daily Star. The report briefly informed the respondents about Stella McCartney’s eco-friendly philosophy and then it reported the crisis. Specifically, Stella McCartney was involved in a racial-environmental crisis in which the brand was blamed for producing its clothes in underdeveloped areas of the world, underpaying its workers and making them work in unsafe environments. This situation caused a mediatic scandal because the fashion company promotes itself as always looking for new ways to be sustainable and responsible. Therefore, the crisis proposed falls into the preventable cluster. The complete version of the report can be found in Appendix A.
After having read the report, one group of participants have been exposed to the fashion company’s Facebook message revealing that the crisis occurred through a rebuild strategy. The message contained a straightforward apology addressing all possible victims and an admission of responsibility. Then, there was a promise to update the public about the development of the situation. Thirdly, the communication management offered a compensation to all victims and the opportunity to reach them for any further question, adding a telephone number and e-mail. A practical example of the rebuild-strategy message sentence is: “We are truly disheartened that such
an accident has occurred, and we take full responsibility for it. Unfortunately, this unprecedented situation affected 1.000 of our employees”.
The second group was exposed to a message sent out by the luxury fashion company on their fictional Facebook page informing the stakeholders about the crisis using a denial strategy. It included a denial of involvement, minimizing the severity of the crisis and scapegoating, saying that someone outside the organization must be blamed for what happened. An example of sentence included is: “We are truly disheartened that such an accident has occurred, but we do not hold any
responsibility for it. Unfortunately, this unprecedented situation affected 1.000 of our employees”.
Both manipulations were created following the SCCT model, which highlights the main characteristics of both rebuild and denial crisis response strategies (Coombs, 2007). To create the
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conditions some real crisis responses have been taken as guide. In this way, the manipulation has been artificial but also realistic. Both manipulation text can be found in Appendix A.
Both the messages and the fictional Stella McCartney’s Facebook page have been created using a program called Fake Facebook Post Generator. The aim was to recreate a plausible context; the choice of creating specifically a Facebook page, and not other social media, is due to the
opportunity it gives to communicate long and discursive messages. Moreover, it is a worldwide used social media, and companies use it in real life since it is possible to reach a great amount of people (Van Wissen & Wonneberger, 2017).
Manipulation check
To check whether participants have perceived the experimental factor as intended, a manipulation check was included in the survey. The manipulation check, which had already been used and proved to be effective in a previous study (Cadeddu, 2018) read as: “Do you think the
communication management denied their involvement in the crisis to stakeholders?”. The question
had been placed at the end of the manipulation and participants had been asked to answer to a polar question (yes/no). To check whether participants perceived the manipulation correctly, a Chi-square test was conducted with crisis communication strategy (rebuild vs. denial strategy) and the
manipulation check variable as dependent (0 = Yes, 1 = No). The results showed that participants perceived their condition correctly, χ2 (1,120) = 67.49, p < .001. Additionally, the association between conditions and respondents’ perception of the manipulation was strong, τ = 0.56. In other words, 87.9% of people exposed to the denial strategy and 87.1% of people exposed to the rebuild strategy recognized their respective conditions.
Procedure
The research has been conducted between 6th December and 28th December 2019.
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order to start the survey, they were asked to agree to participate in the research study and reassured about its complete anonymity. Then, they were required to declare whether they were at least 18 years old. With a negative answer, they could have not proceeded with the survey. Then,
participants have been asked if they knew the brand. Again, they could not proceed with the
experiment if the answer was negative. After that, participants were required to state to what extent they were emotionally attached to the brand Stella McCartney, which had been rated through a Likert scale (from strongly disagree to strongly agree). Then, they were showed a message from a fictional newspaper and asked to read the texts that would have followed. After this, the experiment took place and respondents have been showed one of the two experimental conditions (rebuild vs. denial strategy). Then, one item checked whether the manipulation had been perceived correctly. Subsequently, three items checked the level of respondents’ purchase intentions. Respondents were then asked to answer some demographic questions about their gender, age, continent of origin, highest level of education completed and English level. Finally, the survey ended with a debriefing block, in which the researcher thanked the participants for answering the questionnaire,
emphasizing that the crisis and the newspaper were fictional.
Sample
Participants have been recruited through a convenience sampling and asked to fill out an online experimental survey created through Qualtrics. The convenience sampling is thought to be the proper fit because it has already been tested in similar studies and judged as effective, since a great number of participants can be easily reached through researcher’s network of acquaintances (Theng-So, Parsons & Yap, 2013). One first condition required was that participants needed to have an account on one of the three social media mentioned above to be able to receive the survey link. Secondly, participants had to be more than 18 years old. Participants declaring to be less than 18 years old were excluded from the experiment. Additionally, participants must have had a sufficient
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English level. To assess this, at the end of the questionnaire they have been asked whether they felt to have sufficient language skills to complete the survey; in case of a negative answer, their
participation would have not been taken into account and excluded from the survey. However, all participants have declared that their English level was good enough, hence no respondent has been excluded for this reason.
All participants in this study were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions, namely the type of crisis response strategy employed by the company. A total of 182 people began the questionnaire and 156 finished it. This means that 26 persons have been removed from the data set because they did not end the survey and have been declared as missing values. Additionally, 35 participants have been removed because they declared not to know the brand Stella McCartney and 1 because was not above the age of 18 years old. Therefore, the analyses have been conducted over a total sample of 120 participants (N = 120). The convenience sample included 81 females (32%) and 39 males (66%). The great majority of participants was between 18 and 30 years old, with a percentage of 77.9%. Additionally, 12.3% of total participants were between 31 and 40 years old, while 3.3% between 41 and 50, 5.7% between 51 and 60 and 0.8% was more than 61 years old.
For what concerns participants’ country of origin, 101 respondents came from Europe (82.8%), 13 from North America (10.7%), 5 from Asia (4.1%), 2 from Oceania (1.6%), and 1 from South America (0.8%),
Furthermore, the majority of participants (41.8%) answered they had obtained a Bachelor’s degree, 39.3% a Master’s degree and 11.5% of participants answered their highest educational level completed was High School; 4.1% obtained a Vocational or College degree, 2.5% obtained a PhD or a Doctorate, and 0.8% preferred not to say.
To check whether participants’ age, divided into 5 clusters (0 = 18-30, 1 = 31-40, 2 = 41-50, 3 = 51-60, 4 = Age 61 and above) was comparable over the two conditions (rebuild vs. denial strategy), a Chi-square test was conducted. The crisis response strategy used was the independent variable in this test, while age was the dependent. Results showed that participants’ mean age in the
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rebuild strategy was not significantly different from the mean age in the denial strategy condition, which means that participants’ age was comparable over the conditions, χ2 (4, 120) = 5.47, p = 0.242. The association was very weak, τ =0.05. Additionally, to check whether participants’ gender (0 = male, 1 = female, 2 = non-binary, 3 = rather not say) was comparable over the conditions, another Chi-square test was performed, with the crisis strategy as independent variable and gender as dependent. Participants’ gender was not significantly different in the two conditions, χ2 (2, 120)
=1.23, p = 0.538. Again, the association was weak, τ =0.10.
Moreover, another Chi-square analysis checked whether the level of education, divided into clusters (0 = Below high school, 1= High school, 2= Vocational degree/college, 3= Bachelor’s degree, 4= Master’s degree, 5=PhD/Doctorate, 6= Rather not say) was comparable over conditions. Once again, participants’ level of education was not significantly different across conditions, χ2
(5,120) = 3.90, p = 0.564, and the association was very weak, τ = 0.004.
Measurements
Emotional attachment
Emotional attachment refers to customers’ feeling of closeness and connection towards a certain brand (Thomson, MacInnis & Park, 2005). Participants have been asked to define their level of emotional attachment by answering two different 7-point Likert scales. One is composed of three dimensions and seven items in total and it was adopted from Dwivedi, Johnson, Wilkie, & De Araujo-Gil (2018) scale. The second one is a scale adopted from Jiménez and Voss (2014) and it is composed of 4 items, such as “Not emotionally connected/Emotionally connected” or “Not linked by
feelings/Linked by feelings” to be ranked from strongly disagree to strongly agree. This choice has
been made to check which scale was the most reliable. Both scales of measurement can be found in Appendix B. The scale by Jiménez and Voss (2014), proved to be the most reliable, and therefore
20
chosen to create the emotional attachment variable, with a Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.98 (M = 14.33, SD = 8.35).
Purchase intentions
Purchase intentions can be defined as the desire of obtaining a certain product created by a certain brand (Bagozzi & Burnkrant, 1979). To test this variable, participants were asked to answer to three items measuring their likelihood to purchase a product on a 7-point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree; 7=strongly agree). The items are adopted from Aaker (1991) scale, reading as “I am
willing to recommend others to buy Stella McCartney products” or “I am willing to purchase Stella McCartney products in the future”, as reported in Appendix B. The 3-item scale also proved to be
reliable, with a Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.92 (M = 11.99, SD = 5.12).
Analyses
To test the first hypothesis (H1), an independent sample t-test was performed, with the categorical variable of crisis response strategy (rebuild vs. denial) as independent variable, and the level of purchase intention as dependent continuous variable, which has been measured on a scale (1= strongly disagree, 7= strongly agree).
To test the second hypothesis (H2a), a simple linear regression has been chosen as the proper analysis to be conducted. The level of emotional attachment was the independent continuous variable (1= strongly disagree, 7= strongly agree), and the level of purchase intention was the dependent continuous one (1= strongly disagree, 7= strongly agree).
Finally, to test the last hypothesis (H2b) a process moderation analysis with Model 1 has been run. There were two independent variables: the type of crisis response strategy, which was categorical, for which a dummy variable was created, and the level of emotional attachment to the brand, which was continuous. The dependent variable was the level of purchase intention and it was a continuous one.
21
Results
Testing hypotheses
In order to test the first hypothesis (H1) that states that “Participants’ exposure to rebuild
strategy will lead to a more positive level of purchase intentions towards luxury fashion brands than participants’ exposure to denial strategy”, the main effect has been analysed through an
independent sample t-test, with crisis response strategy (rebuild vs. denial) as independent variable and level of purchase intention (1 = minimum, 7 = maximum) as the dependent variable. The results showed that participants in the rebuild crisis response strategy group (M = 4.72, SD = 1.55) have on average a higher level of purchase intention towards the brand compared to participants in the denial response strategy condition, (M = 3.23, SD = 1.48). The mean difference (M difference = 1.48)
is statistically significant, t (117) = 5.33, p <.001, 95% CI [0.93, 2.03] and it also represents a strong effect, d = 0.98. Therefore, the first hypothesis is confirmed.
To test the second hypothesis (H2a) “High levels of emotional attachment will lead to a
more positive level of customers’ purchase intentions, compared to low levels of emotional attachment”, a simple linear regression analysis was run. The level of emotional attachment (1=
minimum, 7 = maximum) was the continuous independent variable, while the level of purchase intention (1= minimum, 7 = maximum) was the dependent continuous one. The regression model predicting the level of purchase intention from the level of emotional attachment respondents had towards the fashion brand Stella McCartney is statistically significant, F (1,118) = 7.50, p =.007. The level of emotional attachment has a significant positive but weak association with the level of purchase intention, b* = 0.24, t = 2.74, p =.007, 95% CI [0.05, 0.34], and it explains 6% of the variance in average levels of participants’ purchase intention towards the brand (R2 = 0.06). For
22
of purchase intention towards the same brand increases by 0.20 units, b = 0.20. Thus, the second hypothesis is confirmed.
In order to test last hypothesis (H2b), which states that “The effect of a rebuild crisis
response strategy on purchase intentions will be stronger for people higher levels of emotional attachment than for people with lower levels of it” a process moderation analysis has been
conducted. The crisis response strategy (rebuild vs. denial) was the independent categorical variable, the level of emotional attachment (1 = minimum, 7 = maximum) was the moderator, measured on a continuous scale and the level of respondents’ purchase intention (1 = minimum, 7 = maximum) was the continuous dependent variable.
The model analyzing the moderation effect of different levels of emotional attachment on the relationship between crisis response strategy and purchase intentions is statistically significant,
F (3,115) = 19.36, p <.001. The variance in crisis response strategy and emotional attachment
explained 34% of the variance in average level of purchase intention (R2 = 0.34). Participants exposed to the rebuild message scored on average higher in levels of their purchase intentions than participants exposed to the denial response strategy, b =0.04. However, this effect is not statistically significant, t (3,115) = 0.08, p = 0.939, 95% CI [-0.97, 1.05]. The level of emotional attachment positively predicts the level of purchase intention, b = 0.27. This effect is not statistically significant, t (3,115) = 0.33, p = 0.74, 95% CI [ 0.21, 0.51]. Finally, the interaction effect is statistically significant, b = 0.42, t (3,115) = 3.41, p <.001, 95% CI [0-18, 0.66]. At low levels of emotional attachment, people exposed to a rebuild response strategy will score higher in purchase intentions than people exposed to a denial strategy, b = 0.46. However, this effect is not statistically significant, t (3,115) = 1.13, p = 0.262, 95% CI [-0.35, 1.27]. At medium levels of emotional attachment, people exposed to a rebuild crisis response strategy score higher in purchase intentions than people exposed to a denial strategy and it explains a strong effect, b = 1.40. This effect is statistically significant, t (3,115) = 5.43, p <.001, 95% CI [0.89, 1.92]. Finally, at high levels of
23
emotional attachment, respondents exposed to a rebuild strategy scored higher in purchase
intentions than people in the denial response strategy group, and it explains a strong effect, b = 2.56. This effect is statistically significant, t (3,115) = 6.52, p <.001, 95% CI [1.78, 3.33]. Therefore, the last hypothesis is confirmed; emotional attachment moderates the main effect relationship as predicted. However, the single effects which resulted to be significant in the first two analyses, are not significant in the moderation one.
Conclusion
In conclusion the Research Questions proposed in this study, namely “In case of a
preventable crisis, to what extent do crisis response strategies influence consumers’ purchase intentions towards luxury fashion brands?”, “In case of a preventable crisis, to what extent do different levels of emotional attachment influence consumers’ purchase intentions towards luxury fashion brands?” and “In case of a preventable crisis, to what extent do different levels of
emotional attachment moderate the relationship between crisis response strategy and purchase intentions towards luxury fashion brands? have been answered. Results confirmed that the crisis
response strategy used by luxury fashion companies to communicate the dramatic situation to their stakeholders is extremely relevant. Therefore, when a preventable crisis occurs, people’s purchase intentions will be higher towards the company adopting a rebuild strategy compared to a denial strategy. This study confirms the findings of Coombs & Holladay (1996) and Huang (2006), but also it contributes to existing research by applying these results to people’s purchase intentions, which have never been included in this type of analysis.
Moreover, results also confirmed that people declaring to have a higher level of emotional attachment towards the brand resulted also to be more inclined to purchase that company’s
products. This mental process may be driven by commitment and passion customers have towards their favourite brands, and therefore could not be affected by other external factors. Therefore, we can state that the concept of myth in the luxury fashion world actually triggers the emotional
24
attachment to certain luxury firms, resulting in commitment and willingness to be faithful to brands, by purchasing their goods (Thomson, MacInnis & Park, 2005).
Finally, we can conclude that the interaction between the crisis response strategies and emotional attachment to brands on people’s intentions to buy works as predicted. More specifically, a rebuild crisis response strategy results in higher level of intention to purchase a luxury product and this effect will be even more prominent if customer has high levels of emotional attachment towards the brand.
Therefore, the study shows that people strongly emotionally committed to a luxury fashion brand are also able to analyse the situation of crisis that affected the firm and, in case of a rebuild strategy they will judge their behaviour as responsible, overall positively evaluating it (White, 2011). Again, in case of a denial strategy, customers who are highly emotionally attached will still be more willing to purchase than low attached people, driven by their personal emotional
commitment to the firm. By contrast, for people with low levels of emotional attachment this effect is less strong and evident, which means that the exposure to either one or another crisis response strategy does not dramatically influence their desire to purchase a certain brand’s product in the future.
Discussion
Although all the hypotheses proposed in this research were confirmed, there are some limitations and suggestions for future research in order to improve the validity of the study. For instance, the results of the process moderation analysis show different outcomes compared to the single analysis conducted to test the first two hypotheses. Specifically, when including in the analysis emotional attachment as moderator, results change, such that both crisis response strategy and emotional attachment on purchase intentions reveal non-significant effects. However, the overall moderation effect is significant, confirming that higher levels of emotional attachment
25
positively influence the relationship between a rebuild response strategy on purchase intentions towards brands, significantly more than lower scores in emotional attachment. Hence, the first two hypotheses are retained when the direct effects are analysed singularly, but when including them in the moderation analysis, the direct effects are no longer valid and become conditional on the levels of the moderator. To deeply analyse this result, future research may change research design, using emotional attachment as mediator to examine which are the causes of this discrepancy between analyses and test whether emotional attachment as mediator explains the relationship between crisis response strategies and customers’ future purchases.
Additionally, 35 respondents who did not know the brand Stella McCartney have been excluded from the study. This may have caused biased results since people’s level of purchase intentions could have been the result of customers’ previous experience, and not solely the effect of the crisis response strategy respondents have been exposed to. It would be interesting for future research not to exclude people not aware of the brand and keep the answer as control variable. In this way, the internal validity of the study would increase, ensuring that the answer to the questions on future purchases will only be influenced by the manipulation executed. Future researchers can also conduct the same experiment but previously measuring the level of emotional attachment of respondents in a pilot study and create two experimental conditions out of the results obtained (high vs. low emotional attachment). Then, they could randomly assign participants to either one of the two conditions and conduct the same research, comparing the results obtained.
Moreover, the luxury fashion brand company chosen for this experiment was highly involved in CSR initiatives and environmental-friendly practices. This could have influenced respondents to have an overall positive judgement towards the company, leading them to have higher levels of intentions to buy Stella McCartney’s products compared to a company with no sustainable identity. Therefore, future research should focus on a non-eco-friendly luxury fashion company to check whether the results are still significant.
26
Although the sample size (N = 120) was big enough for the design of this study, which had two experimental conditions, it may be not fully representative of the wider population. In fact, the experimental survey was completely in English. Therefore, respondents who were not English speakers were unable to take part in the survey. It would be relevant for future research to provide the experimental survey in more than one language, to allow more people to give their contribution to the study.
In conclusion, the aim of the proposed study was to obtain more knowledge on how to manage crisis communicational situations in the specific case of luxury fashion companies. The most relevant implications for practice are that, not only the appropriate crisis response strategy can effectively restore or maintain the reputation of a firm, but also that if people are emotionally linked to brands, they will be more inclined to buy their products, even the most expensive ones.
Therefore, in a highly competitive world such as the luxury fashion brands one, it is difficult for companies to stand out among competitors. Luxury fashion brands need to be able to manage any crises they will happen to face, identifying which kind of crisis they are facing and adopting the most suitable strategy. The crisis Dolce & Gabbana had to face would have had probably fewer negative consequences on people’s perception of the brand and consequently on their purchases, if they had managed the crisis as a preventable one, by choosing a rebuild response strategy to tackle the accident.
While marketers often try to attract clients through spectacular campaigns which can be easily misunderstood, such as the Dolce & Gabbana’s and Gucci’s ones, communication managers should focus on building a loyal relationship with their customers, embracing new strategies to increase their feeling of attachment and commitment. In this way enduring relationships and repurchases over time will be guaranteed, and companies focusing on it will stand out over competitors.
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Appendix A
News report
November 12, 2019/ 8:07 AM
The Stella McCartney case: the unsafe employees’ working conditions
By Anne-Marie Smith 1 MIN READ
Stella McCartney, the luxury fashion brand known for its environmental and eco-friendly
philosophy and for the sustainable materials used for its products, is facing an unexpected crisis. Specifically, the brand was blamed for producing its clothes in underdeveloped areas of the world, underpaying its employees and making them work in unhealthy and unsafe environments.
Clearly, the happening is in sharp contrast with what Stella McCartney as a brand stands for, since their main goal is to protect our planet and all living beings, both humans and animals. The specifics of the accidents are still unclear, and an official communication from the Stella
McCartney fashion brand, revealing what has actually happened.
Manipulations
Condition 1: Rebuild strategy
34
As you surely know, at Stella McCartney we are focused with all our heart and mind in ensuring at all costs, human and animal safety. Our goal is to deliver a high-quality product in the most environmental-friendly and least impactful way for our planet and all beings living on it.
We sincerely apologize for having let even one of our workers down and the unfortunate situation that has occurred is by all means not aligned with our philosophy.
We are truly disheartened that such an accident has occurred, and we take full responsibility for it. Unfortunately, this unprecedented situation affected 1.000 of our employees. To our current knowledge, we lacked proper control over our employees’ working conditions. For this reason, we will do the best of our ability to remedy the incident and take care of our workers.
Urgent measures are being taken to prevent such situations from happening again and all the employees affected by this event will be refunded for any physical or psychological damage caused. Our team is here for any additional issues, information or clarification you may have.
Email: inquiries@stellamccartney.com Telephone number: 555 3467
Kind Regards,
35 Condition 2: Denial strategy
36
As you surely know, at Stella McCartney we are focused with all our heart and mind in ensuring at all costs, human and animal safety. Our goal is to deliver a high-quality product in the most environmental-friendly and least impactful way for our planet and all beings living on it.
We are truly disheartened that such an accident has occurred, but we do not hold any responsibility of it. Unfortunately, this unprecedented situation affected 1.000 of our employees.
We were not aware of the violation of our safety norms by local criminal associations, which have to be held responsible for this accident.
For any concerns you may have please contact us directly: Email: inquiries@stellamccartney.com
Telephone number: 555 3467
In the hope you will understand our position, Kind Regards,
38 Appendix B: Measurement scales
Items measuring Emotional attachment
(Dwivedi, Johnson, Wilkie, & De Araujo-Gil, 2018)
Affection
I feel that I love the brand Stella McCartney
My feelings towards the brand Stella McCartney can be characterized by affection
Connection
My feelings towards the brand Stella McCartney can be characterized by a sense of personal connection
I feel attached with the brand Stella McCartney
Passion
I am passionate about the brand Stella McCartney
My feelings towards the brand Stella McCartney can be characterized by delight I feel captivated by the brand Stella McCartney
(Jiménez & Voss, 2014)
No emotional bond/A strong emotional bond Not emotionally connected/Emotionally connected Not linked by feelings/Linked by feelings
