Even if You Wrong Me, I May Still Like You: Consumer Dishonesty in Case of Feeling Befooled

Abstract

Do negative emotions always have negative outcomes for brands? May feeling of being fooled turn into a sympathy toward the brand? This study aims to investigate the relationship between consumers’ feelings of being fooled and their tendency to get revenge by cheating the brand (dishonest consumer behavior). It further argues that in order to compensate for the negative emotional consequence (feeling of guilt) of their own wrong act, consumers tend to form stronger relationships with the brands that were initially wrong to them. It also examines how situational ambiguity regulates the relationship between feeling befooled and behaving dishonestly.