Log in

Consumer emotional intelligence and its effects on responses to transgressions

  • Published:
Marketing Letters Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This research suggests that consumer emotional intelligence (CEI) is an important construct in explaining why some consumers react destructively to conflicts in consumer-brand relationships whereas others approach them constructively. The results of the study show that (1) when encountering transgressions in relationships with brands, consumers low in CEI are more likely to respond to transgressions destructively than those who are high in CEI; (2) the effects of CEI on destructive responses are greater if a transgression affects consumers’ self interests rather than society’s interests; and (3) low CEI consumers are more likely to attribute negative intentions to the company and are therefore more likely to respond destructively than high CEI consumers.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aaker, J., Fournier, S., & Brasel, S. A. (2004). When good brands do bad. Journal of Consumer Research, 31(1), 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amitay, O. A., & Mongrain, M. (2007). From emotional intelligence to intelligent choice of partner. Journal of Social Psychology, 147(4), 325–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bar-On, R. (1997). Bar-On emotional quotient inventory (Eq-I): technical manual. Toronto: Multi Health Systems.

  • Bar-On, R. (2006). The Bar-On model of emotional-social intelligence. Psicothema, 18, 13–25.

  • Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173–1182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barone, M. D., Miyazaki, A. D., & Taylor, K. A. (2000). The influence of cause-related marketing on consumer choice: does one good turn deserve another? Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28(2), 248–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beverland, M. B., Chung, E., & Kates, S. M. (2009). Exploring consumers' conflict styles: grudges and forgiveness following marketer failure. Advances in Consumer Research, 36, 438–443.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonifield, C., & Cole, C. (2007). Affective responses to service failure: anger, regret, and retaliatory versus conciliatory responses. Marketing Letters, 18, 85–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byron, K., Terranova, S., & Nowicki, S., Jr. (2007). Nonverbal emotion recognition and sales persons: liking ability to perceived and actual success. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 37(11), 2600–2619.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darby, B. W., & Schlenker, B. R. (1982). Children's reactions to apologies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43(4), 742–753.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1980). An analysis of co** in a middle-aged community sample. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 21(3), 219–239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Girard, M., & Mullet, E. (1997). Forgiveness in adolescents, young, middle-aged, and older adults. Journal of Adult Development, 4(4), 209–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gregoire, Y., Laufer, D., & Tripp, T. M. (2010). A comprehensive model of customer direct and indirect revenge: understanding the effects of perceived greed and customer power. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 38(6), 738–758.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirschman, A. O. (1970). Exit, voice, and loyalty: responses to decline in firms, organizations and states. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kidwell, B., Hardesty, D. M., & Childers, T. L. (2008). Consumer emotional intelligence: conceptualization, measurement, and the prediction of consumer decision making. Journal of Consumer Research, 35(1), 154–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kidwell, B., Hardesty, D. M., Murtha, B. R., & Sheng, S. (2011). Emotional intelligence in marketing exchange. Journal of Marketing, 75(1), 78–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lopes, P. N., Salovey, P., Côté, S., Beers, M., & Petty, R. E. (2005). Emotion regulation abilities and the quality of social interaction. Emotion, 5(1), 113–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayer, J. D., Caruso, D. R., & Salovey, P. (1999). Emotional intelligence meets traditional standards for an intelligence. Intelligence, 27(4), 267–298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, S. L., Maner, J. K., & Becker, D. V. (2010). Self-protective biases in group categorization: threat cues shape the psychological boundary between "us" and "them.". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(1), 62–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Monga, A., Chen, H., Tsiros, M., & Srivastava, M. (2012). How buyers forecast: buyer–seller relationship as a boundary condition of the impact bias. Marketing Letters, 23, 31–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker, J. D. A., Keefer, K. V., & Wood, L. M. (2011). Toward a brief multidimensional assessment of emotional intelligence: psychometric properties of the emotional quotient inventory—short form. Psychological Assessment, 23(3), 762–777.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paulssen, M., & Bagozzi, R. (2009). Customer co** in response to relationship transgressions: an attachment theoretic approach. In D. J. MacInnis, C. W. Park, & J. R. Priester (eds.). Handbook of Brand Relationships Armonk: M.E. Sharpe.

  • **, R. A., Jr. (1993). The effects of satisfaction and structural constraints on retailer exciting, voice, loyalty, opportunities, and neglect. Journal of Retailing, 69(3), 320–352.

  • Prentice, R. (2004). Teaching ethics, heuristics, and biases. Journal of Business Ethics Education, 1(1), 57–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reuber, A., & Fischer, E. (2010). Organizations behaving badly: when are discreditable actions likely to damage organizational reputation? Journal of Business Ethics, 93(1), 39–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rusbult, C. E., & Zembrodt, I. M. (1983). Responses to dissatisfaction in romantic involvements: a multidimensional scaling analysis. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 19(3), 274–293.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Struthers, C. W., Eaton, J., Santelli, A. G., Uchiyama, M., & Shirvani, N. (2008). The effects of attributions of intent and apology on forgiveness: when saying sorry may not help the story. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44(4), 983–992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Webb, D. J., & Mohr, L. A. (1998). Cause-related marketing: from skeptics to socially concerned. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 17(2), 226–238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yi, Y. (1990). Cognitive and affective priming effects of the context for print advertisement. Journal of Advertising, 19(2), 40–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hongmin Ahn or Yongjun Sung.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ahn, H., Sung, Y. & Drumwright, M.E. Consumer emotional intelligence and its effects on responses to transgressions. Mark Lett 27, 223–233 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-014-9342-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-014-9342-x

Keywords

Navigation