Brand Avoidance Behaviour and Moderating Role of Brand Recovery on Social Networks in Islamabad’s Passenger Car Market.

• Main Author: Kamran, Maqbool
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English; English; English
• Published: NA 2023
• Subjects: H Social Sciences (General)
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/43059/3/Kamron%20Maqbool_dsva.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/43059/4/Thesis%20PhD_Kamran%20Maqbool%20-%2024%20pages.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/43059/8/Thesis%20PhD_Kamran%20Maqbool.ftext.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/43059/

In Pakistan, the automobile industry has faced several challenges due to drastic changes in customers’ preference and technological innovations. The purchase of imported cars instead of locally manufactured cars is the consequence of the brand avoidance of consumers towards local brands due to perceived risk and animosity. The main objective of this research is to examine the impact of brand avoidance behaviour on Pakistan’s automobile industry. Majority of the research on the topic of brand avoidance is usually qualitative, analysing only singular brand avoidance reason, whereas this study employs a quantitative method to analyse brand avoidance, including different brand-related stimuli such as undesired selfcongruence, negative social influence, perceived animosity, perceived risk, organizational disidentification, boycotting, brand forgiveness, etc. Although past researches have examined the effect of different brand-related stimuli on brand avoidance, only limited research has investigated the role of brand recovery on social networks as a moderator between brand avoidance and brand forgiveness. This research was planned to fill this gap by investigating the effect of the said moderating variable between brand avoidance and brand forgiveness. The most significant contribution of this research is the introduction of brand recovery on social networks as moderator between brand avoidance and brand forgiveness to reduce existing gaps on perspective and theory related to brand avoidance. Moreover, the majority of past studies on brand avoidance were conducted in western countries and very few have focused on emerging markets such as Pakistan. This research was designed by using quantitative methods in which the data is collected in quantifiable manner to analyse the brand avoidance behaviour among the customers of the Pakistani automobile industry. The sample consists of 800 passenger car users in Islamabad. A questionnaire was developed through a series of steps consisting of measurement scales for each item measuring nine key constructs. For the purpose of data analysis, statistical tools such as SPSS analysis and partial least squares structural equation modelling were used. The results obtained were: there is a positive influence of consumer’s perceived animosity on brand avoidance behaviour in the automobile sector of Pakistan, as well as their perceived risk on brand avoidance behaviour in the automobile sector of Pakistan. The results also indicated that organisational disidentification favorably affects the brand avoidance behaviour of consumers in the automobile sector of Pakistan. Lastly, the research has also concluded that social networks play a vital role in maintaining brands’ perceived value among consumers.