"I hate Facebook": Towards a conceptualisation of negative brand engagement

Abstract

The phenomenon of engagement has undeniably become an attractive topic in recent years and the phenomenon has been studied across a variety of disciplines including sociology, psychology, political science and marketing. However, the majority of these engagement studies present engagement as a positive phenomenon. Although negative engagement (and/or engagement with negative valence) have been mentioned and negative engagement modes described within different disciplines (e.g. education psychology, early childhood research, system sciences and abnormal childhood psychology), there have not been any attempts to provide a conceptualisation of the phenomenon and understanding of the process of negative engagement. Within the marketing discipline, the possible phenomenon of negative brand engagement has not been directly addressed. This research provides a conceptualisation of negative brand engagement within an online context and specifically in relation to the brand Facebook. Thematic analysis is employed in order to explore the thoughts, feelings, attitudes and reported behaviour of bloggers who are perceived to be negatively engaged with Facebook. A social constructionist hermeneutic approach is employed. Based on the findings, a conceptual model of negative brand engagement is proposed. The academic implications of this research study are twofold. First, this study advances our knowledge of negative brand engagement. In doing so, the research introduces several insights about the negative engagement components and the relationships between each component within a psychological process. Second, given that the conceptualisation of negative engagement is rather a novel research area, this research opens many avenues for future research to advance our understanding of the phenomenon. From a managerial standpoint, this research offers opportunities for companies to gain knowledge about the triggers of negative electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM). The research also provides insights that are offered to encourage marketers to gain a better understanding of different ways to avoid and reduce the potential negative effects on brand value and brand reputation.