When Brands Fail: Hatred, Negative WOM, Forgiveness, and Generational Voices in Repurchase Decisions

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-868-4_51How to use a DOI?

Keywords

negative experience; brand hatred; customer forgiveness; negative word-of-mouth; negative electronic word-of-mouth; repurchase intention; mobile network services; generational differences

Abstract

Service failures by mobile network operators can generate intensely negative customer experiences that result in brand hatred. This hatred often manifests through negative word-of-mouth (both face-to-face and electronic), severely affecting the company’s reputation. Conversely, customer forgiveness emerges as a mitigating factor, potentially reducing harmful discourse and fostering repurchase intentions. This study examined these dynamics among 400 Generation Z (18–30 years) and Millennial (31–43 years) respondents who had experienced a service failure with their mobile network provider in the past year. Using the PLS-SEM technique, findings reveal that brand hatred significantly increases both forms of negative word-of-mouth, while customer forgiveness reduces them and positively influences repurchase intention. Although generational differences did not moderate the impact of hatred and forgiveness on word-of-mouth behavior, a moderating effect was found in the relationship between forgiveness and repurchase intention, with Generation Z showing a stronger effect.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Lucía Macedo Anto
AU  - Rosely Moya Taipe
AU  - Pedro Bazo Quintana
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/10/22
TI  - When Brands Fail: Hatred, Negative WOM, Forgiveness, and Generational Voices in Repurchase Decisions
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Communication and Applied Technologies 2025 (ICOMTA 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 549
EP  - 558
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-868-4_51
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-868-4_51
ID  - Anto2025
ER  -