THE MEDIATING EFFECT OF BRAND IMAGE MITIGATES THE IMPACT OF CONSUMER ANIMOSITY

Purpose: With rising deglobalization and geopolitical tensions, foreign brands from hostile countries face the market risk of consumer animosity. This paper aims to explore how brand image helps to increase consumers' purchase intentions in the host country toward products from hostile countries. Design/methodology/approach: Taking Taiwan's young consumers' willingness to purchase Chinese brand smartphones as an example, the data were collected through questionnaire surveys and analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation model. Findings: The empirical results show that the brand image perceived by consumers on product quality, corporate integrity, corporate abilities, brand localization, and official affiliation with hostile countries will significantly affect consumers' purchase intentions. Originality/Value: This paper proposes a new construct—official affiliation (the degree to which a brand is associated with a hostile government) and demonstrates that the mediating effect of brand image mitigates the impact of consumer animosity, which provides a more comprehensive explanation for why consumer animosity sometimes does not significantly affect purchase intention.