Effect of Product Harm Crises on Facets of Consumer Based Brand Equity: Asian Emerging Markets' Perspective

Consumer based brand equity (CBBE) is a complex, multi-faceted concept and the facets of CBBE capture consumers’ brand related beliefs. From a managerial perspective, it is imperative to know the most damaging facet of CBBE in order to launch appropriate management strategies to safeguard that particular facet. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to examine the effect of product harm crisis on facets of CBBE, with special reference to Chinese and Sri Lankan young consumers. Results based on independent samples t test, correlations and a series of one sample t tests showed that product harm crisis has a detrimental impact on facets of CBBE and country significantly shape consumer perceptions in this regard. Further study showed that out of main facets considered in the study, i.e., brand attitude, brand trust, perceived quality of the brand, perceived quality of the products of the brand and brand desirability; brand attitude is more detrimentally affected by the crisis in both countries. Therefore, from managerial perspective, in particular from multinational company’s perspective, current study showed that it is more worthwhile to consider CBBE as separate facets rather than as a composite variable in a product harm crisis situation, as the overall picture of CBBE may not reflect the economic significance of CBBE.