Influence of firm innovativeness and recovery strategy on consumer brand attitudes under a double-standard crisis

Purpose Businesses that adopt double standards in product sales and after-sales services exhibit unfair behavior, which often leads to brand crises. This study aims to frame a double-standard crisis as an experimental scenario, manipulate firm innovativeness and recovery strategies to examine their causal effects on consumer brand attitudes and examine the moderating role of consumer ethnocentrism on these effects. Design/methodology/approach Two experiments were conducted using between-subjects design methods, and sample data obtained through field surveys were used to test the hypotheses. Findings The results reveal that under a double-standard crisis, high firm innovativeness can mitigate negative consumer responses, and perceived fairness plays a mediating role in this effect. Highly innovative companies adopting an explanatory, rather than apologetic, strategy alleviate consumer perceptions of unfairness, leading to a more lenient brand attitude. High levels of consumer ethnocentrism strengthen this effect. Originality/value This study adds to the literature in several critical areas by: (1) comparing the different effects of varying levels of firm innovativeness on consumer brand attitude; (2) uncovering the interactive effect of firm innovativeness and recovery strategy (explanatory and apology); and (3) demonstrating the moderating role of consumer ethnocentrism in the interaction between firm innovativeness and recovery strategy on perceived fairness under a double-standard crisis.