Moderating role of perceived justice between employee incivility and consequences of brand hate

Purpose During the past decade, marketing literature has focused on investigating the dark side of consumer emotions and their behavior. This demands further research for a more in-depth understanding. Hence, drawing on affective events theory, this study aims to examine employee incivility (rude and poor behavior) and its consequences on brand hate. Furthermore, the authors also introduced perceived justice as a moderator to buffer the impact of brand hate. Design/methodology/approach A scenario-based survey was used to collect data from 212 consumers from the airline industry. Structural equation modeling was performed through SmartPLS. Findings Findings revealed that employee incivility instigates brand hate. Results further showed that attitudinal brand hate influences brand opposition and detachment, whereas behavioral brand hate only influences brand detachment. Additionally, perceived justice moderates the negative relationship between employee incivility and brand hate. Overall, the results showed that employee incivility can trigger brand hate, and service recovery can reduce the negative impact of employee behavior on brand hate in the aviation sector. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to brand hate and service recovery literature. Practical implications This study provides deep insights into how employee behavior can cause brand hate and how recovery strategies can help buffer its impact. Originality/value In the existing literature, limited studies have focused on organizational factors instigating brand hate. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to associate employee incivility and brand hate.