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Advertising budgets and related expenditures have been increasing every year. Companies, in the past, have used different tools to grab their customers' attention and encourage them to buy their products. The purpose of this research is to introduce strategic self-anticonformity (SSA) as an effective tool in the advertising industry. This study demonstrates that SSA relates positively to attention, and ultimately to purchase intention. An experiment was conducted to manipulate the SSA condition. The study also shows that product involvement moderates the relationship between SSA and attention. In addition, attitude toward ad mediates the relationship between attention and purchase intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frontline employees (FLEs) often face customer incivility—rude or demeaning remarks, verbal aggression, or hostile gestures. Although incivility from customers is rising at an alarming rate, most organizations refuse to act decisively to protect their FLEs and stop customer incivility. This research asserts that an organizational policy of ignoring and accepting incivility from customers is neither a wise business strategy nor has positive outcomes. In contrast, customer incivility should be handled promptly and decisively. Specifically, the authors present FLE Constructive Resistance (FLE CR) as a strategy to confront customer incivility. The authors conduct interviews with FLEs, develop a Constructive Resistance (CR) scale to fit the context of FLE–customer encounters, and test a conceptual model to examine the impact of CR by FLEs. The results suggest that customers who observe incivility perpetrated by fellow customers respond positively to FLE CR, including greater future purchase intention, greater positive word-of-mouth intention, and reduced future misbehavior intention. These effects are mediated by the observer's perceived fairness of the FLE's CR. Finally, the indirect effects of FLE's CR on observer outcomes are more likely to manifest in customers with higher moral identity as well as newer customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the role of brand attachment as a relevant construct in customers' evaluation after they face a service failure which impacts future consumer behaviors. It mainly answers the research question: does brand attachment cushion or amplify the effect of service failure on customers' negative emotions? Design/methodology/approach: A 2 × 2 × 2 experimental design was conducted. Data analysis was performed with ANOVA and moderated mediation. Findings: Customer's feelings toward a brand (brand attachment) that existed before a service failure occurred can regulate customer's negative emotions especially when consumer attribute service failure to a controllable cause. This process minimizes the effect of service failure in customer's satisfaction and consequently increase customer behaviors like word of mouth and loyalty intentions. Research limitations/implications: Adding perceived intentionality as a service failure's attribution could provide another layer of explanation of customer behavior. Also, an expanded study using a sector characterized by higher cost of change and permanent consumption could provide result's generalizability. Practical implications: Brand attachment should be included in the customer service strategy. In a service failure situation, brand attachment becomes part of the "service customer policy" helping customers to regulate their negative emotions. Originality/value: This study fills the knowledge gap regarding the role of customers' positive emotions toward brands when a service failure occurs. The current study extends branding literature by differentiating brand attachment role from coping tactics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]