The effect of service provider?s response against negative event on consumer brand association

Brand association comprises anything related to a particular brand in memory. The extent to which relational marketing applications has recently reached, credited the brand and associations granted to it as the most important influencer in a buying decision. The reason for this kinesis is the essentiality of continuous reinforcement of positive associations in order to settle the buying behavior on an iterative path. However, the dynamic market conditions can occasionally coerce organizations into negative-event encounters, which may affect the consumer brand associations in an unsought direction. Therefore, the consequences of organizational response against a negative event become a crucial concern regarding consumer brand associations. Due to their two peculiarities; intangibility and the endemicity that the company and brand names are usually identical to each other, services are attributed a more sensitive genesis against such unexpected negative events.Setting its theoretical substrata dichotomously on the significance of associations in consumer buying behavior and the sensitivity of services against negative events, current study is designed to determine the possible effects of various organizational responses against negative events on consumer brand associations. Relevant data are gathered through a field study carried out at the Adana Airport in October 2007. Research sample, determined in consequence of a convenience sampling process, is computed as to consist 400 passengers flying to any domestic route with Turkish Airlines.Research findings show clear evidence that it is the no-reaction case which has a significant abating effect on brand associations. The corrective-action case; on the other hand, seems to benefit the service provider encountering a negative event, the most. Yet, a corrective response does not fully retrieve the once-damaged brand associations. Customers, who formerly had a negative experience with the service provider, are determined to keep on favoring the service provider (Turkish Airlines), despite their significantly negatively-affected brand associations due to a deja vu of the unfavorable event.Keywords:Negative Event, Organizational Behavior, Organizational Communication, Brand Association, Consumer Behavior