1. Home
  2. Vol 6, No 1 (2025)
  3. Yang

Warmth and Competence: An Empirical Investigation of the Dual Impact of Corporate Apologies on Repairing Brand Trust

Mei-Ru Yang, Shubham Pathak, Shi-Zheng Huang

Abstract


Brand crises frequently lead to the erosion of consumer trust, with corporate apologies serving as a widely utilised strategy for trust repair. While existing research supports the effectiveness of apologies in repairing brand trust, limited attention has been given to the underlying psychological mechanisms from the consumer perspective. Drawing on the Stereotype Content Model (SCM), a dual-path trust repair mechanism was proposed to systematically examine how corporate apologies influence brand trust repair through perceived warmth and perceived competence. Unlike previous studies, the SCM framework was employed to provide a more comprehensive explanation, demonstrating how corporate apologies in brand crisis contexts impact trust recovery via both emotional (perceived warmth) and cognitive (perceived competence) dimensions. Utilising structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyse questionnaire data from consumers of new energy vehicles (n=412), the findings indicate that corporate apologies not only directly enhance brand trust but also indirectly facilitate trust repair by increasing perceived warmth and perceived competence, which function as mediating variables in the repair process. These insights extend the theoretical framework of brand crisis management and trust repair research while offering empirical support for optimising corporate apology strategies.

 

Doi: 10.28991/HEF-2025-06-01-07

Full Text: PDF


Keywords


Brand Crisis,; Stereotype Content Model; Apology; Perceived Warmth; Perceived Competence; Brand Trust.

References


GumGum. (2024). BrandRX: The New Brand Safety Crisis. GumGum: Contextual Intelligence Company. Available online: https://gumgum.com/guides/the-new-brand-safety-crisis (accessed on February 2025).

Rea, B., Wang, Y. J., & Stoner, J. (2014). When a brand caught fire: The role of brand equity in product-harm crisis. Journal of Product and Brand Management, 23(7), 532–542. doi:10.1108/JPBM-01-2014-0477.

Wang, Y., Zhang, M., Li, S., McLeay, F., & Gupta, S. (2021). Corporate Responses to the Coronavirus Crisis and their Impact on Electronic-Word-of-Mouth and Trust Recovery: Evidence from Social Media. British Journal of Management, 32(4), 1184–1202. doi:10.1111/1467-8551.12497.

Hayran, C., & Ceylan, M. (2023). Impact of social media brand blunders on brand trust and brand liking. International Journal of Market Research, 65(4), 466–483. doi:10.1177/14707853221132216.

Wang, A. (2020). Research on consumer brand trust from a dynamic perspective. Ph.D. Thesis, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, China.

Chaudhuri, A., & Holbrook, M. B. (2001). The chain of effects from brand trust and brand affect to brand performance: The role of brand loyalty. Journal of Marketing, 65(2), 81–93. doi:10.1509/jmkg.65.2.81.18255.

Silva, P., Moreira, A. C., & Mota, J. (2023). Employees’ perception of corporate social responsibility and performance: the mediating roles of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and organizational trust. Journal of Strategy and Management, 16(1), 92–111. doi:10.1108/JSMA-10-2021-0213.

Coombs, W. T., & Tachkova, E. R. (2023). Integrating Moral Outrage in Situational Crisis Communication Theory: A Triadic Appraisal Model for Crises. Management Communication Quarterly, 37(4), 798–820. doi:10.1177/08933189221151177.

Bae, G., Lee, S., & Kim, D. Y. (2021). Interactions between Service Recovery Efforts and Customer Characteristics: Apology, Compensation, and Empowerment. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality and Tourism, 22(2), 218–244. doi:10.1080/1528008X.2020.1769523.

Kim, H., Kralik, J. D., Yun, K., Chung, Y. A., & Jeong, J. (2019). Neural Correlates of Public Apology Effectiveness. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 13. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2019.00229.

Masuch, K., Greve, M., & Trang, S. (2021). What to do after a data breach? Examining apology and compensation as response strategies for health service providers. Electronic Markets, 31(4), 829–848. doi:10.1007/s12525-021-00490-3.

Sharma, K., Schoorman, F. D., & Ballinger, G. A. (2023). How Can It Be Made Right Again? A Review of Trust Repair Research. Journal of Management, 49(1), 363–399. doi:10.1177/01492063221089897.

Brown, K. A. (2016). Is apology the best policy? An experimental examination of the effectiveness of image repair strategies during criminal and noncriminal athlete transgressions. Communication and Sport, 4(1), 23–42. doi:10.1177/2167479514544950.

Tesla China. (2024). Recall Information. Tesla, Shanghai, China. Available online: https://www.tesla.cn/support/annual-and-recall-service (accessed on February 2025). (In Chinese).

Dawar, N., & Lei, J. (2009). Brand crises: The roles of brand familiarity and crisis relevance in determining the impact on brand evaluations. Journal of Business Research, 62(4), 509–516. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2008.02.001.

Xie, Y., & Peng, S. (2009). How to repair customer trust after negative publicity: The roles of competence, integrity, benevolence, and forgiveness. Psychology and Marketing, 26(7), 572–589. doi:10.1002/mar.20289.

Wu, J. J., Talley, P. C., Xiao, S. W., & Kuo, K. M. (2024). Roles of Attribution and Government Intervention in the Trust Repair Process During the COVID-19 Pandemic. SAGE Open, 14(4). doi:10.1177/21582440241306844.

Lee, S. Y., & Kim, T. (2024). Brand recovery after crisis: The interplay of relationship norms and types of brand apology in consumer responses to recovery efforts. Journal of Marketing Communications, 30(6), 637–659. doi:10.1080/13527266.2023.2172601.

Fehr, R., & Gelfand, M. J. (2010). When apologies work: How matching apology components to victims’ self-construals facilitates forgiveness. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 113(1), 37–50. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2010.04.002.

Altunoğlu, A. E., Şahin, F., & Babacan, S. (2022). Development and psychometric properties of the leader apology scale. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 39(4), 452–467. doi:10.1002/cjas.1686.

Esterwood, C., & Robert, L. P. (2022). A Literature Review of Trust Repair in HRI. 2022 31st IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 1641–1646. doi:10.1109/ro-man53752.2022.9900667.

Meng, H., Xiao, Q., Dong, X., & Lei, X. (2024). Research on the Impact of Intelligent Customer Service on Trust Restoration in Service Recovery—Based on the Perspective of Customer Social Mindfulness Perception. Journal of Service Science and Management, 17(2), 137-167. doi:10.4236/jssm.2024.172007.

Nelson, C. A., Walsh, M. F., & Cui, A. P. (2024). Trust repair after a sales manager error. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 44(1), 74–83. doi:10.1080/08853134.2022.2154219.

Stackhouse, M., Turner, N., & Kelley, K. (2024). Repairing damaged professional relationships with leader apologies: An examination of trust and forgiveness. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 33(3), 399–415. doi:10.1080/1359432X.2024.2319903.

Dahiya, R. (2024). Future cooperation at work emerges when apologies are sincere: the importance of forgiveness and trust restoration. Evidence-Based HRM, 12(2), 289–304. doi:10.1108/EBHRM-08-2022-0210.

Xiangmei Li, & Yuhui Yang. (2024). The Impact of Affective Repair Strategies on Brand Trust: The Mediating Role of Positive Emotions. International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation, 7(7), 26–37. doi:10.32996/ijllt.2024.7.7.4.

Hornsey, M. J., Chapman, C. M., La Macchia, S., & Loakes, J. (2024). Corporate apologies are effective because reform signals are weighted more heavily than culpability signals. Journal of Business Research, 177. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.114620.

Freundt, V. L. M. A., & Foschiera, L. V. B. (2024). The Impact of Voluntary Recall on the Trust of Loyal and First-Time Consumers in a High Awareness Brand After a Functional Transgression. Corporate Reputation Review, 27(3), 172–184. doi:10.1057/s41299-023-00164-0.

Fiske, S. T., Cuddy, A. J. C., Glick, P., & Xu, J. (2002). A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: Competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(6), 878–902. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.82.6.878.

Kervyn, N., Fiske, S. T., & Malone, C. (2012). Brands as intentional agents framework: How perceived intentions and ability can map brand perception. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 22(2), 166–176. doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2011.09.006.

Han, B., & Cai, D. A. (2010). Face goals in apology. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 20(1), 101–123. doi:10.1075/japc.20.1.06han.

Öztürk, E. B., & Noorderhaven, N. G. (2018). Influence of Peers’ Types of Trust on Trust Repair: The Role of Apologies. Psychological Studies, 63(3), 253–265. doi:10.1007/s12646-018-0445-y.

Hareli, S., & Eisikovits, Z. (2006). The role of communicating social emotions accompanying apologies in forgiveness. Motivation and Emotion, 30(3), 189–197. doi:10.1007/s11031-006-9025-x.

Suhaimi, N. S., Mohamad Hashim, H. N., & Abdul Rahman, N. (2023). Comparative analysis on definitions and types of apologies in apology legislation in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Australia, Canada, the USA and Hong Kong.

Saleh, N. J., Yassi, A. H., & Rahman, F. (2021). Strategy of apology in Buginese: A sociolinguistic study. ELS Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 4(2), 188-196.

Lewicki, R. J., Polin, B., & Lount, R. B. (2016). An Exploration of the Structure of Effective Apologies. Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, 9(2), 177–196. doi:10.1111/ncmr.12073.

Schumann, K., & Dragotta, A. (2021). Empathy as a predictor of high-quality interpersonal apologies. European Journal of Social Psychology, 51(6), 896–909. doi:10.1002/ejsp.2786.

Okimoto, T. G., & Tyler, T. R. (2007). Is compensation enough? Relational concerns in responding to unintended inequity. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 10(3), 399–420. doi:10.1177/1368430207078701.

Van Herck, R., Decock, S., De Clerck, B., & Hudders, L. (2023). The Impact of Employee Empathy on Brand Trust in Organizational Complaint Response Emails: A Closer Look at Linguistic Realization. International Journal of Business Communication, 60(4), 1220–1266. doi:10.1177/23294884211032316.

Munuera-Aleman, J. L., Delgado-Ballester, E., & Yague-Guillen, M. J. (2003). Development and Validation of a Brand Trust Scale. International Journal of Market Research, 45(1), 1–18. doi:10.1177/147078530304500103.

Delgado-Ballester, E., & Luis Munuera-Alemán, J. (2001). Brand trust in the context of consumer loyalty. European Journal of Marketing, 35(11/12), 1238–1258. doi:10.1108/eum0000000006475.

Bansal, G., & Zahedi, F. M. (2015). Trust violation and repair: The information privacy perspective. Decision Support Systems, 71, 62–77. doi:10.1016/j.dss.2015.01.009.

Zhang, X., Lee, S. K., Kim, W., & Hahn, S. (2023). “Sorry, it was my fault”: Repairing trust in human-robot interactions. International Journal of Human Computer Studies, 175, 103031. doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2023.103031.

Goles, T., Lee, S., Rao, S. V., & Warren, J. (2009). Trust violation in electronic commerce: Customer concerns and reactions. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 49(4), 1–9. doi:10.1080/08874417.2009.11645335.

Morrison, E. W., & Robinson, S. L. (1997). When Employees Feel Betrayed: A Model of How Psychological Contract Violation Develops. The Academy of Management Review, 22(1), 226. doi:10.2307/259230.

Culiberg, B., Abosag, I., & Čater, B. (2023). Psychological contract breach and opportunism in the sharing economy: Examining the platform-provider relationship. Industrial Marketing Management, 111, 189–201. doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2023.04.007.

Balliet, D., & Van Lange, P. A. M. (2013). Trust, conflict, and cooperation: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 139(5), 1090–1112. doi:10.1037/a0030939.

Ma, F., Wylie, B. E., Luo, X., He, Z., Jiang, R., Zhang, Y., Xu, F., & Evans, A. D. (2019). Apologies Repair Trust via Perceived Trustworthiness and Negative Emotions. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00758.

Aquino, K., Tripp, T. M., & Bies, R. J. (2006). Getting even or moving on? Power, procedural justice, and types of offense as predictors of revenge, forgiveness, reconciliation, and avoidance in organizations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(3), 653–668. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.91.3.653.

Kim, P. H., Ferrin, D. L., Cooper, C. D., & Dirks, K. T. (2004). Removing the Shadow of Suspicion: The Effects of Apology Versus Denial for Repairing Competence- versus Integrity-Based Trust Violations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(1), 104–118. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.89.1.104.

Gillespie, N., & Dietz, G. (2009). Trust repair after an organization-level failure. Academy of Management Review, 34(1), 127–145. doi:10.5465/AMR.2009.35713319.

Kox, E. S., Kerstholt, J. H., Hueting, T. F., & de Vries, P. W. (2021). Trust repair in human-agent teams: the effectiveness of explanations and expressing regret. Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, 35(2), 30. doi:10.1007/s10458-021-09515-9.

Zhang, H. Da, Chen, S. C., & Ruangkanjanases, A. (2021). Benefits First: Consumer Trust Repair in Mobile Commerce. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 16(4), 1079–1096. doi:10.3390/jtaer16040061.

Owen, G., & Currie, G. (2022). Beyond the Crisis: Trust repair in an interorganizational network. Organization Studies, 43(8), 1273–1295. doi:10.1177/01708406211031732.

Byrne, B. M. (2013). Structural Equation Modeling with Mplus. Routledge, New York, United States. doi:10.4324/9780203807644.

Henderson, K. E., Welsh, E. T., & O’Leary-Kelly, A. M. (2020). “Oops, I Did It” or “It Wasn’t Me:” An Examination of Psychological Contract Breach Repair Tactics. Journal of Business and Psychology, 35(3), 347–362. doi:10.1007/s10869-019-09624-z.

Schumann, K. (2014). An affirmed self and a better apology: The effect of self-affirmation on transgressors’ responses to victims. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 54, 89–96. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2014.04.013.

Kim, T., & Song, H. (2021). How should intelligent agents apologize to restore trust? Interaction effects between anthropomorphism and apology attribution on trust repair. Telematics and Informatics, 61, 101595. doi:10.1016/j.tele.2021.101595.

Chen, P. (2022). The Study of Apology in Public Relation Crisis Management: how to Achieve the Mitigated Outcomes by Deploying Effective Apologies. BCP Business & Management, 34, 1095–1102. doi:10.54691/bcpbm.v34i.3145.

Kramer, R. M., & Lewicki, R. J. (2010). Repairing and enhancing trust: Approaches to reducing organizational trust deficits. Academy of Management Annals, 4(1), 245–277. doi:10.1080/19416520.2010.487403.

Lin, X., & Zhu, J. (2024). The Impact of Online Negative Hotel Reviews and Merchant Response Strategies on Potential Consumers’ Purchase Intentions: A Perceived Trust Perspective. International Journal of Social Science Studies, 12(2), 1. doi:10.11114/ijsss.v12i2.6756.

Ma, L. (2023). How the Interplay of Consumer-Brand Identification and Crises Influences the Effectiveness of Corporate Response Strategies. International Journal of Business Communication, 60(1), 84–104. doi:10.1177/2329488419898222.

Yuan, B., Dong, Y., & Li, W. (2017). The trust repair effect of apology: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Advances in Psychological Science, 25(7), 1103. doi:10.3724/sp.j.1042.2017.01103.

Park, S., & Choi, J. A. (2023). Comparing public responses to apologies: examining crisis communication strategies using network analysis and topic modeling. Quality and Quantity, 57(4), 3603–3620. doi:10.1007/s11135-022-01488-5.

Polin, B., Doyle, S. P., Kim, S., Lewicki, R. J., & Chawla, N. (2023). Sorry to Ask but … How Is Apology Effectiveness Dependent on Apology Content and Gender? Journal of Applied Psychology, 109(3), 339–361. doi:10.1037/apl0001128.

Abele, A. E., & Wojciszke, B. (2007). Agency and Communion From the Perspective of Self Versus Others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(5), 751–763. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.93.5.751.

Fiske, S. T. (2018). Stereotype Content: Warmth and Competence Endure. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27(2), 67–73. doi:10.1177/0963721417738825.

Chen, Y. S. A. (2020). Does outward appearance appeal to the inward mind? The impact of packaging finishes on brand impressions and the subsequent behavior of consumer. Journal of Product and Brand Management, 30(5), 768–778. doi:10.1108/JPBM-07-2019-2466.

Peter, C., & Ponzi, M. (2018). The Risk of Omitting Warmth Or Competence Information in Ads. Journal of Advertising Research, 58(4), 423–432. doi:10.2501/jar-2018-005.

Chaudhry, S. J., & Loewenstein, G. (2019). Thanking, apologizing, bragging, and blaming: Responsibility exchange theory and the currency of communication. Psychological Review, 126(3), 313–344. doi:10.1037/rev0000139.

Jiang, X., Wu, X., Fan, X., & He, W. (2023). Effects of coworker anger expression on leader emergence: The mediating roles of perceived warmth and competence and the compensating effect of anger apology. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 55(5), 812–830. doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.00812.

Meyer, C., Albert, B. H., Rose, G., & Orth, U. R. (2024). Relationship qualities of brand heritage: warmth, competence and the moderating roles of anthropomorphic factors. European Journal of Marketing, 58(5), 1177–1206. doi:10.1108/EJM-06-2021-0417.

Zhang, Y., & Wang, X. (2024). The effect of virtual anchor appearance on purchase intention: a perceived warmth and competence perspective. Journal of Product and Brand Management, 34(1), 84–103. doi:10.1108/JPBM-08-2023-4690.

Kervyn, N., Fiske, S. T., & Malone, C. (2022). Social perception of brands: Warmth and competence define images of both brands and social groups. Consumer Psychology Review, 5(1), 51–68. doi:10.1002/arcp.1074.

Bennett, A. M., Hill, R. P., & Oleksiuk, D. (2013). The Impact of Disparate Levels of Marketplace Inclusion on Consumer–Brand Relationships. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 32(1_suppl), 16–31. doi:10.1509/jppm.12.023.

Ivens, B. S., Leischnig, A., Muller, B., & Valta, K. (2015). On the Role of Brand Stereotypes in Shaping Consumer Response toward Brands: An Empirical Examination of Direct and Mediating Effects of Warmth and Competence. Psychology and Marketing, 32(8), 808–820. doi:10.1002/mar.20820.

Zawisza, M., & Pittard, C. (2015). When Do Warmth and Competence Sell Best? The “Golden Quadrant” Shifts as a Function of Congruity With the Product Type, Targets’ Individual Differences, and Advertising Appeal Type. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 37(2), 131–141. doi:10.1080/01973533.2015.1015130.

Gao, Y. (Lisa), Zhang, L., & Wei, W. (2021). The effect of perceived error stability, brand perception, and relationship norms on consumer reaction to data breaches. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 94, 102802. doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102802.

Slote, M. (2016). The Many Faces of Empathy. Philosophia, 45(3), 843–855. doi:10.1007/s11406-016-9703-1.

Behrendt, H., & Ben-Ari, R. (2012). The Positive Side of Negative Emotion: The Role of Guilt and Shame in Coping with Interpersonal Conflict. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 56(6), 1116–1138. doi:10.1177/0022002712445746.

Cohen, T. R., Panter, A. T., Turan, N., Morse, L., & Kim, Y. (2013). Agreement and similarity in self-other perceptions of moral character. Journal of Research in Personality, 47(6), 816–830. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2013.08.009.

Lin, S. C., Schaumberg, R. L., & Reich, T. (2016). Sidestepping the rock and the hard place: The private avoidance of prosocial requests. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 64, 35–40. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2016.01.011.

Awale, A., Chan, C. S., Tam, K. Y. Y., & Karasawa, M. (2022). Perceived warmth of offending group moderates the effect of intergroup apologies. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 25(5), 1372–1394. doi:10.1177/1368430220961844.

Perkins, R., Khavas, Z. R., McCallum, K., Kotturu, M. R., & Robinette, P. (2022). The Reason for an Apology Matters for Robot Trust Repair. Social Robotics. ICSR 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 13818, Springer, Cham, Switzerland. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-24670-8_56.

Mayer, R. C., Davis, J. H., & Schoorman, F. D. (1995). An Integrative Model Of Organizational Trust. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 709–734. doi:10.5465/amr.1995.9508080335.

Boripis, T., Pathak, S., Poungjinda, W., & Ling, J. C. Y. (2024). Community Participation Process for the Sustainable Business Development of Local Wisdom Learning Centers. Journal of Human, Earth, and Future, 5(4), 660-673. doi: 10.28991/HEF-2024-05-04-09.

Kolbl, Ž., Diamantopoulos, A., Arslanagic-Kalajdzic, M., & Zabkar, V. (2020). Do brand warmth and brand competence add value to consumers? A stereotyping perspective. Journal of Business Research, 118, 346–362. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.06.048.

Li, Y., Fang, J., Yuan, S., & Cai, Z. (2024). Disentangling the relationship between Omni channel integration and customer trust: a response surface analysis. Internet Research, 34(3), 1077–1103. doi:10.1108/INTR-03-2022-0222.

Sung, Y., & Kim, J. (2010). Effects of brand personality on brand trust and brand affect. Psychology and Marketing, 27(7), 639–661. doi:10.1002/mar.20349.

Kim, H. J., & Dempsey, M. A. (2019). Processing Difficulty Increases Perceived Competence of Brand Acronyms. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 36(1), 47–56. doi:10.1002/cjas.1475.

Wei, H., & Ran, Y. (2019). Male Versus Female: How the Gender of Apologizers Influences Consumer Forgiveness. Journal of Business Ethics, 154(2), 371–387. doi:10.1007/s10551-017-3440-7.

Huang, R., & Ha, S. (2020). The effects of warmth-oriented and competence-oriented service recovery messages on observers on online platforms. Journal of Business Research, 121, 616–627. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.04.034.

Imai, T. (2024). Why do we feel close to a person who expresses gratitude? Exploring mediating roles of perceived warmth, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. PsyCh Journal, 13(1), 79–89. doi:10.1002/pchj.682.

Choi, S., Mattila, A. S., & Bolton, L. E. (2021). To Err Is Human(-oid): How Do Consumers React to Robot Service Failure and Recovery? Journal of Service Research, 24(3), 354–371. doi:10.1177/1094670520978798.

Dahlén, M., & Lange, F. (2006). A disaster is contagious: How a brand in crisis affects other brands. Journal of Advertising Research, 46(4), 388–397. doi:10.2501/S0021849906060417.

Sohaib, M., & Han, H. (2023). Building value co-creation with social media marketing, brand trust, and brand loyalty. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 74, 103442–103442. doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2023.103442.

Gurviez, P., & Korchia, M. (2003). Proposal for a multidimensional brand trust scale. 32nd EMAC-Conference-Glasgow, Marketing: Responsible and Relevant, 20-23 May, 2003, Glasgow, Scotland.

Nunnally, J.C. (1978). An Overview of Psychological Measurement. Clinical Diagnosis of Mental Disorders. Springer, Boston, United States. doi:10.1007/978-1-4684-2490-4_4.

Brislin, R. W. (1980). Translation and content analysis of oral and written materials. Methodology, 389-444.

China 360 Personal Libraries. (2023). The total stock of new energy vehicles in 31 provinces and 342 cities nationwide in 2023. 360doc, Beijing, China. Available online: http://www.360doc.com/content/24/0602/19/170868_1125136568.shtml (accessed on February 2025).

Yamane, T. (1973). Statistic: An Introductory Analysis (2nd Ed.). Harper and Row, new York, United States.

Oppenheimer, D. M., Meyvis, T., & Davidenko, N. (2009). Instructional manipulation checks: Detecting satisficing to increase statistical power. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(4), 867–872. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2009.03.009.

Tabachnick, B. G. (2007). Using multivariate statistics. Alyn and Bacon, Boston, United States.

Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J. Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common Method Biases in Behavioral Research: A Critical Review of the Literature and Recommended Remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879–903. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879.

Anderson, J. C., & Gerbing, D. W. (1988). Structural Equation Modeling in Practice: A Review and Recommended Two-Step Approach. Psychological Bulletin, 103(3), 411–423. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.103.3.411.

Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating Structural Equation Models with Unobservable Variables and Measurement Error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39. doi:10.2307/3151312.

Bozionelos, N., & Simmering, M. J. (2022). Methodological threat or myth? Evaluating the current state of evidence on common method variance in human resource management research. Human Resource Management Journal, 32(1), 194–215. doi:10.1111/1748-8583.12398.

Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6(1), 1–55. doi:10.1080/10705519909540118.

Hayes, A. F. (2018). Partial, conditional, and moderated moderated mediation: Quantification, inference, and interpretation. Communication Monographs, 85(1), 4–40. doi:10.1080/03637751.2017.1352100.

Chin, T., Shi, Y., Singh, S. K., Agbanyo, G. K., & Ferraris, A. (2022). Leveraging blockchain technology for green innovation in ecosystem-based business models: A dynamic capability of values appropriation. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 183, 121908. doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121908.

Chung, S., & Lee, S. (2021). Crisis Management and Corporate Apology: The Effects of Causal Attribution and Apology Type on Publics’ Cognitive and Affective Responses. International Journal of Business Communication, 58(1), 125–144. doi:10.1177/2329488417735646.

Huang, Y., & Wilkinson, I. F. (2013). The dynamics and evolution of trust in business relationships. Industrial Marketing Management, 42(3), 455–465. doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2013.02.016.

Alboqami, H. (2023). Trust me, I’m an influencer! - Causal recipes for customer trust in artificial intelligence influencers in the retail industry. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 72, 103242. doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2022.103242.

Antonetti, P., & Baghi, I. (2023). Projecting lower competence to boost apology effectiveness: Underlying mechanism and boundary conditions. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 51(3), 695–715. doi:10.1007/s11747-022-00903-5.

De Kerpel, L., Van Kerckhove, A., & Tessitore, T. (2024). Oops! Sorry, my bad: How apologizing for trivial mistakes in direct email campaigns leads to positive customer evaluations. International Journal of Research in Marketing. doi:10.1016/j.ijresmar.2024.11.004.


Full Text: PDF

DOI: 10.28991/HEF-2025-06-01-07

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2025 Meiru Yang, Shubham Pathak, Shi-Zheng Huang