Relations among consumer boycotts, country affinity, and global brands: The moderating effect of subjective norms

Abstract

This study examines the impact of consumer boycotts on global brand strength by investigating country affinity and subjective norms. We analyze longitudinal data from South Korea over three years and test the moderated mediation hypothesis using the PROCESS macro. We show that consumer boycotts negatively affect brand strength indirectly by reducing country affinity across all years. We observed a significant negative moderated mediation effect of subjective norms only in 2020, the initial year of South Korean boycotts of Japanese products. Unlike prior literature focusing on boycott motivations, this study provides insights into the effects of actual boycotts on global brands, emphasizing country affinity and subjective norms in a longitudinal context.