Crisis congruence and corporate reputation: The moderating role of product involvement

Corporate reputation plays an important role in determining the impact of crises on firms. Through an experimental study, we show that the congruence between the salient dimension of corporate reputation and the dimension affected by a crisis influences consumer behavior. Product involvement moderates this effect. Individuals lowly involved in the product category increase their negative WOM and decrease their intention to buy in case of incongruence between corporate reputation and crisis (i.e. the crisis hits the salient dimension of corporate reputation); those who are highly involved in the product category decrease their negative WOM and increase their intention to buy.