The Effects of Brand Anxiety on Brand Obsession Mediated by Brand Hatred and Moderation of Brand affection(Case Study: SAIPA Brand)

Brand attachment plays a vital role in the success and failure of the company. Brands have to deal with the reactions caused by the negative emotions of consumers. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the negative emotions of brand anxiety, brand hatred, and brand obsession, considering the role of attachment to the brand as an effective emotion in the relationship between brand hatred and brand anxiety. This research is practical, descriptive-correlational, and survey in terms of purpose, method, and data collection. The statistical population comprises 384 consumers of SAIPA automotive products, who were asked through standard electronic questionnaires of brand anxiety designed by Mend and Bolton (2011), brand hatred by Johnson et al. (2011), brand confusion by Johnson et al. (2012), and brand affection by Thomson et al. (2005). Structural equation modeling processed by Smart-PLS software was used to test the collected data. The he findings show a significant effect of brand anxiety on brand hatred and brand hatred on brand obsession. It was also shown that brand hatred has a significant mediating effect on the relationship between brand anxiety and brand obsession. In addition, brand affection as a moderator cannot have a significant effect on the relationship between brand hatred and brand obsession. In this research, the intensity of negative feelings towards the SAIPA automobile brand and the possibility of destructive actions against it were highlighted.