Document Type
Article
Source of Publication
Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management
Publication Date
6-11-2026
Abstract
Brand misconduct can trigger negative consumer responses and escalate into brand crises. Effective crisis management is therefore essential to mitigate such responses and enhance organisational resilience. This study investigates the impact of various crisis communication strategies on consumer engagement and subsequent brand cancellation, incorporating the mediating role of consumer engagement and the moderating influence of brand misconduct type. Two experimental studies using simple random sampling were conducted online. The findings reveal that crisis communication strategies exert significantly different effects on consumer engagement, which in turn negatively influences brand cancellation. However, the mediating role of consumer engagement varies depending on the specific strategy used: it partially mediates the effect of corrective action, fully mediates the effect of reducing offensiveness and does not significantly mediate the effects of the evading responsibility and mortification strategies. Furthermore, corrective action and reducing offensiveness strategies are more effective in enhancing consumer engagement in performance-related misconduct, whereas evading responsibility is the least effective in value-related misconduct. This study contributes to the crisis management and brand cancellation literature by offering practical insights for brand managers and corporate communication professionals. Tailoring crisis communication content to the nature of brand misconduct can enhance consumer engagement and reduce the risk of brand cancellation.
DOI Link
ISSN
Publisher
Wiley
Disciplines
Business
Keywords
brand cancellation, brand misconduct type, consumer engagement, crisis communication strategy, crisis management
Scopus ID
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Liu, Liyun; Prentice, Catherine; and Zeidan, Susan, "Leveraging Crisis Management for Minimising Brand Cancellation" (2026). All Works. 8004.
https://zuscholars.zu.ac.ae/works/8004
Indexed in Scopus
yes
Open Access
yes
Open Access Type
Hybrid: This publication is openly available in a subscription-based journal/series