How do foreign customers' perceptions of product-harm crises affect their transfer of capability- and character-based stigma?

PurposeCustomers often trace a product-harm crisis to the deviant firm's capability- or character-relevant issues. This study examines how capability- and character-based stigma associated with product-harm crises influence foreign customers' product preferences (i.e. brand affect and purchase intention) for other firms from the same country of origin.Design/methodology/approachQualitative survey data are used to test hypotheses with a structural equation model.FindingsThe authors find that negative capability judgment significantly affects foreign customers' product preferences for other firms from the same country of origin, whereas negative character judgment does not. However, customers' national animosity and product knowledge moderate the stigma spillover effects. Specifically, national animosity and product knowledge weaken the spillover effects of capability-based stigma but strengthen those of character-based stigma.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research could examine strategies for uninvolved firms to avoid the stigma-by-association effect. Moreover, due to the lack of resources to collect data, this study does not investigate how customers' generalized favorability and familiarity with crisis-stricken firms and uninvolved firms moderate the stigma-by-association effect.Originality/valueThe findings of this study advance our knowledge on product-harm crises and the stigma-by-association effect.

EXPRESS: Tainted by Stigma: The Interplay of Stigma and Moral Identity in Health Persuasion

The current research examines the interactive effect of consumers’ moral identity and risk factor stigma on health message effectiveness. We theorize that engaging in advocated health behaviors has moral associations; however, a stigmatized risk factor in a message “taints” the morality of the advocated health behavior. Thus, consumers with high (vs. low) moral identity are more likely to comply with health messages when risk factor stigma is low, and this positive moral identity effect is undermined when risk factor stigma is high. We test stigma’s threat to moral identity by measuring defensive processing (studies 1 and 2) and the attenuating effect of self-affirmation on the negative effect of stigma (studies 3 and 4). We apply the stigma-by-association principle to develop and test a messaging intervention (study 5). Our studies suggest that, depending on whether a health message contains stigmatized risk factors, marketers could employ a combination of tactics such as activating moral identity, offering self-affirming message frames, and/or highlighting low stigma risk factors to bolster message effectiveness.

The Relationship Between Stigma and Helping-Seeking Behaviors Among Refugee, Asylum Seeker, Immigrant (RASI) Populations Specifically of Muslim Origin

In order to understand the relationship between stigma and help-seeking behaviors in refugee, asylum seeker, and immigrant (RASI) populations in the United States, this review examines stigma and its various forms: public, perceived public, self, and stigma by association. Issues which RASI populations face when immigrating to the U.S. and the effects of integrating into a new culture on stigma are also discussed. An emphasis is placed on investigating these interactions in Muslim-specific populations in further detail due to increases in discrimination toward this group in the United States since 2016. The analysis concludes by examining ways that a counselor can actively change the course of stigma. Recommendations are proffered regarding being a culturally cognizant clinician in treating this population, which is currently seeing an increase in stigmatization in the United States.

Is Coping with Stigma by Association Role-Specific for Different Family Members? A Qualitative Study with Bipolar Disorder Patients’ Relatives

Trying to cope with stigma by association (SBA) often results in behaviors leading to social isolation and withdrawal. This study aimed at exploring the stigma-related experiences of family members of persons living with bipolar disorder (PW-BD). A semi-structured interview was conducted with relatives of PW-BD. Open-ended questions addressed three issues: awareness of public stigma of bipolar disorder, experiences of associative stigma, and ways of coping with experiences of SBA. Data were collected from a purposive sample of 21 family members. Experiences of SBA were specifically related to the different family roles. Parents had to deal with responsibility, partners with the choice of staying or not, and siblings with “a sort of duty.” These specific prejudices enhanced specific coping strategies. This is the first study to highlight specific issues and coping from the perspective of family members. Based on these findings, specific targeted interventions could be developed.

Work-Life (Im)Balance? An Explorative Qualitative Study Among Mothers and Fathers of Persons with Disabilities

The aim of this paper is to reconstruct the meaning of professional activity and to present strategies for coping with work-life balance among parents of persons with disabilities. Research proves that having a child with disability very often results in a lower financial status, work overload, and the necessity to manage the child’s rehabilitation. The theoretical context of the study includes Herbert Blumer’s concept of giving meaning to objects as well as Erving Goffman’s notion of stigma by association. The context of the study is illustrated by a brief description of the sit-in protests organized by persons with disabilities and their parents in the Polish Parliament in 2014 and 2018. As such, it refers to the social policy system in Poland. The explorative study was carried out among mothers and fathers of persons with various disabilities in Poland. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with eight participants. The results show two main types of strategy: working-mode-related and values-related. Both generational and gender differences are present in managing work-life balance.