Impact of apologetic vs. defensive selling strategies under negative corporate publicity: Exploring the role of customer trust and gratitude

Abstract

Violation of consumer trust is one of the immediate dangers when companies face negative publicity in the market. Similarly, customer reciprocity towards such firms, in form of their gratitude also gets adversely affected under these circumstances. However, previous research have focused only on the firm-level strategies when assessing the adverse impact. In this research, for the first time, we study the impact of salespersons’ selling strategies to customers (apologetic and defensive selling strategies) under negative corporate publicity. Using a series of propositions, we highlight the impact of these two selling strategies on customer trust and gratitude. The managerial implications of the study suggest that appropriate use of apologetic and defensive selling strategies would enable salespersons to alleviate the impact of negative publicity of companies on their customers.