Forgiveness and redemption: A study on the impact of employees’ participation in the restoration of corporate brand image in a crisis

ABSTRACT

Extant research on the negative effects of corporate brand image crisis and corresponding strategies on brand image restoration have received wide academic attention. This research predominantly values employee participation as a critical bridge to obtain consumer forgiveness and subsequently contributes to repairing corporate brand image in a crisis. Through undertaking a positivist study, the findings indicate that employee participation positively influences the restoration of corporate brand image. Consumer forgiveness (both individual and group level) plays the mediation role in predicting corporate brand image. Last, employee’s cognitive capital moderates the relationship between group forgiveness and the restoration of corporate brand image.

Acknowledgments

We sincerely thank the effort and time provided by anonymous reviewers and the journal editor in reviewing the manuscript, giving insightful comments that contributes to the quality of the research.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71862028), the First-rate Construction Discipline Project of Ningxia Higher Education (No. NXYLKX2017B04).