Forgive and Forget: Can Brand Transgression Lead to Behavioral Intention?

The aim of this research is to expand the corpus of knowledge relating to the antecedents and outcomes of brand forgiveness among Islamic banking customers in Malaysia. Despite a plethora of research that has examined the linkage between brand transgression and brand forgiveness, the current study further strengthen research in this domain by integrating the role of transgression severity, religiosity, and behavioral intention as one research model. Data was collected from 211 customers who encountered unfavorable experience with Islamic banking services by using purposive and retrospective experience sampling technique. PLS-SEM approach was utilized by using SmartPLS software for data analysis. The findings demonstrate the significant role of two brand transgression dimensions (image incongruence and corporate wrongdoing), transgression severity, and religiosity on brand forgiveness. Brand forgiveness was also found to significantly related to behavioral intention. However, one dimension of brand transgression (negative past experience) did not significantly influence brand forgiveness. The findings offer novel insights for extant literature on negative brand relationship, as well as theoretical and practical implications regarding the antecedents and outcomes of brand forgiveness. Limitations and suggestions that can be considered by future studies are also highlighted in this paper.