How to turn your friends into enemies: Causes and outcomes of customers’ sense of betrayal in crisis communication

Crises are violations of customers’ expectations for a company. Loyal customers who feel betrayed due to the violations of expectations often become the company’s worst enemies. To extend the line of research of situational crisis communication theory (SCCT), this study explored how attributed responsibility, customer-company relationship (CCR), and their interaction affect betrayal. A company’s defining attributes and customer-company identification (CCI) shape customers’ expectations for a company. This study also examined how a direct threat to a company’s defining attribute in a crisis and CCI affect betrayal. A total of 395 Whole Foods customers participated in an online quasi-experiment.The antecedent concepts from SCCT all affect betrayal, with the attributed responsibility being the strongest predictor. Customers also feel more betrayed when the crisis directly threatens the company’s defining attribute and when they strongly identify with the company. Consequently, sense of betrayal has strong effects on customers’ attitudinal, emotional, and intentional responses.