The Brand Shield: How Brand Equity Moderates the Emotional Backlash of Gamification Failure

Abstract

As increasingly being an integral part of different e-commerce platforms, the aspect, namely gamification, has been showing more potential, especially in making the shopping experience more rewarding and interactive, although when relevant systems could not function at that specific moment or are being regarded as somehow manipulative, and with the inclusion of some playful design, it may generate some level of frustration among users, particularly among Generation Z. The examination was focused on how unsatisfactory experiences with gamification could shape the decision to boycott a brand by zooming into whether emotional discomfort could serve as a link between failed experiences and boycott intention, and also whether brand equity could help buffer the negative reaction. By referring to the cognitive appraisal theory, a quantitative design was implemented to collect data from 457 Gen Z customers in Vietnam using a structured online questionnaire, and reliability and validity were guaranteed by running Cronbach’s alpha and confirmatory factor analysis, with hypotheses tested by performing structural equation modeling (SEM) on the AMOS 29 software. When the elements of gamification did not deliver the intended effects, two interrelated processes could be elicited, which would shape boycott intention, and one of the processes involved a cognitive judgment, wherein users would see the brand as rather unreliable or unfair, whereas, on the other hand, the second process included emotional reactions, in which feelings of anger and frustration could partially mediate the association. Brand equity was also discovered to be able to moderate the association by mitigating some of the impact of negative emotions on the boycott intention.