Thanh Binh Nguyen

The current study develops a research model and explores the correlation between customer sense of online betrayal, brand hate, and anti-brand activism. The outrage customers’ anti-brand behaviors consist of negative online word of mouth, online public complaining, and online boycott. Data from an online survey of 383 online shoppers were used to test seven proposed hypotheses. The partial least square–structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was adopted to assess the measurement and structural model. The findings showed that the sense of online betrayal positively and significantly affects brand hate and anti-brand behaviors. In addition, brand hate is also the leading cause of customers’ anti-brand actions. The present study highlights the mediation role of brand hate in eliciting revenge from consumers subjected to online betrayal. This study also gives some recommendations to customers to stop the misconduct behaviors of online betrayals, such as spreading their betrayal cases to friends and relatives via social media, then asking for supports and help from governmental and legal agencies and participating in boycotts; raising boycott movements against the betraying brand should be considered as the most extreme punishment.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
In the context of Vietnam’s rapidly expanding digital ecosystem, understanding how psychological differences shape brand cognition among Generation Z has become increasingly important. This study aims to examine the influence of the Big Five personality traits on brand awareness across major digital touchpoints, addressing the limited empirical evidence from emerging markets. A quantitative survey was conducted in January 2025 with 898 Gen Z consumers residing in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Using Cronbach’s Alpha, Exploratory Factor Analysis, and multiple regression, the study assessed the reliability of measurement scales and the effects of personality traits on brand awareness indicators derived from Aaker’s (1991) framework. The findings show that four personality traits – openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and neuroticism – positively and significantly predict brand awareness on digital platforms (β = 0.171–0.250; p < 0.001). Conscientiousness exhibits the strongest impact (β = 0.250), followed by neuroticism (β = 0.240), extraversion (β = 0.224), and openness (β = 0.171). Agreeableness does not demonstrate adequate construct validity and is excluded from the final model. Additional analyses using ANOVA reveal significant differences in brand awareness across regions but not across genders. These results illustrate that personality-driven tendencies, such as exploratory behavior, systematic information processing, social interaction, and risk-avoidance, play a substantial role in determining how frequently and effectively young consumers encode brand cues in digital environments. The study concludes that integrating personality insights into digital brand communication strategies can enhance relevance, memorability, and consumer-brand alignment, especially within dynamic Gen Z segments.

Acknowledgment(s)
The researchers express sincere gratitude to all the participants who generously participated in this study.