Although consumer brand engagement has been given much attention in marketing literature, negative consumer engagement has received scarce attention. It is important to understand negative consumer brand engagement as it causes anti-brand actions like brand switches and brand revenge. The present research has emphasized the dark side of virtual communities, which the researchers have explored less. The proposed conceptual model attempts to understand the antecedents and consequences of negative consumer engagement in virtual communities using expectancy-disconfirmation, social exchange, and equity theories. The findings suggest that information, system, and service failure of online services develop negative experiences for the consumers, subsequently shared in virtual communities. The study also reported that negative engagement with the brand’s virtual communities influences consumers to take anti-brand actions such as public complaints, brand switching, and brand revenge. The study provides guidelines for marketers in understanding negative consumer brand engagement and its consequences.

尽管消费者品牌参与度在营销文献中得到了很多关注，但负面的消费者参与度却很少受到关注。了解消费者的负面品牌参与度非常重要，因为它会导致品牌转换和品牌报复等反品牌行为。目前的研究强调了虚拟社区的阴暗面，而研究人员对此探索较少。所提出的概念模型试图利用期望否定、社会交换和公平理论来理解虚拟社区中消费者消极参与的前因和后果。研究结果表明，在线服务的信息、系统和服务故障会给消费者带来负面体验，随后在虚拟社区中分享。该研究还报告称，对品牌虚拟社区的负面参与会影响消费者采取反品牌行动，例如公众投诉、品牌转换和品牌报复。该研究为营销人员了解负面的消费者品牌参与度及其后果提供了指导。