An empirical examination of brand hate influence on negative consumer behaviors through NeWOM intensity. Does consumer personality matter?

Limited research has investigated the consequences of brand hate, particularly the pathways and contingent factors. This study addresses a critical gap by investigating the mediation of negative electronic word-of-mouth (NeWOM) intensity between brand hate and the two different forms of consumers’ coping behaviors: boycott (instrumental aggression) and brand sabotage (hostile aggression). It also demonstrates the moderating role of the Big Five personality traits in these pathways. An empirical survey with 391 participants recruited through Prolific reveals that brand hate directly affects NeWOM intensity, consumer boycott, and brand sabotage. These effects are more substantial for those who score high in neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness. On the other hand, the effects of brand hate on NeWOM intensity and boycott are more profound when agreeableness is low. In contrast, only brand hate-to-boycott relationship strengthens when openness is low. Interestingly, NeWOM intensity mediates the relationships between brand hate and the two consumer behaviors, i.e., consumer boycott and brand sabotage. These findings enrich the literature on negative consumer-brand relationships and provide managers assistance in developing effective strategies for de-escalating consumers’ use of aggressive behaviors in response to brand hate

Geology and combustion perspectives of Pakistani coals from Salt Range and Trans Indus Range

Abundant availability of low rank coals in some developing countries has a great potential for socio-economic development. Pakistan, as a developing country, has taken a number of initiatives some of which are at an advanced stage. Thus, a critical study of regional and local geology of Salt Range and Trans Indus Range coals located in the Kohat–Potwar geologic province is presented in this paper. Permian coal is the oldest coal, which is located in the Western Salt Range in limited quantity while Palaeocene coal is the younger coal and it is mined from the Hangu and Patala formations. The Palaeocene coal is available in abundance and is mined in the Eastern and Central parts of the Salt Range and Trans Indus Range. Additionally, this study presents the thermo-chemical analyses of the coal samples collected from thirty coal mines of Salt Range and Trans Indus Range. The samples were analyzed for ash composition, ash fusion temperatures (AFT), proximate analysis, ultimate analysis and calorific value from two different Labs, i.e. SGS Pakistan and Changsha University of Science and Technology (CUST), China. The average AFT of the samples analyzed is > 1350 °C, which reveals that the coal is non-slagging. On average the coal has low slagging index, medium fouling index, good combustion characteristic parameters and indices. The coal samples have high ash (14–50%), ultra-high sulfur (3.3–11.1%), low moisture (3–10%), high volatile matter (VM, 24–41%), low carbon (23–57%) with low to medium gross calorific value (GCV, 10.2–25.7 MJ/kg). The data gathered from an extensive campaign is compared with the already published data. The study has provided a knowledge on utilization of coal reserves to meet the projected energy demand in Pakistan as well as in other developing countries

Brand betrayal, post-purchase regret, and consumer responses to hedonic versus utilitarian products : The moderating role of betrayal discovery mode

Drawing on regret theory and the product-type literature, it is argued that emotions elicited during hedonic product consumption reduce the negative consequences of regret and brand betrayal, by amplifying consumers’ cognitive regret-regulation and attenuating behavioral regret-coping. An empirical survey of 807 participants who faced post-purchase regret as a result of brand betrayal supports the stronger (vs. weaker) emotional and behavioral effects of utilitarian (vs. hedonic) products. The findings reveal that brand betrayal for utilitarian (vs. hedonic) products leads to stronger (vs. weaker) feelings of regret. Further, the discovery of betrayal from others (vs. personal experience) intensifies the effect of brand betrayal, which is stronger for utilitarian (vs. hedonic) products. Moreover, consumers exhibit a higher intensity of brand avoidance, vindictive negative word-of-mouth, and vindictive complaining with utilitarian (vs. hedonic) products. The findings enrich regret theory and the product-type literature and provide managerial guidance for effective brand strategy formulation in brand transgressions

Provenance of the lower Cretaceous Lumshiwal Formation, Surghar Range, northwestern Indian Plate, Pakistan: Insights from new petrographical and geochemical analysis

This paper documents the provenance and palaeoclimatic conditions of the Cretaceous Lumshiwal Formation near the western margin of the Indian plate in the Surghar Range, northwest Pakistan. The combined techniques of petrography, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and bulk rock geochemistry were utilized to reveal the source and mineral-geochemical composition and sandstone type. The petrographic analysis of the sandstones confirms the dominance of quartz, feldspar, and rock fragments, with subordinate occurrences of muscovite, magnetite, and hematite. Heavy minerals consist of tourmaline, titanite (sphene), rutile, cassiterite, monazite, and zircon. The cementing material includes ferruginous clays, jarosite, glauconite, calcite, minor dolomite, gypsum, and silica. The modal composition plot of the sandstones falls into arkose to sub-arkose, with a few lithic arkose varieties. Lithic fragments mainly include granite, with a minor occurrence of granitic gneiss, chert, phyllite, and quartz mica schist. The discriminatory provenance diagram of the sandstones suggests a transitional continental provenance. The bulk rock geochemistry of the sandstones reveals the presence of SiO2, TiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, FeO, MnO, CaO, MgO, Na2O, K2O and P2O5. The petrographical mineral findings were corroborated with XRD, SEM, and bulk rock geochemistry analysis (major element concentrations and their ratios), which collectively all confirm a felsic igneous source. The tectonic discrimination diagram (SiO2-log K2O/Na2O wt %) implies a dominant influx of sediment sourced from the passive continental margin of the uplifted Gondwana Indian plate. Terrigenous sediments found in the Lumshiwal Formation are interpreted to have been derived from granites and granitic gneisses of the Indian Shield. The palaeo-weathering index, including the chemical index of alteration (CIA) and the chemical index of weathering (CIW) of the Lumshiwal Formation confirms a low to moderately weathered source area. The climate discrimination plot (SiO2 versus Al2O3 + Na2O + K2O) shows that humid to semi-humid climatic conditions during the deposition of the Lumshiwal Formation