Influence of entrepreneurs’ negative behavior on corporate image: Mediated by consumer psychological reasoning strategies

A mediation mechanism of consumer psychological reasoning strategies was proposed, which elucidate the influence of entrepreneurs’ negative behavior on corporate image. The negative behavior was classified as feeling-hurting behavior and law-violating behavior, and their influences were presented under the mediation paths of three kinds of consumer psychological reasoning strategies (separation, rationalization, and combination). Through the scenario simulation and questionnaire, 564 samples were collected for analysis. The results show that separation and combination play a partial mediating role in the relationship between severity of the negative behavior of entrepreneurs and corporate image. Meanwhile, the type of the negative behavior has moderate effects on the relationships between severity of negative behavior and the psychological reasoning strategies.