Shift of Consumer Attitude towards the Brand by Means of Heider’s Balance theory

Consumer attitudes toward a brand are largely determined by the behavior of the sales staff. This on-brand behavior has been interpreted as a dyadic relationship between customer and brand. This article extends the analysis towards a triad customer-brand-salesperson, based on Heider’s Balance Theory. An extensive empirical study confirms the importance of the on-brand behavior, in addition to the positive outcomes of the sales encounter. If consumer brand attitude is positive before the sales experience, a negative out-come of the sales encounter results in a less negative attitude than in the case of a negative predetermination, even with positive experiences.