Captivating Brand Hate Using Contemporary Metrics: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach Richa Joshi 1 Rajan Yadav 2 Abstract Brand polarity has gained considerable attention among researchers all over the world. Brands are trapped in a dilemma of love and hate experienced by their users. They are trying hard to place themselves in a favourable position which could fetch them more rev- enue and positive electronic word of mouth (e-WOM). Most of the literature in branding revolves around brand satisfaction, brand loyalty, brand equity and brand image, but there are relatively lesser studies which discuss brand hate (BH). However, it is a crucial emotion related to the brand. Therefore, this study has tried to fill this void in the literature by focusing on the antecedents of BH. The present research has tried to validate the effect of negative past experience (NPE) and subjective norm on BH along with the mediating effect of BH between the relationship of NPE and negative e-WOM. It has also tried to examine the moderating role of internet usage in the relationship of NPE and BH with negative e-WOM. Key Words Brand Hate, Mediation, Moderating Effect, Negative e-WOM, Negative Past Experience, Subjective Norm Vision 1–9 © 2020 MDI Reprints and permissions: in.sagepub.com/journals-permissions-india DOI: 10.1177/0972262919892173 journals.sagepub.com/home/vis Introduction Brand polarity has gained popularity from the last few years, and scholars and practitioners are trying to capture the oscil- lation of human emotions from positive to negative towards various brands. Brand-associated behavioural aspect has got considerable attention, and such approach is found to be relatively new in capturing perspectives of consumers. However, positive emotions are discussed more in the exist- ing researches. Brand love is found to be an intense feeling related to the brand, and various researchers such as Batra, Ahuvia, and Bagozzi (2012) and Carroll and Ahuvia (2006) have discussed this construct. Love is believed to be a deep emotion and so is hate; therefore it is vital to understand the underlying role of brand hate (BH) on the consumer per- spective. People tend to remember and discuss negative aspects of the brand more than the positive ones. They discuss and share negative reviews more, whereas the positive experiences are less talked and discussed; it is termed as ‘negativity bias’ by Kanouse and Hanson (1972). Such incongruity paves a path for the researchers to explore the negative opinions and perspectives possessed by the consumer. With the advent of the internet, the expression of negative feelings is more frequent and easy these days. Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are used for expression of opinion towards everything from politics to Bollywood and brands are not spared. Though the construct carry such strong implications for marketers, still there is a dearth of studies which elaborate on BH in the literature of consumer behaviour. Hate is as important as love and the effect of BH on negative elec- tronic word of mouth (e-WOM) is as significant for the marketer as the positive word of mouth. As per authors knowledge, there is no such study which explores the mod- erating role of internet usage in the relationships of BH and negative e-WOM. Along with this, the present study has Article 1 Department of Management Studies, National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, India. 2 Delhi School of Management, Delhi Technological University, Delhi, India. Corresponding author: Dr. Richa Joshi, Assistant Professor, National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh 177005, India. E-mail: richardias86@gmail.com