Identifying and Prioritizing the Most Important Consequences of Brand Value Co-Destruction in Social Commerce: Before and After Using Conflict Management

Aim and introduction: With the growth of companies' activities in the realm of social commerce, there has been a significant increase in customer participation in the design, production, and marketing of brands' products and services. But this does not mean that their participation always yields positive and constructive results. In fact, in certain situations, customer participation can lead to significant costs for the company, wastage of shared resources, and a disruption in the balance of interests. This causes brand owners to refrain from involving customers more in creating value for the company. As a result, conditions are created for the process of co-destruction of brand value. It is evident that if companies continue to overlook the detrimental impact of brand value co-destruction without employing management techniques like conflict management, they will face numerous adverse consequences. Identifying these consequences can serve as crucial factors in controlling the situation and restoring balance. Due to the significance of this issue, this study has identified and prioritized the most crucial consequences of brand value co-destruction in social commerce, both before and after the implementation of conflict management. Methodology: This research is classified as practical and falls under the category of qualitative research in terms of its purpose and type. In this research, the systematic literature review method was used first, followed by the classical grounded theory method, to achieve the research objective. In the next step, the Ordinal Priority Approach (OPA) was employed to weigh and rank the most significant factors identified. The sampling method used in the current research is theoretical or theory-based sampling. The data collection tool is a semi-structured in-depth interview. The sample used in the classical grounded theory approach consists of 23 individuals. Among them, 11 are founders, managers, and experts from various departments of service-oriented digital start-ups operating in the context of social commerce. The remaining 12 individuals are online customers of these companies. Finding: Based on in-depth interviews with selected experts in this research, the consequences of brand value co-destruction were generally identified in the form of 105 open codes, 29 concepts, and 11 main categories. In the first stage, the study identified 57 open codes, 13 concepts, and 4 main categories related to the consequences of brand value co-destruction when conflict management is not established. The results indicate that without utilizing conflict management strategies, companies may experience destructive outcomes. These outcomes, in order of priority, include the deterioration of the mental well-being of brand beneficiaries, the proliferation of anti-brand behaviors in online communities, the disruption of the service ecosystem, and the eventual demise of the brand life cycle. In the second stage, the study identified 48 open codes, 16 concepts, and 7 main categories related to the consequences of co-destruction of brand value and the establishment of conflict management. The findings indicate that companies can prevent negative consequences and transform them into positive and productive outcomes by effectively utilizing conflict management during the co-destruction of brand value. In order of priority, the experience of co-destruction of brand value after applying conflict management leads to several constructive consequences. These include encouraging active and interactive learning, promoting solutions, fostering individual brand self-leadership instead of appointed brand leadership, promoting well-being recovery, developing new products and services, and fostering integrated thinking towards brand and business model innovation. Discussion and coclusion: The obtained results show that when the interests of the customers and the company are jeopardized during cooperation and become unbalanced, they collaborate towards the co-destruction of brand value. Then, as the value co-destruction process evolves within the company, the level of conflict in people's communication increases, resulting in negative consequences for both customers and the company. After conducting an in-depth investigation into the concept of co-destruction of brand value in companies, it has been determined that unless effective management strategies are implemented to reduce interpersonal conflicts among stakeholders and control tension between them, both customers and companies will remain vulnerable to the destructive and negative consequences of brand value co-destruction, ultimately leading to the demise of the brand. However, by implementing conflict management strategies within the company and fostering a spirit of compromise, they are able to leverage the negative experiences resulting from value co-destruction and turn them into opportunities to enhance the brand. Considering that most studies mention value co-destruction as a destructive phenomenon for companies, this research highlights a positive aspect of brand value co-destruction by focusing on conflict management. The findings can serve as a roadmap to help companies avoid making wrong decisions when faced with escalating communication tensions. Therefore, this research can not only contribute theoretically to the evolution of the concept of co-destruction of brand value in the literature, but it can also inform managers about the uneven path of value co-destruction and the consequences of their choices. This information can help them restore the situation to ideal and balanced conditions.