Corrective Action as a Crisis Response Strategy: Examining Young Consumers Perceptions of Luxury Fashion Brands in The Netherlands

In recent years, fashion brands have been occupied with restoring their brand image in the aftermath of scandals due to ethical controversies, cultural insensitivity, and public scrutiny online. These crises pose a unique threat to brand value, which in the luxury fashion industry relies on consumer trust and emotional resonance. While existing theories such as Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) and image Repair Theory (IRT) offer guidance on the strategic messaging, they often overlook how younger, socially conscious consumers interpret brand image attributes like sincerity, authenticity, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) following a crisis. This thesis investigates how these perceived brand images influence brand trust and purchase intention among Dutch young adults aged 18 to 29 in response to a luxury fashion brand's rebuild strategy following a crisis. The central question is: To what extent does the perceived brand image of corporate social responsibility, authenticity, and sincerity resulting from a luxury fashion brand's rebuild crisis response strategy influence the brand trust and purchase intention among young adults aged 18 to 29 years in the Netherlands? A quantitative methodology was employed by distributing a survey based on a hypothetical scenario experiment of the fictional luxury fashion brand Maison Elise. The survey (N= 206) measured respondents' perceptions of the brand's crisis response, brand trust, and purchase intention, using validated scales. Statistical analysis was used to examine both direct and indirect relationships between variables. The results indicate that sincerity has the strongest direct effect on purchase intention, followed by authenticity and CSR. Moreover, brand trust was found as a mediator between perceived brand image and purchase intention, suggesting that trust is a key factor through which consumers translate into behavioural intent. Additionally, educational level had a significant effect on purchase intention, with master's degree holders showing higher responsiveness than lower degree holders. These findings contribute to crisis communication theory by integrating affective and ethical dimensions into the SCCT and IRT frameworks. Practically, the results suggest that, next to corrective messages, luxury fashion brands must communicate sincerity and demonstrate value alignment to rebuild trust. The study also suggests that future research to focus on CSR typologies, brand equity, and consumer segmentation in post-crisis scenarios.