ABSTRACT
Marketing relationship transgressions have been investigated in several research streams from different perspectives. Relational transgressions of course occur not only in personal relationships but also in relationships between consumers and brands. In the context of consumer-brand relationships, a negative critical incident corresponds to a relationship transgression. Even though Bowlby originally conceptualized attachment theory to characterize infant-parent emotional bonding, the theory has been extended to the study of adolescent and adult relationships and even to the study of broader social phenomena. The application of attachment theory to the study of consumer-brand relationships is still in its early stages. The positive expectations that securely attached customers possess of companies and brands help them to positively interpret problematic interactions and buffer emotional distress from relational transgressions. A key goal of relationship marketing is to build and maintain strong and stable relationships with customers.
