Who stays and who leaves? The role of culture in consumer reactions to data breaches

Purpose As digital platforms become increasingly integral to consumer interactions, data breaches present substantial risks to brand trust and consumer behavior. This research examines how consumers’ cultural tendencies, based on individualism and collectivism (IND-COL), influence their brand avoidance intentions following a data breach. Design/methodology/approach Across four studies, including a pilot study using real-world Google search data and three controlled experiments, we investigate the relationship between cultural orientation and consumer responses to data breaches. Findings We found that consumers with higher collectivistic (vs individualistic) cultural backgrounds exhibit lower brand avoidance intention after a large-scale data breach incident because they tend to focus on their relative standing through social comparison. We show that this effect is moderated by the proportion of affected customers to total customers, supporting the underlying role of the tendency for social comparison. Research limitations/implications The findings expand the literature on consumer responses to data breaches by introducing cultural orientation as a critical factor in understanding brand avoidance behaviors. Practical implications These results provide actionable insights for developing culturally tailored crisis communication strategies that consider the varied psychological impacts of data breaches on collectivist and individualist consumers. Originality/value This study is the first to establish the link between cultural dimensions and data breach responses, filling a significant gap in both cybersecurity and cross-cultural consumer behavior literature. By revealing how individualism–collectivism fundamentally shapes consumers’ psychological and behavioral reactions to data breaches, our research transforms how companies should approach post-breach communications across global markets.