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Asian Journal of Business Ethics

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23-06-2020

Modelling consumers’ punishment behaviours in third-party ethically questionable situations

Authors: Elizabeth Dunlop, Edward Oczkowski, Mark Farrell

Published in: Asian Journal of Business Ethics | Issue 2/2020

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Abstract

This study develops and tests an empirical model of consumer punishing behaviours in third-party ethically questionable situations. The model examines the impact of perceived injustice, consumer-company identification, identification with the victim, and consumer involvement on punishing behaviours. A number of ‘real-life’ ethical scenarios are employed to generate over 1000 data responses from a self-administered questionnaire. The positive influence of perceived injustice on punishing behaviours is the most supported hypothesis of the study. The relation between consumer-company identification and punishment is in part mediated through perceived injustice and also depended upon the employed scenario, with both negative and positive relations identified. An important positive relationship between identification with the victim and punishment behaviour was identified. No significant support exists for the influence of consumer involvement in the issue on punishing behaviours.

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Title: Modelling consumers’ punishment behaviours in third-party ethically questionable situations
Authors: Elizabeth Dunlop
Edward Oczkowski
Mark Farrell
Publication date: 23-06-2020
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: Asian Journal of Business Ethics / Issue 2/2020
Print ISSN: 2210-6723
Electronic ISSN: 2210-6731
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13520-020-00104-9

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