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Why We Boycott: Consumer Motivations for Boycott Participation
Abstract
Although boycotts are increasingly relevant for management decision making, there has been little research of an individual consumer's motivation to boycott. Drawing on the helping behavior and boycott literature, the authors take a cost-benefit approach to the decision to boycott and present a conceptualization of motivations for boycott participation. The authors tested their framework during an actual boycott of a multinational firm that was prompted by factory closings. Consumers who viewed the closures as egregious were more likely to boycott the firm, though only a minority did so. Four factors are found to predict boycott participation: the desire to make a difference, the scope for self-enhancement, counterarguments that inhibit boycotting, and the cost to the boycotter of constrained consumption. Furthermore, self-enhancement and constrained consumption are significant moderators of the relationship between the perceived egregiousness of the firm's actions and boycott participation. The authors also explore the role of perceptions of others' participation and discuss implications for marketers, nongovernmental organizations, policymakers, and researchers.
... There are many definitions of the concept of boycott in literature. The definition in the studies of Friedman (1985) and Klein et al. (2004) is an example of many studies. A boycott is basically defined as a consumer giving up purchasing a selected business or brand product. ...
... Thus, consumer animosity can influence boycott intentions both directly and through social media. The Perceived Consumer Effectiveness Theory put forward by Klein et al. 2004 provides the basis for examining Perceived Efficacy in terms of its effect on boycott intentions. Awaludin and Al-Khaidar (2023) and Salma and Aji (2023) concluded that high levels of perceived effectiveness may affect boycott intentions. ...
... The study found that perceived efficacy has a positive effect on boycott intention. This finding is in line with important similar studies in the literature (Sen et al., 2001;Klein et al. (-2004;Ettenson & Klein, 2005;Hoffman, 2013;Ishak et al., 2018;Roswinanto & Suwanda, 2023;Salma & Aji, 2023). Albrecht et al. (2013) argue that consumers are more likely to participate in boycotts when they consider them very effective. ...
This study aims to reveal the effects of consumer animosity, perceived effectiveness, and social media on consumers' boycott intention. In addition, the study aims to investigate the mediating role of social media in the relationship between consumer animosity and boycott intention and the relationship between perceived efficacy and boycott intention. The study also analyzes whether there are significant differences in the boycott intentions of consumers in seven different regions of Turkey. A total of 749 consumer data from an equal number of consumers in seven different regions of Turkey were analyzed using structural equation modeling and ANOVA tests. The findings of the study show that consumer animosity, perceived efficacy, and social media have a positive effect on consumers' boycott intentions. While the mediating role of social media in the relationship between perceived effectiveness and boycott intentions was observed, the mediating role of social media in the relationship between consumer animosity and boycott intentions was not detected. It also revealed that there is a significant difference between regions in consumers' boycott intentions. The study differs from other studies in that it both investigates the mediating roles of social media variables and analyzes regional differences in the analysis of boycott intentions.
... Consumer activism has become a powerful force in influencing corporate behavior, policies, and market trends. Among the various forms of consumer activism, boycotting has emerged as a widely used strategy where consumers deliberately refrain from purchasing products from companies they perceive as unethical (Klein, John, & Smith, 2004). Historically, boycotts have played a crucial role in shaping corporate responsibility, government regulations, and social movements (Hoffmann et al., 2018). ...
... This movement gained strong traction in Batam, with various civil society groups and influencers amplifying the boycott call through social media campaigns, urging consumers to switch to local alternatives or ethical brands (The Jakarta Post, 2023). (2024) The findings reveal distinct generational differences in how consumers engage in boycotts, aligning with prior studies on consumer activism and psychological motivations (Klein et al., 2004;Hoffmann et al., 2018). Thematic analysis identified three key psychological drivers behind boycott participation: emotional triggers, social identity influences, and perceived boycott effectiveness. ...
... This perspective is consistent with previous research indicating that older consumers prioritize financial stability over social activism. (Brinkmann, 2004;Klein et al., 2004). Many Gen X participants argued that corporations ultimately adapt to market pressures and that boycotts rarely achieve lasting impact, reinforcing their preference for regulatory interventions over social movements. ...
Consumer boycotts have become an increasingly significant form of consumer activism, driven by ethical, political, and social concerns. This study explores the psychological motivations behind boycott participation in Batam, focusing on emotional triggers, social identity influences, and perceived effectiveness. Using a qualitative approach, data were collected through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with 30 respondents from Generation X, Y, and Z. Thematic analysis was conducted manually, highlighting key motivations such as moral responsibility, peer influence, and digital activism. The findings reveal that Gen Z engages in boycotts as an expression of online activism, Gen Y is driven by ethical consumption, and Gen X remains skeptical and pragmatic. This research contributes to the literature on consumer activism, ethical consumption, and social identity theory, offering insights for businesses, policymakers, and advocacy groups on how to navigate boycott movements and maintain consumer trust.
... Hypothesis Three posited that attitudes toward marketing boycotts influence the intention to participate in boycotts, and the results support this hypothesis. These findings are consistent with Kozinets and Handelman (2004), Bennett and Savani (2011), and Klein et al. (2004). Positive attitudes toward boycotts strengthen participation intentions, driven by moral obligation, solidarity, and value alignment. ...
... Hypothesis Four proposed that social identity expressiveness influences marketing boycott intentions, and this hypothesis is also supported. These findings align with Cova and Cova (2002), Klein et al. (2004), and van der Linden (2015), which highlight that individuals with strong social group identification are more likely to boycott brands that contradict group values. Social identity expressiveness reinforces group norms, fostering social pressure and collective efficacy, which increases boycott participation. ...
... Hypothesis Five posited that subjective norms regarding marketing boycotts influence social identity expressiveness, and the findings support this claim. This aligns with research by Ajzen (1991), Klein et al. (2004), and Aqilla and Laidey (2022)., which assert that social expectations strengthen social identity expressiveness. Individuals who strongly identify with a boycottsupporting group align their purchasing decisions accordingly, motivated by emotional connections and peer validation. ...
This study examines the role of self-identity expressiveness and social-identity expressiveness in marketing boycotts of products perceived to be affiliated with Israel in Indonesia. An extended model of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), incorporating identity and social influences, is developed and tested. The study utilizes a sample of 571 individuals from Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi, selected through purposive sampling. Data analysis is conducted using structural equation modeling (SEM) with IBM SPSS AMOS software. The findings confirm that self-identity expressiveness and social-identity expressiveness significantly influence behavioral intentions. Additionally, the study explores the relationship between self-identity expressiveness and attitudes, as well as between social-identity expressiveness and subjective norms. The results indicate that subjective norms alone are sufficient to capture the broader range of identity and social influences shaping boycott intentions. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed, offering insights for marketing practitioners and scholars.
... al ini menunjukkan bahwa boikot tidak hanya merupakan tindakan simbolis, tetapi juga strategi untuk mencapai perubahan nyata dalam masyarakat. Partisipan boikot percaya bahwa tindakan kolektif mereka dapat menghasilkan perubahan dalam kebijakan, perilaku, atau praktik bisnis yang dianggap tidak etis atau tidak adil terdapat beberapa faktor terkait membuat perubahan yaitu tujannya yang spesifik, dukungan massa, dan tekanan terhadap ekonomi atau sosial (Klein et al., 2004). b. ...
... Pelaku boikot memberikan kepuasan emosional, seperti perasaan bangga karena telah bertindak sesuai dengan nilai-nilai atau prinsip-prinsip seseorang. Terdapat beberapa faktor terkait peningkatan diri yaitu kesadaran moral, identitas pribadi atau kelompok dan penghargaan diri (Klein et al., 2004). c. ...
... Di sisi lain, pemboikot akan memperkuat posisinya dengan memberikan pembenaran atas tindakannya dan menyanggah alasan yang diberikan oleh perusahaan atau pendukungnya. Dalam kontra argumen terdapat dua faktor terkait yaitu pemahaman kritis dan ketahanan terhadap kritis (Klein et al., 2004). ...
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis pengaruh gerakan boikot produk pro Israel terhadap perilaku konsumen muslim di Kota Palembang, dengan fokus pada produk McDonald's. Latar belakang penelitian ini bermula dari konflik berkepanjangan antara Israel dan Palestina yang memicu gerakan boikot sebagai bentuk protes terhadap kebijakan Israel. Metode yang digunakan adalah pendekatan kuantitatif dengan analisis regresi linier sederhana, dimana data dikumpulkan melalui kuesioner yang disebarkan kepada 100 responden yang merupakan konsumen muslim di Palembang. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa terdapat pengaruh yang signifikan antara gerakan boikot dengan perilaku konsumen, dengan nilai koefisien regresi sebesar 0,596. Uji t menunjukkan bahwa T hitung (8,870) > T tabel (1,9844) yang menunjukkan bahwa gerakan boikot berpengaruh positif terhadap perubahan perilaku konsumen. Selain itu, uji F menunjukkan bahwa model regresi yang diterapkan signifikan dengan nilai F hitung (78,675) > F tabel (3,98). Koefisien determinasi (R²) menunjukkan bahwa 44% variasi perilaku konsumen dipengaruhi oleh gerakan boikot, sedangkan sisanya dipengaruhi oleh faktor lain. Kesimpulan dari penelitian ini adalah bahwa gerakan boikot produk pro-Israel, seperti McDonald's, memiliki dampak yang signifikan terhadap perilaku konsumen Muslim di Kota Palembang. Kata Kunci: Gerakan boikot, perilaku konsumen, produk pro-Israel, McDonald's, konsumen muslim, Kota Palembang
... Similarly, social justice theory underpins these boycotts within a larger frame of pursuits of fairness and equity, with an emphasis on a consumer-led movement that plays a leading role in challenging and righting injustices [17]. A combination of these theoretical standpoints would allow one to gauge how consumer activism relentlessly puts pressure on multinational companies to be more ethical in their policies, even as it engenders wide transformations in corporate behavior and strategy concerning social justice imperatives. ...
... Boycotts reflect the desire to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and to compensate for the struggle of the Arab and Islamic peoples with regard to armed confrontations by encouraging people to make a change and buy goods and services from companies that support the rights of the Palestinian people, seeking to influence the strategies of companies that are against the rights of the Palestinians. The current findings confirm the findings of previous political consumerism studies, which proved that boycotting and political consumerism are conducted because of moral drivers, identification with causes, and the efficiency of collective action [17]. Boycotts against ICRs can be identified as powerful examples of ethical consumerism based on strong combined emotions, social justice, and religious identity. ...
... Previous studies on political consumerism mainly studied individual ethical factors and motivations for boycotting (e.g., refs. [17,22]) while overlooking how such actions impact both sociopolitical systems and economies, particularly in non-Western regions, like Arab-Islamic countries [33]. Social justice theory has limitations in describing the process of converting the boycotting of certain ethical principles into concrete corporate policy alterations [50]. ...
The increasing avoidance of international fast-food chains is a widespread phenomenon influenced by economic, social, and political factors. This study examines the risks and implications of restaurant boycotts, focusing on their role in social justice movements and economic shifts. The authors employed the qualitative approach; using an exploratory case study and a critical discourse analysis, we investigated consumer motivations for avoidance, the financial and reputational risks businesses face, and how corporate responses shape brand perception. By integrating political consumerism and social justice theory, we provide a comprehensive framework for understanding the psychological, ethical, and economic drivers of boycotts. The findings highlight that boycott behavior significantly impacted declining sales and profits for McDonald’s and Starbucks and forced the closure of outlets, as well as leading to the loss of consumer trust and long-term brand loyalty. Thus, it forced companies to create strategies for protecting their reputation. Consumer activism, which draws from social justice and ethical consumerism, demonstrates its capability to affect corporate policy choices and business practices in sensitive political situations to fight injustices. This research offers valuable insights for business leaders navigating consumer activism, emphasizing the need for proactive corporate responsibility strategies to mitigate the risks of reputational damage and declining consumer trust.
... A boycott is an initiative to prevent consumers from engaging in a specific consumption behaviour to achieve particular objectives (Friedman, 1985, p. 97). There has been limited research on the reasons for boycotting and the factors influencing boycott motivation (Klein et al., 2004). Participation in boycotts is generally voluntary and often initiated by civil society organizations. ...
... Participation in boycotts is generally voluntary and often initiated by civil society organizations. Factors influencing an individual's decision to participate in a boycott include the perceived misconduct of the targeted firm (Klein et al., 2004), subjective norms, hostility, social pressure, and the likelihood of success (Braunsberger & Buckler, 2011;Asmat-Nizam et al., 2016;Abosag & Farah, 2014). Ishak, Khalid, and Sulaiman (2018) examined the impact of ethical values on participation in boycotts against Israel through a qualitative study involving eight individuals. ...
... These results are consistent with previous research in the literature. The emotional reasons identified in this study, such as support for victims or opposition to "crimes against humanity, " align with findings from studies by Klein et al. (2004), Braunsberger andBuckler (2011), Asmat-Nizam et al. (2016), and Abosag and Farah (2014). However, the reasons for not participating in boycotts do not align with Ishak, Khalid, and Sulaiman's (2018) study, where quality concerns were the primary factor, ranking third in this research at only 12%. ...
This research aims to reveal the relationship between the self-identity of modern individuals, who seek to find themselves by consuming in a consumer society, and their consumption preferences and behaviours through boycott behaviour. For this purpose, a study was conducted in 2024 with 322 university students in Istanbul, utilizing a blind taste test involving two products (cola and coffee) from one global and one local brand (Pepsi/Cola Turka and Starbucks/Kahve Dünyası) regarding the boycott against brands supporting Israel. According to the research findings, the participation rate in the boycott is 57%. Regardless of participation in the boycott, no statistically significant difference was found in brand preferences during the blind test among all participants. However, it was revealed that the preferences for products related to Starbucks significantly decreased among participants who supported the boycott. Although not statistically significant, a decrease was also observed for Pepsi. The primary reasons affecting participation in the boycott are emotional factors, such as a reaction to crimes against humanity and support for the oppressed. Those who did not participate in the boycott expressed their belief that the boycott or their participation would have no impact. No significant relationship was identified between the phenomenon of self-identity, which is the research's main subject, consumer preferences (participation in the boycott), and indirectly, brand preferences. The self-identity preferences of participants and non-participants in the boycott were similar, with the most commonly expressed identity definition being "human."
... This framework encompasses several key areas of research, each offering valuable insights into the dynamics of consumer behavior, corporate social responsibility, and activism in modern markets. But on the other hand, Klein et al. (2004) mentioned that despite the importance of individual motivations, this aspect has historically received less attention in scholarly research compared to other areas such as corporate behavior, activism dynamics, or broader societal impacts. However, recent developments in consumer psychology and behavioral economics have started to address this gap by investigating the psychological underpinnings of consumer activism, by recognizing and studying the role of individual motivations, scholars can gain deeper insights into the complexities of consumer activism and its implications for market dynamics and social change. ...
... A boycott is the consumers' way to use their power by not buying some products/brands to show their disagreement. (Klein et al., 2004) emphasize that a boycott may also happen, "...when a number of people abstain from purchase of a product, at the same time, as a result of the same egregious act or behaviour, but not necessarily for the same reasons...." Rejection of global brands in Muslims countries may happen for various reasons. So, customer boycott is a collective action taken by consumers to abstain from purchasing or using the products or services of a particular company, brand, or organization. ...
... This decision is typically motivated by dissatisfaction with the company's practices, policies, or behavior. The aim of a boycott is to put pressure on the target company to change its ways, often by hitting them financially through reduced sales or damaging their reputation (Klein et al., 2004). As (Holt et al., 2004) mentioned in their study reached similar conclusions. ...
It begins by exploring the historical and religious context of the boycott among the Muslim community, related to the situation in Medina and the impact of religious values on consumer behavior. This study discusses the reasons behind consumers' protests against foreign brands, emphasizing national identity, economic concerns, ethical factors, societal support, and perception factors that influence their behavior. Several characteristics of Muslim individuals, related to peer influence and group behavior, such as community and social ties, religious identity, influence of religious authority, solidarity with the global Muslim cause, sharing of information within the community, and a sense of responsibility. In addition, it explores the impact of religious motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic on consumer behavior, discusses the role of Islamic marketing and the use of symbols in influencing consumer behavior, emphasizes the global identity of the Ummah, and tailored marketing strategies. This methodology outlines the data collection and analysis process, highlighting the use of qualitative methods, to gain insight into consumer attitudes and motivations that drive boycotts across groups. Vosviewers is used for data analysis, to extract meaningful concepts and patterns from collected journals, identifying important themes and patterns. In conclusion, this research provides a comprehensive exploration of the motivations and dynamics of boycotts among Muslim consumers, highlighting the historical, religious, and socio-economic factors that influence consumer behavior and activism, a thorough investigation of the complex phenomenon of boycotts, insights into the dynamics of religion, culture, and social factors that shape consumer behavior.
... Consumer animosity, defined as individuals' negative feelings and attitudes toward a specific foreign country, is typically triggered by traumatic historical events, economic disputes, or differences in cultural norms and values, which ultimately influence their perceptions and behaviors toward foreign products (Kiriri, 2018;Nawaz et al., 2023). One form of this is boycott participation, where individuals actively choose not to buy or support certain companies or products because the companies' actions are deemed unethical or unacceptable (Gabrielle Klein et al., 2002). Friedman categorizes boycotts into two types: direct and indirect. ...
... Boycott motivation refers to the reasons why individuals choose to participate in a boycott, which can include instrumental motivation aimed at changing company policies, expressive motivation aimed at venting anger, and "clean hands" motivation aimed at avoiding guilt or feeling good about oneself (Gabrielle Klein et al., 2002;Keser & Söğütlü, 2023;Klein et al., 2001). Consumer animosity significantly motivates boycott participation, as increased animosity correlates with a higher likelihood of consumers engaging in a boycott against brands they view negatively (Suhud, 2018(Suhud, , 2020. ...
... Boycott participation serves as a direct expression of consumer disapproval, amplifying the effect of animosity on purchasing behavior. This supports research by Gabrielle Klein et al. (2002), who argue that consumers are more likely to avoid buying products when motivated by the desire to express their ethical or political stance. Furthermore, boycott actions are not merely symbolic gestures; they channel negative feelings into real behavior, making consumers more resolute in their unwillingness to support the rejected brand (Farah, 2014). ...
This study aims test and analyze the effect of consumer animosity on boycott participation and boycott motivation, which ultimately influence unwillingness to buy. Also the effect of consumer animosity on unwillingness to buy, which is mediated by boycott participation and boycott motivation. Data were collected through an online survey with 320 respondents. This study uses a quantitative research method with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) techniques. The results show that consumer animosity has a positive and significant effect on boycott motivation and boycott participation. Boycott participation and boycott motivation have a positive and significant impact on unwillingness to buy. Boycott participation and boycott motivation, as mediators, are proven to have a positive and significant effect on the relationship between consumer animosity and unwillingness to buy.
... Perceptual evaluation is the cognitive process through which individuals assess and interpret information based on their perceptions, beliefs, attitudes, and values (Fong, and Yin, and Kim 2023). The more egregious a consumer perceives the firm's behavior, the more likely the consumer is to engage in consumer activism (Klein, Smith, and John 2004;Wang, Lee, and Polonsky 2018). Physical evaluation pertains to consumer well-being, considering factors related to satisfaction and happiness (Ali 2021;Pancer and Handelman 2012). ...
... A higher level of consumer well-being is linked with higher satisfaction and happiness (Ali 2021). Consumers are ready to boycott to make a difference and bring about social change implementation if these needs are not met (Klein, Smith, and John 2004). They are also driven to boycott when they understand that their actions will inspire others to join them in their opposition to a company's unfavorable activities and bring a change to their well-being (Leary, Vann, and Mittelstaedt 2019). ...
... Because of their desire to see themselves in a good light, consumers are likely to think that it is their obligation and personal responsibility to disconnect from the boycott target and that engaging in the boycott is the correct thing to do (Shaw, Newholm, and Dickinson 2006). The rewards of boycott success are reflected in self-enhancement, as people feel good about themselves and are admired by others for participating in the boycott (Klein, Smith, and John 2004). ...
Consumers are increasingly taking up activism to modify, or at the very least, penalize a company's contentious behavior. This paper presents a systematic literature review of 404 studies on consumer activism published between 1975 and 2023, applying the extended stimulus-organism-response-outcomes (S-O-R-Om) framework. It investigates the underlying causes and significant outcomes of consumer activism. The results reveal how various factors such as political conditions, human rights violations, environmental degradation, religion, and consumer disregard stimulate internal evaluations of perceptual, physical, emotional, and philosophical activities in people. These evaluations often prompt consumers to respond via boycotts, anti-brand activism, commodity activism, and even buycotts, all of which have varying consequences for different stakeholders. The findings suggest that consumer activism can serve as a powerful tool for societal change, shaping brand strategies and influencing business practices. These insights underscore the necessity for businesses to align their operations with the evolving values and expectations of their consumer base, emphasizing the critical role of ethics in consumer-brand relationships. This research contributes to the understanding of modern consumer behavior by providing the Consumer Activism framework, which is based on the S-O-R-Om framework. This comprehensive exploration provides valuable insights into the mechanisms driving consumer activism and its significant implications for brand management and consumer behavior research. The study also identifies key research gaps in existing literature and offers a detailed set of recommendations to guide future research on the evolving dynamics of consumer activism.
... This situation underscores the need to explore how boycott impact beliefs (BIB) mediate the relationship between RA and the willingness of Indonesian youth to purchase domestically made products. BIB refer to the perception and belief held by individuals regarding the effectiveness and potential outcomes of participating in a boycott (Klein et al., 2004). This motivation is rooted in geopolitical and ethical considerations, as individuals seek to enact change and advocate for social justice. ...
... This motivation is rooted in geopolitical and ethical considerations, as individuals seek to enact change and advocate for social justice. These beliefs encompass the instrumental motivation to induce societal change through boycott actions, such as altering the behavior of the target firm or signaling the importance of ethical conduct (Klein et al., 2004). Previous research suggests that individuals may engage in boycotts as a form of activism to bring about societal change (Lightfoot, 2019). ...
... We adapted the scale of RA from Roswinanto and Suwanda (2021). The scale of BIB was adopted from Klein et al. (2004), whereas the scale of EN from Amarullah and Handriana (2023). Finally, the scale of willingness to buy domestically made products was adopted from Topçu and Kaplan (2015). ...
Purpose
The aim of this study is to explore the drivers behind the willingness of Indonesian youth to buy local products as an alternative to Israeli-affiliated products amid geopolitical tensions between Palestine and Israel, using the framework of identity-based motivation theory.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses SmartPLS 4 to examine the proposed hypotheses using survey data collected from 307 Indonesian youth, within the context of an ongoing Israel boycott. This dynamic setting allows us to capture real-time and authentic responses of Indonesian youth to socio-political pressures and religious endorsements in their purchasing decisions.
Findings
The findings challenge the belief that religious altruism alone drives Indonesian youth to buy local products during the Israel boycott. Instead, those with strong religious and ethnocentric values are more likely to support local industries when they believe in the effectiveness of boycotting Israeli-affiliated products.
Practical implications
The findings offer valuable insights for domestic marketers, policymakers, educators and communities seeking to strengthen local industries in the face of geopolitical tensions.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the underexplored area of local product consumption by integrating religious, geopolitical and national identity factors through the lens of identity-based motivation theory, offering a novel perspective on the motivational drivers behind Indonesian youth’s willingness to buy local products during a boycott.
... Additionally, it is often unclear to both organizers and participants how effective a boycott has been, with no way to track prevented or diverted purchases. This confusion and lack of visibility add to the already-significant sociotechnical obstacles associated with organizing any collective action campaign online, boycott or otherwise [43,48,63,67]. ...
... Specifically, this literature has identified two types of potential boycott participants: (1) the "caring and ethical" type and (2) the "confused and uncertain" type [12]. "Confused and uncertain" consumers are those who attempt to join a boycott but are often overwhelmed with messages they perceive to be contradictory and do not receive enough guidance regarding specific actions [43]. Out of Site was designed to reduce the cognitive burden on "confused and uncertain" boycott participants by streamlining and automating boycott actions (see Section 3). ...
... In particular, in offline boycotts campaigns and existing online boycotts campaigns, the number of participants and the aggregate economic impact are often not visible. As such, boycott participants have no way to know whether a campaign is gaining traction or has made a difference [43]. The collective action literature in social computing (and other fields) suggests that increasing the visibility of collective progress incentivizes sustainable participation and can potentially lead to larger impacts (e.g. ...
GrabYourWallet, #boycottNRA and other online boycott campaigns have attracted substantial public interest in recent months. However, a number of significant challenges are preventing online boycotts from reaching their potential. In particular, complex webs of brands and subsidiaries can make it difficult for participants to conform to the goals of a boycott. Similarly, participants and organizers have limited visibility into a boycott's progress. This affects their ability to use sociotechnical innovations from social computing to incentivize participation. To address these challenges, this paper makes a system contribution: a new boycott tool called Out of Site. Out of Site uses lightweight automation to remove obstacles to successful online boycotts. We describe the design challenges associated with Out of Site and report results from two phases of deployment with the GrabYourWallet and Stop Animal Testing boycott communities. Our findings highlight the potential of boycott-assisting technologies and inform the design of this new class of technologies. Finally, like is the case for many systems in social computing, while we designed Out of Site for pro-social uses, there are a number of easily predictable ways in which the system can be leveraged for anti-social purposes (e.g. exacerbating filter bubble issues, empowering boycotts of businesses owned by racial, ethnic, and religious minorities). As such, we developed for this project a new, very straightforward design approach that treats preventing these anti-social uses as a top-tier design concern. This approach stands in contrast to the status quo of ignoring potential anti-social uses and/or considering them to be a secondary design priority. We discuss how our simple approach may help other research projects reduce their potential negative impacts with minimal burden.
... O boicote pode ser entendido como uma forma de punição a uma marca por um comportamento considerado inaceitável, expressa pela recusa na compra de seus produtos (Xie, Choo, & Lee, 2023). Originalmente, um boicote envolve um movimento, à nível individual ou coletivo, que se recusa a cooperar com terceiros (Cruz, 2017), sendo entendida como ação do consumidor de cortar laços com a compra de um produto, serviço ou marca (Friedman, 2002;Klein, Smith, & John, 2004). ...
... Esse entendimento pode gerar respostas negativas, como é o caso do boicote. Originalmente, um boicote envolve um movimento, que pode ser individual ou coletivo, que se recusa a cooperar com terceiros (Cruz, 2017), sendo entendida como ação do consumidor de cortar laços com a compra de um produto, serviço ou marca (Friedman, 2002;Klein, Smith & John, 2004). Na atualidade, o boicote ou boycott ocorre quando um grupo de pessoas se abstêm de comprar um produto, simultaneamente, como resultado do mesmo ato ou comportamento flagrante, ainda que a prática não se justifique pelas mesmas razões (Braunsberger & Buckler, 2011). ...
... Dessa forma, atribui-se ao indivíduo avaliar o "ato notório" que pode ocasionar o boicote de acordo com suas próprias avaliações (Klein, Smith, & John, 2004). Assim, ele vai ponderar sobre benefícios e eventuais custos envolvidos para a realização do boicote. ...
O Marketing Relacionado a Causas (MRC) é uma estratégia que integra objetivos comerciais com responsabilidade social, alinhando empresas a causas sociais. Este estudo qualitativo exploratório investigou a relação entre o comportamento de boicote e duas perspectivas do MRC: o consumidor alinhado à causa e a comunicação de marketing. Utilizando grupos focais e simulações com 13 mulheres, a pesquisa revelou que consumidores engajados com causas sociais são mais propensos a analisar criticamente as ações de MRC, demonstrando ceticismo quando percebem falta de autenticidade ou transparência. A comunicação de marketing emergiu como elemento crucial na aceitação das campanhas de MRC, podendo tanto minimizar quanto impulsionar boicotes. Os resultados indicam que uma comunicação transparente, autêntica e alinhada com os valores do público-alvo é fundamental para o sucesso das iniciativas de MRC e para construir relações positivas com os stakeholders. O estudo contribui para a compreensão do fenômeno complexo do boicote no contexto do MRC, oferecendo insights valiosos para a gestão organizacional e para o desenvolvimento de estratégias de marketing mais eficazes e socialmente responsáveis.
... Moreover, the repercussions of a boycott extend beyond financial losses and significantly undermine the consumer-brand relationship. For instance, consumer negativity toward Bremmer increased to approximately 30% following boycotts over factory closures (Klein et al., 2004). Saudi Arabians boycotted Arla Foods because of its Danish origin following the Jyllands-Posten cartoon publication in an independent Danish newspaper, resulting in reduced brand loyalty and image (Abosag & Farah, 2014). ...
... First, although early studies have documented the direct detrimental impact of consumer boycotts on brand dimensions (e.g., Dekhil et al., 2017;Klein et al., 2004;Ltifi, 2021), global companies like Arla Foods (Abosag & Farah, 2014) continue to grapple with the rationale behind this phenomenon and struggle to formulate appropriate responses to country boycotts. In the field of international marketing, it is crucial to understand the role of crosscultural emotionsdsuch as consumer animosity and affinityddue to their significant effects on global product and brand evaluation. ...
... We can categorize previous research on consumer boycotts into studies targeting specific companies (Dekhil et al., 2017;Klein et al., 2004;Roswinanto & Suwanda, 2023) and those focusing on specific regions or countries (Ali, 2021;Cuadras-Morat o & Raya, 2016;Lee et al., 2017;Mrad et al., 2014). Boycott literature has predominantly focused on the determinants of boycott participation. ...
... Anteseden dengan peran kontribusi yang besar terhadap niat boikot yaitu permusuhan yang dirasakan oleh konsumen terhadap objek boikot (Cossío-Silva et al., 2019;Palacios-Florencio et al., 2021;Rose et al., 2009). Lalu, diikuti oleh persepsi mengenai kegunaan atau manfaat yang dirasakan atas boikot dan terhadap niat boikot (Chiu, 2016;Klein et al., 2004;Palacios-Florencio et al., 2021). Akan tetapi, sikap terhadap boikot tidak signifikan dalam model yang dikembangkan oleh Palacios-Florencio et al. (2021), tetapi dalam riset lainnya seperti Chiu (2016) memiliki hubungan positif antara sikap terhadap boikot dengan niat boikot. ...
... Disisi lain, dampak yang diberikan pada perspektif sosial-politik, seperti tindakan legislatif berupa larangan kegiatan Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) di banyak negara bagian AS dan kampus Kanada (Chughtai et al., 2023). Dampak boikot pada perspektif politik terkait reputasi produk atau perusahaan, mengungkapkan bahwa boikot dapat secara signifikan mengubah persepsi publik tentang suatu merek (Klein et al., 2004). Abosag & Farah (2014) telah menemukan dukungan empiris untuk dampak negatif dari boikot makro yakni, permusuhan agama, loyalitas pelanggan dan citra merek perusahaan semakin menurun. ...
Pemboikotan produk Israel menjadi sorotan publik karena dampaknya yang kompleks pada sektor ekonomi, sosial, dan politik. Penelitian ini penting untuk dilakukan karena pemboikotan merupakan bentuk dari aksi kolektif, manifestasi protes untuk advokasi keadilan serta perubahan sosial dan dapat dipandang sebagai aksi solidaritas terhadap pelanggaran hak asasi manusia yang dilakukan oleh Israel terhadap Palestina. Artikel ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji secara kritis tentang dampak, efektivitas, tantangan, dan kritik terhadap gerakan boikot yang lebih komprehensif melalui model aksi kolektif berbasis identitas sosial (model SIMCA). Studi ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dengan analisis dokumen dan literatur yang relevan untuk menyusun pemahaman dan membangun argumentasi dalam analisis kritis tentang fenomena boikot dan SIMCA. Kriteria literature review yang digunakan untuk sumber data pada artikel ini adalah artikel pada jurnal bereputasi internasional dan nasional. Proses pencarian data menggunakan model SASA dari Grant dan Booth yang meliputi search, appraisal, synthesis, dan analysis. Berdasarkan kajian kritis gerakan boikot melalui model SIMCA bahwa identitas sosial, ketidakadilan dan efikasi kelompok serta diperkuat dengan faktor keyakinan moral berpotensi menjelaskan gerakan boikot yang terjadi pada isu bela Palestina. Penelitian ini diharapkan dapat memberikan manfaat secara teoritis dalam pengembangan model SIMCA dan menawarkan wawasan praktis untuk memahami dinamika aksi kolektif dalam konteks konflik Israel-Palestina. Studi ini diharapkan dapat menawarkan panduan praktis bagi para aktivis dan pembuat kebijakan dalam merancang dan mengimplementasikan kampanye boikot yang lebih strategis serta berdampak.
... As a matter of fact, some potential participants will not boycott if their personal cost related to boycotting is high. In this cost-benefit approach, the first cost is related to consumers' preference and loyalty for the boycotted product (Klein et al., 2004); while the second is associated to the unavailability in the marketplace of suitable and affordable direct substitutes (Sen et al., 2001). Another barrier for participation is the perception that such campaigns may have considerable negative outcomes, such as decreased businesses in the marketplace and increased unemployment (Klein et al., 2004). ...
... In this cost-benefit approach, the first cost is related to consumers' preference and loyalty for the boycotted product (Klein et al., 2004); while the second is associated to the unavailability in the marketplace of suitable and affordable direct substitutes (Sen et al., 2001). Another barrier for participation is the perception that such campaigns may have considerable negative outcomes, such as decreased businesses in the marketplace and increased unemployment (Klein et al., 2004). ...
In order to (a) investigate the expectancy-value model supporting the beliefs behind boycott intentions in thetheory of planned behaviour, and (b) to identify the specific beliefs that could be used as targets incounter-boycott participation interventions, this paper adopts a socio-cognitive approach to examine the beliefsunderpinning consumers' boycott intention. A randomized systematic sample of 500 respondents completed aquestionnaire measuring both the indirect and direct TPB variables with respect to boycotting. The statisticalresults confirmed the validity of the expectancy-value principle in the TPB. By delineating the beliefs that werestatistically significant predictors of direct TPB measures and intention, the study identified belief targets thatcan be utilized to develop countermeasures persuading consumers not to boycott American companies in theArab World. This application of a socio-psychological theory to consumers' boycott behaviour yieldedsignificant contributions both at the empirical and the managerial levels.
... Boycotting can result in financial losses for the target companies, such as drops in sales, cash flow, and stock prices (Farah & Newman, 2009;Pruit et al., 1988). Additionally, it can be bad for businesses' reputations or perceptions (Klein et al., 2004). The current research aims to perform the bibliometric analysis of published research on consumer boycott. ...
... The most cited article with 526 citations was authored by Klein et al. (2004) and titled, "Why we boycott: consumer motivations for boycott participation". The paper examined individual consumer's motivation to boycott. ...
Highlights: This paper provides published research literature on consumer boycott through a bibliometric analysis using Bibliometrix package in RStudio and Biblioshiny web apps. The current study identified articles from Scopus database and analyzed the annual publication trends, most productive institutions and authors, most cited articles, and frequent keywords. Publications and citations in relation to consumer boycott have grown consistently over the past 20 years especially in the last 5 years. Paper on consumer boycott that examined individual consumer's motivation to boycott has been mostly cited. This study reviewed publications related to consumer boycott in the past two decades. The results offer insight into consumer boycotts and show the scholarly development of the topic.
... in addition, even if consumers support political disputes, many will not participate in the boycott due to collective action problems. collective action problems include the individual's feeling that their action would not be sufficient to successfully carry out the boycott and the opportunity to free-ride on the boycott decisions of others (Klein et al., 2004). empirical evidence supports these behavioral assumptions. ...
International political (IP) relations have long been concerned about the relationship between economic interdependence and the likelihood of war. Based on a systematic literature review, this paper investigates how globalization and increased economic interactions post-World War II have influenced global conflict dynamics. The review contrasts liberal and realist schools of thought, with liberals suggesting that economic interdependence reduces war likelihood due to high opportunity costs due to disrupted trade. Using similar arguments, the realists propose a positive relationship, arguing that war has a minimal impact on trade. The review reconciles these differing perspectives through a detailed examination of various studies conducted between 1977 and 2022, highlighting the neglected effect of moderator variables in interpreting results. It also discusses the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine on global food crises and economic dynamics, illustrating the contemporary relevance of this topic. The paper concludes by summarizing results and highlighting the influence of potential moderator variables on the relationship between economic interdependence and war likelihood.
... Consumers not only make unusual consumption and brand choices to ensure uniqueness; divergence from consumer trends can also be related to communicating desired identities and to avoid undesired identities (Berger and Heath 2007;Chernev, Hamilton, and Gal 2011). Not only do consumers make brand choices to signal their uniqueness, but active avoidance of specific brands, and even boycotting, can be a means of verifying and signaling consumer identity (White and Dahl 2007;Klein, Smith, and John 2004). ...
We present a framework synthesizing motivations, origins, and outcomes of self-brand connections (SBC), defined as the degree to which the consumer has incorporated the brand into the self-concept (Escalas and Bettman 2003). When consumers incorporate a brand into their identity, the brand is categorized as part of the self, such that brand associations are linked to mental representations of the self, and consumers develop a sense of oneness with the brand.
We propose that SBCs can be motivated by both self-verification and self-enhancement goals, i.e., consumers can use brand connections to verify who they are and/or to signal who they want to be. Further, the origins of SBCs can be the values and associations reflected by a brand (symbolic SBC), as well as idiosyncratic autobiographical memories involving the brand (experiential SBC). Finally, a high degree of SBC can lead to positive brand outcomes such as pro-brand consumer behaviors (loyalty, positive word of mouth, willingness to pay a price premium, and more) and serve as a buffer against negativity (scandals, transgressions, and other undesirable brand exposure), but also foster managerial reluctance to change and innovation in fear of negative consumer responses. For consumers, SBCs can be instruments for self-construal and identity signaling by signaling prestige, affiliation, and/or divergence. Based on this framework, we propose directions for future research on SBCs.
... The study successfully gathered responses from 234 participants, exceeding the minimum sample size needed. Intention to boycott Whenever possible, I avoid buying products that are related to Israel I would feel guilty if I buy products that are related to Israel I would never buy products that are related to Israel I do not like the idea of owning products that are related to Israel If two products with equal quality but one is related to Israel while another is nonrelated to Israel, I would pay 10% more for the product that is not related to Israel Klein et al. (1998) and Huang et al. (2022) Subjective norms If I buy products that are related to Israel, people around me would feel like I am supporting the oppression toward the Palestinians People who are close to me feel that I should not buy products that are related to Israel People who are important to me will be displeased when I buy products that are related to Israel People close to me do not support of purchasing products that are related to Israel People around me do not encourage me to buy products that are related to Israel Lee and Green (1991) Klein et al. (2004) and Sen et al. (2001), three prominent brands with a strong market presence and high recognition among Moroccan consumers were selected: ...
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the determinants of Moroccan consumers’ intentions to boycott products associated with Israel amidst the prolonged Palestinian–Israeli conflict. As global interest in ethical consumption and consumer activism intensifies, this research explores how sociopolitical sentiments influence boycott behaviors in emerging markets.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a quantitative methodology based on a novel technique that comprised a two-phase analysis including structural equation modeling (SEM) and machine learning through artificial neural network (ANN). SEM was used to analyze direct and indirect relationships among variables, offering insights into both causality and model validity. ANN complemented SEM by examining nonlinear relationships, using multilayer perceptron analysis and cross-validation to assess predictive accuracy and reveal the relative importance of each predictor. An online survey, based on a seven-point Likert scale, gathered data from 234 Moroccan consumers, surpassing the required sample size for robust analysis.
Findings
The results reveal that consumer animosity, positive and negative anticipated emotions, subjective norms and social media influence boycott intentions significantly, whereas negative or positive anticipated emotion do not affect the intention to boycott surrogate Israeli products. This study highlights that consumers’ perceived responsibility and emotional responses to geopolitical issues shape their purchase behaviors, underlining ethical consumption’s complexity in Morocco.
Research limitations/implications
This study primarily examines Arab and Muslim participants, potentially limiting its generalizability. Future research should include non-Muslim and non-Arab individuals who oppose Israel, to strengthen the findings on surrogate product consumption and boycott behavior, enhancing the robustness and broader applicability of the conclusions.
Practical implications
This study offers two key practical implications. First, it provides nongovernmental organizations and advocacy groups with insights on leveraging consumer boycotts as effective tools for promoting ethical and social causes. Second, it highlights how MSMEs can gain a competitive advantage by aligning their branding with cultural and ethical values, fostering consumer loyalty in politically engaged markets.
Originality/value
Positioned at the crossroads of Africa and the Middle East, Morocco is not immune to the conflict’s impact on marketing and consumer behavior. This research offers a novel approach to understanding Moroccan consumers’ intention to boycott Israeli surrogate products. This study contributes to global consumer behavior understanding and highlights sociopolitical implications of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
... Meanwhile, product judgment is related to consumer perception of product quality and value. All of these variables have the potential to affect purchase readiness or aversion, which is the readiness of consumers to buy or avoid products (Klein, Smith, & John, 2004). ...
This study aims to analyze the effects of consumer animosity, boycott participation, boycott motivation, and product judgment on purchase readiness and purchase aversion toward Pizza Hut products in Indonesia. The research background stems from the high sensitivity of the Indonesian public to the Israel-Palestine conflict, which has sparked boycotts against companies perceived as supporting Israel. The study adopts a quantitative approach, with data collected via online questionnaire surveys targeting Pizza Hut consumers in Indonesia. The sample includes Indonesian citizens aged at least 17 years, residing in Indonesia, who have purchased Pizza Hut products within the last two years and are aware of boycott campaigns against the Pizza Hut brand. The collected data were analyzed using the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) method with SmartPLS 3.0. The findings reveal that consumer animosity has a significant positive effect on boycott participation and boycott motivation. However, it does not directly influence purchase readiness.
... took part in the study. To test the hypotheses, established constructs were adapted: To measure the attitude towards the act (HGF), we adapted three items from Klein et al. (2004) (e.g., "I would feel uncomfortable if I bought the same product in two different sizes.", α = .850). ...
... Concerning boycotts, the results highlight that although boycotts are perceived as an effective means to hold brands accountable, actual participation rates remain low (see Table 1). This finding is contrary to Klein et al. (2004) found that if consumers perceive boycotting as an appropriate and effective response that will make a difference, their participation levels tend to rise. This discrepancy could be attributed to the geographic distance between Pride campaigns, primarily launched by American brands, and the participants in this study. ...
Este estudio buscó identificar las opiniones de estudiantes LGBTQ+ en la Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR) sobre las campañas de marketing del Orgullo lanzadas en junio. Participaron 28 estudiantes LGBTQ+ de esta universidad pública en Costa Rica mediante una encuesta en línea diseñada para conocer las actitudes hacia esta práctica y las percepciones sobre las motivaciones de las marcas y la contribución de las campañas a los derechos y la representación de esta comunidad. Los resultados muestran escepticismo y críticas hacia estas campañas y enfatizan la creencia de que las marcas deberían cumplir con criterios específicos para comercializar el Orgullo LGBTQ+. Además, los participantes reconocieron la dualidad de estas campañas, las cuales ocasionalmente buscan ayudar a la comunidad mientras obtienen atención y ganancias a cambio. Los estudiantes atribuyeron un mayor impacto al activismo social, como cambios internos en las empresas, anuncios inclusivos y donaciones. Se destaca la necesidad de que las marcas ofrezcan apoyo continuo y mantengan la responsabilidad social, así como la importancia de fomentar iniciativas genuinas y socialmente responsables dentro de la comunidad LGBTQ+. Para ello, se insta a acciones y cambios significativos en el mundo del marketing. Se discuten las implicaciones teóricas y/o prácticas.
... Third, through ESG initiatives, companies can build a responsible corporate image, improving their reputation (Landi et al., 2022). Reputation-building not only enhances customer and supply chain loyalty, stabilizing business operations (Klein et al., 2004), but also strengthens the company's ability to manage risk (Brogi & Lagasio, 2019). ESG performance, by signaling social responsibility and environmental protection efforts, helps mitigate the impact of emerging risks like environmental pollution, climate change, and transition risks. ...
The rapid development of digital technologies has profoundly transformed corporate practices, making digital transformation a central focus of modern governance. In parallel, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles have gained increasing prominence as drivers of sustainable corporate strategies. This study explores the relationship between ESG performance and corporate digital transformation using a panel dataset of A-share listed companies in China from 2009 to 2022. Employing robust empirical methods, including endogeneity and robustness tests, the results reveal that ESG performance significantly enhances digital transformation. Specifically, a one-standard-deviation increase in ESG performance is associated with a 3.47% increase in the degree of digital transformation relative to the sample average. Mechanism analysis demonstrates that ESG performance facilitates digital transformation by optimizing corporate governance and alleviating financing constraints. Moreover, this effect is amplified in firms with higher technological capabilities, industries with intense competition, and regions with advanced digital infrastructure. These findings provide novel insights into the role of ESG initiatives in promoting digital transformation, offering valuable implications for policymakers and corporate leaders seeking to align sustainability and innovation objectives.
... Boycotts serve not only as a tool for collective resistance but also as a means for consumers to express ethical and political values through their purchasing decisions (Jae, Jeon, 2016). This shift towards values-based consumption underscores the increasing influence of consumer activism as a mechanism for social control and a driver of corporate accountability (Klein et al., 2004). ...
Purpose: This paper aims to examine the dynamics of consumer engagement and sentiment in social media activism during geopolitical conflict, focusing on how consumer activism manifests online. By analyzing user interactions and shifts in sentiment, the study seeks to offer insights into the scale and impact of digital activism, particularly how consumers mobilize on social media in response to geopolitical events. Additionally, the research aims to provide guidance on how brands can adapt their communication strategies to navigate the challenges posed by widespread digital activism effectively. Design/methodology/approach: The research employs a quantitative sentiment analysis and qualitative content analysis of Facebook interactions. The study specifically investigates three brands from the Mulliez Group (Leroy Merlin, Auchan, and Decathlon) during the Russian Ukrainian conflict. The analysis covers user-generated content from Polish Facebook profiles. Findings: The study identifies a distinct pattern of consumer engagement, characterized by an initial surge in activism and negative sentiment that peaks early during the conflict before gradually stabilizing. This trend highlights the short-lived intensity of social media-driven activism, influenced by hedonic adaptation. While initial consumer responses were emotionally charged and fueled by calls for boycotts, sentiment analysis shows a decline in negative engagement towards the end of the year, indicating the effectiveness of adaptive brand communication strategies. Research limitations/implications: The study is limited by its focus on a specific geopolitical event and a narrow sample of brands, which may affect the generalizability of the findings. Practical implications: The findings suggest that brands can benefit from implementing transparent, adaptive, and responsive communication strategies during periods of intense consumer activism. Real-time sentiment monitoring and proactive engagement are crucial for managing public perception and mitigating negative impacts. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the literature on social media activism and brand communication by offering a detailed analysis of consumer engagement patterns during a geopolitical crisis. The use of advanced sentiment analysis and engagement metrics provides a novel approach to understanding the temporal dynamics of online activism. The study is valuable for brand managers, marketers, and researchers interested in navigating the complexities of digital consumer behavior and crisis communication.
... This has created a north-south divide with regard to perception, consumption, and conservation of wildlife (Smith and Duffy 2003). Furthermore, boycotts are often triggered by undesirable behaviour (Hahn and Albert 2017) and socially irresponsible actions (Klein et al. 2004), raising critical questions about who determines what constitutes desirable and socially responsible behaviour. ...
The reversal of Botswana’s 2014 suspension of elephant hunting, herein, trophy hunting ban, initially imposed to address concerns over wildlife conservation, sparked significant social media backlash. The ban led to unintended consequences: elephant population explosion, increased human–wildlife conflicts, and landscape degradation. On social media, critics of hunting are perceived to be employing coercive tactics and disseminating misinformation against individuals or countries, such as Botswana, that support trophy hunting and sustainable use. This study examines the implications of this backlash, analysing social media posts to understand public sentiment and its impact on Botswana’s tourism and conservation efforts. The backlash has led to calls for tourism boycotts, negatively affecting Botswana’s tourism destination image. This issue underscores the necessity for a comprehensive, equitable, and sustained approach to conservation initiatives, in alignment with global conservation policy imperatives. The global policy agenda should be informed and driven by robust, empirical data and scientific evidence. We recommend the integration of environmental, social, and economic sustainability to harmonize local and global conservation and sustainability goals.
Amaç: Sürdürülebilir tüketim davranışı, tüketici sinizmi, yeşil aklama algılama düzeyi ile sosyo-demografik özelliklerin yeşil aklama yapan markalara karşı tüketicilerin tepkileri üzerindeki etkilerini incelemektir. Yöntem: Araştırmanın örneklemini kolayda örnekleme yöntemi ile belirlenmiş 386 tüketici oluşturmaktadır. Nicel araştırma yöntemi çerçevesinde TerraChoice firmasının hazırlamış olduğu "Yeşil aklamanın yedi günahı" çalışmasında yer alan yeşil aklama uygulamaları esas alınarak ciddi oyun aracılığıyla veriler toplanmış olup araştırmanın hipotezleri ise çok kategorili lojistik regresyon yöntemi ile test edilmiştir. Bulgular: Yeşil aklama algılama düzeyi, sürdürülebilir tüketim davranışının boyutları ve sosyo-demografik özelliklerin etkisi ise her bir yeşil aklama günahına göre farklılık göstermekte olup genelde kısmen etkili olmuşlardır. Sonuç: Yeşil aklama günahına sahip markaların her birine karşı tüketicilerin yaklaşımları farklı olmakla beraber tüketici sinizminin ise hiçbir markaya karşı verilen tepki durumu üzerinde anlamlı bir etkiye sahip olmadığı görülmüştür. Sonuçlara dayalı olarak tüketicilere, işletmelere ve araştırmacılara çeşitli öneriler sunulmuştur. Özgünlük: Ülkemizde yeşil aklama konusunda çok fazla çalışma olmaması, yeşil aklama konusunu sürdürülebilir tüketim davranışı ve tüketici sinizm değişkeni ile beraber ele alan ve bunun yanı sıra yeşil aklamaya karşı tüketici tepkilerini araştıran başka bir çalışma olmaması ve verilerin ciddi oyun üzerinden toplanması açısından literatüre önemli bir katkı sağladığı düşünülmektedir. Çünkü katılımcılar standart bir anket formunu doldurmak yerine görsel olarak keyifli bir oyun içerisinde soruları cevaplamıştır.
Este estudo teve como objetivo identificar e analisar as ações desenvolvidas pela Coamo Agroindustrial Cooperativa para mitigar os efeitos das mudanças climáticas. Para isso, foi realizada uma pesquisa descritiva e qualitativa, utilizando como técnica a pesquisa survey e a análise de conteúdo. Foram aplicadas entrevistas semiestruturadas com gestores da cooperativa, abrangendo temas como políticas internas, investimentos tecnológicos e financeiros, além de estratégias de adaptação ambiental. Os resultados revelaram que a Coamo adota diversas práticas sustentáveis, como o uso de energias renováveis, investimento em eficiência energética e reflorestamento para compensar emissões. Entretanto, a cooperativa não possui metas numéricas claras para redução de gases de efeito estufa, embora demonstre comprometimento com ações mitigadoras. Destaca-se ainda o investimento na construção de uma usina de etanol de milho e a conscientização ambiental de colaboradores e cooperados como estratégias para enfrentar os desafios climáticos. Conclui-se que, embora a Coamo adote medidas relevantes para mitigar seus impactos ambientais, há espaço para ampliar seus esforços, especialmente no estabelecimento de metas claras e no fortalecimento do engajamento com stakeholders para promover práticas mais sustentáveis no setor agroindustrial.
This research explores consumer participation in product boycotts in Indonesia, focusing on the interplay between expressive and instrumental factors over time. Through a systematic literature review, this study reveals that emotional responses and personal identity trigger boycotts, serving as expressions of solidarity or protests against conflicting values. As time progresses, practical considerations, such as boycott effectiveness, become dominant motivators, following the "hot" to "cold" phase transition. Social media plays a critical role in strengthening boycott movements and facilitating discussions that impact this transition. Implications extend to businesses, activists, policymakers, and academics. Companies should develop responsive communication strategies addressing both expressive and instrumental factors. Activists can leverage technology to enhance campaign impact, and policymakers can use insights to encourage responsible business practices. In summary, this research highlights multidimensional boycott dynamics influenced by expressive and instrumental factors, emphasizing the pivotal role of social media and its implications for various stakeholders.
This study aims to understand how organizations within modern waste-management ecosystems pursue strategic change from a linear economy to a circular economy logic. This paper draws on complementary firm theory perspectives to examine the interplay of management practices that enable organizations in waste-management ecosystems to become circular by altering their identities, capabilities, power positions, and boundaries. Based on an in-depth study of organizations in one waste-management ecosystem in Finland, this study identifies several management practices associated with identity and capability-building, repositioning, and boundary decision-making that facilitate the green transition. This study enables managers to benchmark systemic transitions in established, conservative, and regulated organizations and ecosystems and highlights that the implications of strategic practices extend beyond focal companies.
Consumer ethics profoundly influences sustainable and socially responsible consumption behaviors, championing equitable trade practices and fostering a benevolent societal impact. This study orchestrates a methodical exploration into the domain of consumer ethics. By harnessing the potency of the Scopus database, a meticulous curation of pertinent literature is undertaken, involving the culling, curation, and critical evaluation of articles followed by targeted keyword inquiries. Consequently, 168 articles were chosen to assume the spotlight in this scholarly endeavor. Through the lens of this systematic literature review, the prevailing avenues of research on consumer ethics are dissected and categorized on the basis of two pivotal frameworks: antecedents, decisions, and outcomes, as well as theory, contexts, and methodologies. Emanating from this exploration, a thematic analysis has been done to outline the conceptual boundary of the prevailing literature.
JEL Classification: M31 Marketing; D18 Consumer Protection
Bu çalışma, sosyal medya kullanıcıları arasında yer alan kadın tüketicilerin İsrail ürünlerini satın alma davranışları ile boykot eğilimlerini çevrimiçi sosyal karşılaştırma teorisi çerçevesinde incelemektedir. Araştırma, Türkiye genelinde çevrimiçi olarak N=403 kadın tüketiciyle gerçekleştirilen anket yöntemiyle yürütülmüştür. Anket sonuçları, yapısal eşitlik modeli kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir ve basit aracılık modeli test edilmiştir. Elde edilen bulgular, kadın tüketicilerin İsrail mallarını boykot etme eğiliminin belirgin olduğunu göstermektedir. Ayrıca İsrail ürünlerini satın alma eğiliminin, çevrimiçi sosyal karşılaştırma süreçleri tarafından etkilendiği ve boykot niyetinin buna aracılık edildiğini ortaya konmuştur. Çevrimiçi sosyal karşılaştırma, kadınların sosyal medyada paylaşımlar ve yorumlar aracılığıyla birbirleriyle etkileşime girmelerini sağlamaktadır. Bu süreç, tüketicilerin toplumsal normlar ve değerler hakkında daha fazla bilgi edinmelerine ve bu bilgilerin, satın alma kararları üzerinde etkili olmasına olanak tanımaktadır. Sonuç olarak, çalışma, kadın tüketicilerin sosyal medyadaki etkileşimlerinin, toplumsal ve politik duruşlarını nasıl şekillendirdiğini ortaya koymaktadır. Bu bağlamda, çevrimiçi sosyal karşılaştırmanın, bireylerin tüketim davranışlarını ve boykot kararlarını nasıl etkilediği konusunda önemli bir anlayış sunmaktadır. Gelecek araştırmalar, bu dinamiklerin daha geniş sosyal ve kültürel bağlamlarda nasıl geliştiğini incelemeyi gerektirmektedir.
This study aims to investigate the moderating role of boycott participation in the relationship between brand commitment as measured by the Conversion Model and brand loyalty. It has two main objectives. First, examine how a customer's level of commitment to a brand can influence their response to a boycott and second, to study the effect of customer participation in boycotts on brand loyalty and determine whether boycotts weaken this relationship or not. The study adopted a descriptive-analytical approach, to analyze data and test hypotheses relying on a questionnaire as a tool for collecting the required data from a simple random sample of Egyptians which consisted of (412) respondents. The findings show that there is a significant impact of brand commitment on brand Loyalty, additionally the study reveals that attitude towards boycotting a brand does not significantly affect brand commitment and loyalty, but intention to boycott, boycotting behavior, and perceived behavioral control of boycotts do.
تهدف هذه الدراسة إلى استكشاف الدور المعدل للمشاركة في المقاطعة وقياس كيفية تأثير مستوى التزام العميل بالعلامة التجارية على استجابته للمشاركة في القاطعة، ومن ثم دراسة تأثير مشاركة العملاء في المقاطعات على الولاء للعلامة التجارية وتحديد ما إذا كانت تلك المشاركة تضعف هذه العلاقة أم لا. وانتهجت هذه الدراسة المنهج الوصفي التحليلي، لتحليل البيانات واختبار الفروض بالاعتماد على الاستبيان كأداة لجمع البيانات المطلوبة من عينة عشوائية بسيطة من المصريين والتي تتكون من (412) مفردة. وقد أظهرت النتائج أن هناك تأثيرًا كبيرًا للالتزام بالعلامة التجارية على الولاء للعلامة التجارية، بالإضافة إلى أن الدراسة توصلت إلى أن الموقف تجاه مقاطعة العلامة التجارية لا يؤثر بشكل كبير على الالتزام بالعلامة التجارية والولاء لها، ولكن نية المقاطعة، وسلوك المقاطعة، والتحكم السلوكي المدرك في المقاطعات يؤثرون بذلك. تكمن حداثة هذه الدراسة في فحصها المركز لاستجابة السوق الاستهلاكية المصرية لحركة المقاطعة ضد منتجات شركة بيبسي بسبب دعم العلامة التجارية للتوغل العسكري الإسرائيلي في قطاع غزة.
Resumo: O presente artigo objetiva analisar de que modo as grandes plataformas digitais se utilizam da coleta de dados e predileções algorítmicas para sugerirem um falso empoderamento do consumidor no que se refere ao controle de qualidade dos serviços prestados, aproveitando-se da hiper confiança do usuário, assimetria informacional e pouca credibilidade do alegado apri-moramento dos serviços, a partir das avaliações negativas recebidas. Em primeiro plano, será exposto o funcionamento do sistema de coleta de dados pelos aplicativos, como a uber e o ifood, discorrendo acerca do capitalismo em suas novas dimensões de plataforma e vigilância. Em se-guida, será analisado de que modo à inteligência artificial possibilita a criação de perfis falsos pelos aplicativos, capazes de gerar uma avaliação fictícia de determinado produto, influenciando o consumidor com base em dados manipulados. A partir disso, será possível fazer a relação de como a crise econômica global também interfere negativamente no sistema de avaliação de pla-taformas, prejudicando a qualidade e a segurança dos serviços prestados. Por fim, serão destaca-dos os principais desafios para se alcançar o verdadeiro empoderamento do consumidor, bem como apresentadas possíveis soluções para a problemática suscitada. A pesquisa é qualitativa, eminentemente bibliográfica, tendo sido utilizado o método hipotético dedutivo. Palavras-chave: Abstract: This article aims to analyze how the large digital platforms use data collection and algorithmic predilections to suggest a false consumer empowerment with regard to the quality control of services provided, taking advantage of the user's hyperconfidence, asymmetry infor-mational and little credibility of the alleged improvement of the services, based on the negative evaluations received. In the foreground, the functioning of the data collection system by applications such as ube and ifood will be exposed, discussing capitalism in its new dimensions of platform and surveillance. Then, it will be analyzed how artificial intelligence enables the creation of false profiles by applications, capable of generating a fictitious evaluation of a given product, influencing the consumer based on manipulated data. From this, it will be possible to make a list of how the global economic crisis also interferes negatively in the platform evaluation system, harming the quality and safety of the services provided. Finally, the main challenges to
Social media offer opportunities for companies to promote their image, but companies online also risk being denounced if their actions do not align with their words. The rise of social media bots amplifies this risk, as it becomes possible to automate such efforts to highlight corporate hypocrisy. Our experimental survey demonstrated that bots and human actors who confront a corporation touting their commitment to equality by calling out organizational pay gaps damage perceptions of the corporation, heighten anger toward them, and ultimately can elicit boycott intentions. These hypocrisy challenges are equally effective when they come from bots and user accounts. Challenges to hypocritical behavior on social media are consequential and require further exploration.
Collective layoffs can occur for many reasons, often related to a firm’s pursuit of greater efficiency and cost reduction, and they tend to trigger negative reactions among the public. Anecdotal evidence suggests that offshoring, one of the most controversial and politicized aspects of globalization, evokes particularly negative reactions. We propose a social contract account of consumer reactions to collective layoffs and demonstrate differential consumer responses to collective layoffs due to offshoring versus other reasons, such as automation. Layoffs due to offshoring are perceived as an especially egregious violation of the normative expectation that firms should support members of their society. Data from nine experimental studies (N = 5,568; seven reported in the main paper and two in the General Discussion), public consumer responses to layoffs in a large online community (N = 29,045), and layoff announcements in the European Union (N = 1,261) show that consumers react more negatively to collective layoffs due to offshoring compared to other reasons. Supporting our social contract account, the negative effect of offshoring is stronger when offshoring affects workers in the consumers’ home (vs. foreign) country, when the firm is domestic (vs. foreign), and when most customers are domestic (vs. foreign).
Purpose
Brand crises are widespread in the marketplace and how consumers perceive and respond to such crises is crucial for brand survival. This paper aims to elucidate the critical role of brand age in shaping consumers’ negative responses to competence-related versus ethics-related crises, with a particular focus on the Eastern cultural context. In addition, the roles of information diagnosticity and culture are investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
In a series of four studies conducted across China and the USA, the authors use a rigorous between-subject experimental design to delve into the dynamics of how the interplay between brand age and brand crisis impacts consumers’ negative responses, specifically negative word-of-mouth and boycott tendency, toward brands perceived as guilty.
Findings
Results show that brand age helps mitigate the negative responses of consumers in competence-related crises, yet exacerbates such reactions in ethics-related crises. In addition, information diagnosticity mediates the interactive effect of brand crisis and brand age on consumers’ negative responses. However, the results of the cross-cultural comparison study suggest that brand age exaggerates consumers’ negative responses to ethics-related brand crises only in Eastern cultures, but not in the Western contexts.
Research limitations/implications
The research reveals the dual-edged impact of brand age during crises, enriches the literature that draws on information diagnosticity within the hierarchical restrictive schema theory. It also clarifies the boundary mechanisms related to cultural differences.
Practical implications
The findings of this research provide meaningful implications for brand managers by communicating the oldness of a brand may serve to buffer negative consumer responses to competence-related crises but can exacerbate the consequences of ethics-related crises.
Originality/value
This research offers a novel perspective on the nuanced influence of brand age on consumers’ adverse reactions to brand crises. It clarifies why emphasizing the oldness of brands in Eastern-culture markets is effective in mitigating competence-related crises but often counterproductive for ethics-related crises.
Purpose- This paper aims to reconcile conflicting findings about the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in counteracting the negative impacts of brands' ethical transgressions by testing the moderating role of self-brand connection (SBC).
Design/methodology/approach- Drawing on motivated reasoning theory, this paper posits that high-and low-SBC consumers' information processing and moral judgment are driven by distinct goals: to reach desired versus accurate conclusions, respectively. Five experiments were conducted to test whether CSR efforts can mitigate the impact of blatant ethical transgressions.
Findings- CSR allows high-SBC consumers to evaluate brand transgressions more favorably, as CSR serves as counterfactual evidence that reinforces their beliefs in the brand's morality. In contrast, low-SBC consumers view CSR as hypocritical, leading to more negative responses. Increased perceptions of brand morality (hypocrisy) mediate CSR's buffering (backfiring) effects among high-(low-) SBC consumers.
Research limitations/implications- This paper does not control for the effect of the time gap between CSR and ethical transgressions even if buffering effects of CSR could be faded out as memories recede.
Practical implications- Brand transgressions may be inevitable events, but firms or managers can alleviate the negative impact of transgressions by engaging in CSR activities. In doing so, they need to make clear to whom they will appeal using CSR information considering its backfiring effects among low-SBC consumers.
Originality/value- Few studies have examined when and how CSR attenuates or exacerbates the negativity of brand transgressions with a strong theoretical framework. This paper, grounded in motivated reasoning theory, explains how the same CSR initiative can yield opposing outcomes based on the consumer's self-brand connection. Rather than solely exploring how strong consumer-brand relationships buffer brand transgressions, this research shows how high-SBC consumers biasedly seize CSR information to justify brand transgressions, even when they are blatant.
Tüketici kitlenin beklentilerinin marka tarafından karşılanmaması durumu sinik tüketici eğilimleri arasında yer alan tüketici boykotlarına neden olmaktadır. Yürütülen bu araştırma çerçevesinde bir sinik tüketici davranışı olan tüketici boykotları için bilgilendirme ve yayılma noktasında büyük önem taşıyan afişler göstergebilimsel açıdan çözümlenmiştir. İsrail destekçisi olarak görülen markalara yönelik tasarlanan afişler üzerinden inceleme yapılmıştır. Afişlerin kaynağının net olarak belirlenebilmesi adına 24 Ekim 2023 tarihinde Bosphorus Global isimli Sivil Toplum Kuruluşu tarafından X sosyal medya platformunda yayınlanan dört boykot afişi araştırmanın örneklemini oluşturmaktadır. Örneklemi oluşturan afişler Barthes’ın göstergebilimsel çözümleme perspektifi kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Analizler sonucunda tüm afişlerde kırmızı renk kullanımı ve hasthaglere yer verildiği ortaya konulmuştur. Kırmızı rengin dikkat çekme özelliğinden faydalanılarak afişlere maruz kalan bireylerin dikkatinin afiş üzerinde toplanması amaçlanmıştır. Afişlerde yer alan kırmızı renkte lekeler ise insan beyninde tehlike, ölüm gibi kavramları uyandırması bakımından saldırılarda yaşanan ölümlerin simgesi olarak kullanılmıştır. Hashtagler ise boykot eylemlerinin sosyal medya platformları üzerinden yayılımını güçlendirmek adına tüm afişlerde kullanılmıştır. Hashtaglere İngilizce ve Türkçe olarak afişlerde yer verilmiştir. İngilizce dilinin kullanılmasıyla dilin evrenselliğinden yararlanılarak global bir çağrıya dönüşmesi amaçlanmıştır.
Evaluative processes refer to the operations by which organisms discriminate threatening from nurturant environments. Low activation of positive and negative evaluative processes by a stimulus reflects neutrality, whereas high activation of such processes reflects maximal conflict. Attitudes, an important class of manifestations of evaluative processes, have traditionally been conceptualized as falling along a bipolar dimension, and the positive and negative evaluative processes underlying attitudes have been conceptualized as being reciprocally activated, making the bipolar rating scale the measure of choice. Research is reviewed suggesting that this bipolar dimension is insufficient to portray comprehensively positive and negative evaluative processes and that the question is not whether such processes are reciprocally activated but under what conditions they are reciprocally, nonreciprocally, or independently activated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Publisher Summary Individuals come to “know” their own attitudes, emotions, and other internal states partially by inferring them from observations of their own overt behavior and/ or the circumstances in which this behavior occurs. Thus, to the extent that internal cues are weak, ambiguous, or uninterpretable, the individual is functionally in the same position as an outside observer, an observer who must necessarily rely upon those same external cues to infer the individual's inner states. This chapter traces the conceptual antecedents and empirical consequences of these propositions, attempts to place the theory in a slightly enlarged frame of reference, and clarifies just what phenomena the theory can and cannot account for in the rapidly growing experimental literature of self-attribution phenomena. Several experiments and paradigms from the cognitive dissonance literature are amenable to self-perception interpretations. But precisely because such experiments are subject to alternative interpretations, they cannot be used as unequivocal evidence for self-perception theory. The reinterpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena and other self-perception phenomena have been discussed. The chapter highlights some differences between self-perception and interpersonal perception and shift of paradigm in social psychology. It discusses some unsolved problems, such as the conceptual status of noncognitive response classes and the strategy of functional analysis.
The most widely used taxonomy of consumer
complaining behaviour (Singh 1988) is limited in
two respects: (1) it oversimplifies the key types of
complaining behaviour - for example negative
word-of-mouth need not just be a private action;
and (2) it fails to appreciate that complaining
behaviour often has two stages as certain CCB
types (such as third party action) may only be
entered into once other CCB types have failed to
generate a satisfactory level of perceived justice.
This paper offers a two-factor taxonomy of CCB
which takes into account these issues. Complaint
types are classified in terms of whether they are
primary or secondary, and in terms of whether
they are involved or uninvolved. This paper also
offers a comprehensive model of CCB: which
builds on the conceptual approach of Blodgett and
Granbois (1992) by considering the whole CCB
process as having four stages: (1) cognitive
reasoning; (2) affective response; (3) triggers of
consumer dissatisfaction responses; and (4)
affective action. It is argued that there are eight
major triggers of which lead to a main
dissatisfaction response (or a set of responses);
each trigger being made up of a number of
dimensions. The paper concludes by discussing
possible directions for future research.
Even though negative information about brands and companies is widely prevalent in the marketplace, except for case studies, there has been no systematic investigation of how consumers process negative information about the brands they like and use. In the three studies in this research, the authors attempt to bridge this gap. The findings of the first and second studies provide a theoretical framework for understanding how consumers process negative information in the marketplace. Commitment of the consumer toward the brand is identified as a moderator of negative information effects. In the third study, the authors use this theoretical framework to derive and test response strategies that companies can use to counter negative publicity for consumers who are high and low in commitment toward the brand.
While perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE) has consistently been linked to socially conscious attitudes, the concept appears to have been confounded with other related constructs in the empirical studies measuring its effects on behavior. In addition, the few studies which have considered the effects of PCE on reported behavior have done so only in aggregate. This research demonstrates that PCE is distinct from environmental concern and contributes uniquely to the prediction of certain pro-ecological behaviors. In addition, differences in PCE are shown to be associated with differences in demographics and political affiliation. The results suggest that motivating consumers to express their concern through actual behavior is to some extent a Junction of increasing their perception that individual actions do make a difference.
Reviews research that attempts to replicate and extend B. Latané and J. M. Dabbs's (1970) discovery that the presence of other people inhibits an individual from intervening in an emergency. Particular attention is paid to the nature of the precipitating incident, the ambiguity of the helping situation, laboratory vs field settings, characteristics of the Ss, victims, and other bystanders, and the amount and kinds of communication among bystanders. It is concluded that, despite the diversity of styles, settings, and techniques among the studies, the social inhibition of helping is a remarkably consistent phenomenon; however, victims are more likely to receive assistance when only a single individual witnesses the emergency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Proposes a modified subjective expected utility formulation as a model for better understanding helping behavior. Two experiments designed to test the usefulness of the proposed formulation are reported: In Exp I, 11 male and 14 female undergraduates had to react to variations of 3 scenarios of helping situations, reporting the likelihood of their giving aid; in Exp II, 34 Ss responded to a more complicated variation of one of the scenarios, telling how bad they would feel if they did not stop to help. Results of Exp I support the assumption that the probability (
P) and utility (
U) of a given consequence combine multiplicatively. Results of Exp II question the assumption that the
P ×
U products for different consequences combine additively. These results suggest, instead, that a product averaging and more specifically a differential-weighted product averaging, may provide a more accurate descriptive model. The implications of such a model for understanding human helping behavior are discussed. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Evaluative processes refer to the operations by which organisms discriminate threatening from nurturant environments. Low activation of positive and negative evaluative processes by a stimulus reflects neutrality, whereas high activation of such processes reflects maximal conflict. Attitudes, an important class of manifestations of evaluative processes, have traditionally been conceptualized as falling along a bipolar dimension, and the positive and negative evaluative processes underlying attitudes have been conceptualized as being reciprocally activated, making the bipolar rating scale the measure of choice. Research is reviewed suggesting that this bipolar dimension is insufficient to portray comprehensively positive and negative evaluative processes and that the question is not whether such processes are reciprocally activated but under what conditions they are reciprocally, nonreciprocally, or independently activated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A boycott is never far from a firm's exchanges with its customers. Researchers in marketing need to understand consumer protest behavior, both to aid NGOs who wish to organize boycotts and to assist managers who wish to develop appropriate strategic responses. Boycotts, like many other problems of collective action, are subject to free-rider and small-agent problems: there appears to be little or no motivation for an individual to participate. Yet they assuredly occur. We take an economic and psychological approach to the study of boycotts. Our approach is to develop a typology of motivations for consumer boycotts, to embed these motivations explicitly in a dynamic economic model, and thus to oer explanations for the extent of boycott participation.
Marketing strategists assert that environmental management is a critical marketing task. However, little attention has been given to environmental forces that actively oppose an organization's marketing policies. Protest groups often use boycotts in an attempt to coerce an organization to modify allegedly harmful marketing policies. The author proposes and tests a theory of the effectiveness of such boycotts.
The research demonstrates the usefulness of information processing in designing marketing strategy. Two strategies based on information processing theory are shown to be effective in combating the impact of an adverse rumor. The traditional theoretical and intuitive strategy of directly refuting a rumor is shown to be ineffective.
Marketing scholars such as Kotler and Rothschild emphasize that, because “you can't sell brotherhood like soap,” there is a need for research that will generate and test social marketing strategies. By drawing on social dilemma theory, the authors identify the barriers to prosocial behavior and the means for overcoming those barriers. Both general propositions and specific marketing strategies are discussed.
Target marketing might be the epitome of the marketing concept. However, in certain instances it has been criticized as unethical. The authors identify explanations for the ethical concern and controversy that can arise over targeting. An empirical study confirms public disquiet over consumer vulnerability and product harmfulness, identifies which targeting strategies are evaluated as less ethical, and highlights the likelihood of consumer boycotts and other disapproving behaviors. Evidence of ethical concern arises when both “sin” and “non-sin” products are involved, and it increases for consumers perceived to be more vulnerable. The authors discuss implications for marketing managers, researchers, and public policy.
Although brand theorists suggest that what a person knows about a company (i.e., corporate associations) can influence perceptions of the company's products, little systematic research on these effects exists. The authors examine the effects of two general types of corporate associations on product responses: One focuses on the company's capabilities for producing products, that is, corporate ability (CA) associations, and the other focuses on the company's perceived social responsibility, that is, corporate social responsibility (CSR) associations. The results of three studies, including one that measures respondents’ CA and CSR associations for well-known companies and one that uses consumers recruited in a shopping mall, demonstrate that (1) what consumers know about a company can influence their beliefs about and attitudes toward new products manufactured by that company, (2) CA and CSR associations may have different effects on consumer responses to products, and (3) products of companies with negative associations are not always destined to receive negative responses. The authors conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for marketing managers and further research.
The results of both a survey of utility customers and an experiment using role-playing students support the hypothesis that a person is more likely to install load control devices on their heating or cooling units (cooperate) if he or she thinks that others will cooperate. In addition, we find that, as predicted by the norm of reciprocity, customers who are more concerned about conservation are more influenced by thier expectations of the cooperative intentions of others than are customers who are less concerned.
Proposes a modified subjective expected utility formulation as a model for better understanding helping behavior. Two experiments designed to test the usefulness of the proposed formulation are reported: In Exp I, 11 male and 14 female undergraduates had to react to variations of 3 scenarios of helping situations, reporting the likelihood of their giving aid; in Exp II, 34 Ss responded to a more complicated variation of one of the scenarios, telling how bad they would feel if they did not stop to help. Results of Exp I support the assumption that the probability (P) and utility (U) of a given consequence combine multiplicatively. Results of Exp II question the assumption that the P × U products for different consequences combine additively. These results suggest, instead, that a product averaging and more specifically a differential-weighted product averaging, may provide a more accurate descriptive model. The implications of such a model for understanding human helping behavior are discussed. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
Although the literature on helping has burgeoned in the past several years, it has primarily emphasized questions regarding motives or activating mechanisms (cf. Hornstein, 1978; Midlarsky & Suda, 1978; Piliavin, Dovidio, Gaertner, & Clark, 1981; Staub, 1978). Yet, like other interpersonal transactions, helping consists of three analytically distinct components: (1) a motive or goal, (2) the behavior, and (3) the consequence(s) (Barton, 1969; Ossorio, 1966). Hence, in addition to the need to investigate the motivational basis of helping acts, one must also bear in mind that altruistic or helpful behaviors may vary in nature, duration, and extensity, and that the consequences of altruistic behavior for both the recipient(s) and the actor may vary as well. In contrast to other efforts, it is proposed here that at a minimum, a model of helping should include all three of the components designated—the motivational antecedens, the behavioral component, and the consequences.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not a new idea. However, CSR has never been more prominent on the corporate agenda than it is today. This article examines the pressures for increased corporate attention to CSR and whether this attention is warranted and likely to be sustained. It differentiates between the business case for CSR and the normative case and concludes that often there may be a compelling business case for making a substantial commitment to CSR, but an individual firm must assess the extent to which the general business case for CSR applies to its specific circumstances. For some firms, CSR may be a major influence on corporate strategy. Companies making a substantial commitment to CSR—because of a business or a normative case—are likely to find that this involves major challenges with respect to the formulation and implementation of CSR strategy, not least because of the uncertainties inevitably associated with determining a firm's societal obligations.
Marketing strategists assert that environmental management is a critical marketing task. However, little attention has been given to environmental forces that actively oppose an organization's marketing policies. Protest groups often use boycotts in an attempt to coerce an organization to modify allegedly harmful marketing policies. The author proposes and tests a theory of the effectiveness of such boycotts.
Marketing scholars such as Kotler and Rothschild emphasize that, because "you can't sell brotherhood like soap," there is a need for research that will generate and test social marketing strategies. By drawing on social dilemma theory, the authors identify the barriers to prosocial behavior and the means for overcoming those barriers. Both general propositions and specific marketing strategies are discussed.
Target marketing might be the epitome of the marketing concept. However, in certain instances it has been criticized as unethical. The authors identify explanations for the ethical concern and controversy that can arise over targeting. An empirical study confirms public disquiet over consumer vulnerability and product harmfulness, identifies which targeting strategies are evaluated as less ethical, and highlights the likelihood of consumer boycotts and other disapproving behaviors. Evidence of ethical concern arises when both "sin" and "non-sin" products are involved, and it increases for consumers perceived to be more vulnerable. The authors discuss implications for marketing managers, researchers, and public policy.
Although brand theorists suggest that what a person knows about a company (i. e., corporate associations) can influence perceptions of the company's products, little systematic research on these effects exists. The authors examine the effects of two general types of corporate associations on product responses: One focuses on the company's capabilities for producing products, that is, corporate ability (CA) associations, and the other focuses on the company's perceived social responsibility, that is, corporate social responsibility (CSR) associations. The results of three studies, including one that measures respondents' CA and CSR associations for well-known companies and one that uses consumers recruited in a shopping mall, demonstrate that (1) what consumers know about a company can influence their beliefs about and attitudes toward new products manufactured by that company, (2) CA and CSR associations may have different effects on consumer responses to products, and (3) products of companies with negative associations are not always destined to receive negative responses. The authors conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for marketing managers and further research.
The research demonstrates the usefulness of information processing in designing marketing strategy. Two strategies based on information processing theory are shown to be effective in combating the impact of an adverse rumor. The traditional theoretical and intuitive strategy of directly refuting a rumor is shown to be ineffective.
Brand equity is a valuable yet fragile asset. The mounting frequency of product-harm crises and ill-prepared corporate responses to such crises can have profound consequences for brand equity. Yet there is little research on the marketing impact of crises. The authors employ the expectations-evidence framework to understand the impact of firms' responses to crises on customer-based brand equity. The results of a field survey and two laboratory experiments indicate that consumers interpret firm re-sponse on the basis of their prior expectations about the firm. The interaction of expectations and firm response is shown to affect postcrisis brand equity. The authors draw implications for the expectations-evidence framework and for the outcomes of different types of firm response (i.e., unambiguous support, ambiguous response, and unambiguous stonewalling) on brand equity.
False feedback on a personality test was used to pro duce temporary loss in self-esteem. Pilot data indicated a dif ference in self-reported explanations of failure to help; nega tive feedback subjects were significantly more likely than posi tive feedback or no feedback subjects to report not noticing an emergency. In the first experiment negative feedback subjects were found to be significantly less responsive to a white noise than positive and no feedback subjects. In the second exper iment, in addition to the feedback manipulations, half the sub jects were exposed to a helping situation in which the confeder ate called attention to herself by making a slight noise. The remaining half of the subjects were not exposed to a noise. Re sults indicated that the noise manipulation had no effect on helping in the positive and no feedback groups; helping was sig nificantly lower in the negative feedback group when no noise occurred.
[I do not have an electronic copy of this chapter. You can find many pages of it online at
https://books.google.co.il/books?redir_esc=y&id=lEgM5N6rIKwC&q=normative+influences+on+altruism#v=snippet&q=normative%20influences%20on%20altruism&f=false
Central to the theoretical model of personal normative influences on altruism presented in this chapter is the idea that altruistic behavior is causally influenced by feelings of moral obligation to act on one's personally held norms. Research supporting this central tenet of the model has demonstrated associations between personal norms and behavior rather than causal relations. These associations are partly causal because the associations appear primarily in the presence of personality conditions conducive to norm activation and are absent when personality conditions are conducive to deactivation, and attributes of personal norms (e.g., centrality, stability, and intensity) relate to altruism singly or in combination, in ways predicted when the causal impact of anticipated moral costs on behavior is assumed. Studies show that variations in situational conditions conducive to activation of moral obligation also influence the relationship between personal norms and behavior. There is ample evidence that variables that foster movement through the activation process—according to the theoretical model—are themselves related to altruistic behavior (e.g., seriousness of need and uniqueness of responsibility). The study of how personal norms are related to altruism is a part of a larger enterprise—the investigation of attitude–behavior relations in general. [I do not have an electronic copy of this chapter. You can find many pages of it online at
https://books.google.co.il/books?redir_esc=y&id=lEgM5N6rIKwC&q=normative+influences+on+altruism#v=snippet&q=normative%20influences%20on%20altruism&f=false]
In the face of marketp ace polls that attest to the increasing influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on consumers' purchase behavior, this article examines when, how, and for whom specific CSR initiatives work. The findings implicate both company-specific factors, such as the CSR issues a company chooses to focus on and the quality of its products, and individual-specific factors, such as consumers' personal support for the CSR issues and their general beliefs about CSR, as key moderators of consumers' responses to CSR. The results also highlight the mediating role of consumers' perceptions of congruence between their own characters and that of the company in their reactions to its CSR initiatives. More specifically, the authors find that CSR initiatives can, under certain conditions, decrease consumers' intentions to buy a company's products.
The authors use a 1989 environmental opinion poll of the Canadian population to examine the influence of perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE) and faith in the efficacy of others (FIO) on the relationship between environmental attitudes and consumer behaviors. The results indicate that PCE moderates both the strength and form of the attitude–personal consumer behavior relationship while FIO moderates the strength and form of the attitude–support for regulatory action relationship. Implications of these results for consumer researchers, marketing managers, and policymakers are outlined.
Infant formula manufacturers have faced a major international controversy concerning their products. Activists took issue with the way these manufacturers marketed infant formula in Third World countries. Because Nestle was one of the largest producers of infant formula, activists staged a worldwide boycott of all Nestle products. In years to come, the solution to the controversy will be seen as a landmark in the development of a more dynamic attitude by business toward the larger world around it.
The literature on altruism in social psychology, and to a lesser degree in sociology, economics, political behavior and sociobiology since the early 1980’s is reviewed. The authors take the position that in all of these areas, there appears to be a “paradigm shift” away from the earlier position that behavior that appears to be altruistic must, under closer scrutiny, be revealed as reflecting egoistic motives. Rather, theory and data now being advanced are more compatible with the view that true altruism—acting with the goal of benefitting another—does exist and is a part of human nature.
Research in social psychology during the 80’s had a decreased emphasis on situational determinants of helping. Rather, it has focussed mainly on the following topics: the existence and nature of the altruistic personality, the debate concerning the nature of the motivation underlying helping behavior, and the nature of the process of the development of altruism in children and adults. During this time there has also been considerable theoretical and empirical work on possible biological bases for altruism, and on the evolutionary processes by which these might have developed. Within economics, politics, and sociology, the issues of behavior in social dilemmas, the provision of public goods, private and corporate philanthropy, and voluntarism (including donation of time, money, and physical parts of the self) are discussed.
Examines factors that distinguish "true believers," who accept an ideological commitment, from "fellow travellers," who contribute some support but who are not fully committed to a cause. Results are reported from 47 supermarket shoppers who were asked what impact they anticipated from a nationwide meat boycott in protest of rising prices. Findings reveal a composite of the boycott supporter. The collective image of the full supporter group depicted an individual dedicated to more distant goals who expected control through group support. The partial supporter anticipated less impact; he/she hoped for but did not necessarily expect a reduction in prices. The partial supporter's values were more present-oriented and intellectual, in contrast to those of the full supporter. The advantages of using values as a fundamental measure of social behavior, as suggested by M. Rokeach (1968), are discussed. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
provides an integrative overview of current theoretical perspectives on helping and altruism that is organized around the "arousal: cost-reward" model (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Recent decades have witnessed the proliferation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the emergence of activism across a wide variety of issue areas. On topics ranging from human rights to labor conditions, NGOs and activists represent an increasingly important constituency in a firm's nonmarket environment. Surprisingly, however, scholars have only recently begun to seriously consider the interaction between NGOs and firms. As an early step in an emerging research program, we explore the different ways in which firms manage NGO pressure, noting instances of preemption, capitulation and resistance. Through a consideration of three case studies, Unocal, Nike and Novartis, we evaluate a series of preliminary hypotheses about the economic and non-economic factors that drive variation in firms' responses to NGO activism. We conclude with a discussion of our findings and some implications for managers.
Despite the theoretical and practical interest in consumer boycotts, little in the way of an empirical literature has accumulated on this form of marketplace action. The present study surveyed news sources and participants in an effort to understand consumer boycotts which occurred in the United States in the 1970–1980 period. A total of 90 boycotts was identified and described. The findings indicate that boycotts have involved an unusually wide variety of protest groups, target organizations, and social concerns in cities and states in every region of the United States. They also appear to be on the increase. Some factors which may influence the success of boycotts are identified and discussed. Also discussed are ways in which consumer boycotts in the United States have changed and ways in which they have remained the same since the turn of the century. Of special interest here is the growing use of “surrogate boycotts” to deal with issues with origins outside of the marketplace.
This historical review of consumer economic boycotts in the 20th century finds that from the early 1900s to the 1970s, consumers at the grassroots level repeatedly launched boycotts in response to price rises for food. What is particularly noteworthy about these protest actions is the important roles assumed by housewives, both as leaders and followers. Also of interest is the ad hoc nature of the boycott efforts and their inability to have more than a temporary remedial effect on the retail pricing practices which prompted the boycott actions. The paper ends with a discussion of the demise of the price-increase boycotts, a discussion which draws heavily on the changing role of American women in the late 20th century.Ein historischer Rckblick auf Verbraucherboykotte im 20. Jahrhundert zeigt, da\ vom Beginn des Jahrhunderts bis in die 70er Jahre wiederholt Boykotte gegen Preissteigerungen stattgefunden haben, die nicht durch Verbraucherverbnde von oben her organisiert, sondern von Verbrauchern an der Basis initiiert und durchgefhrt wurden. Besonders auffllig ist bei diesen Protestaktionen die herausragende Rolle der Hausfrauen, sowohl in initiierender als auch in teilnehmender Funktion. Bemerkenswert ist auch, da\ die Boykotte eher einen ad hoc-Charakter hatten und lediglich kurzfristige Rcknahmen der Preiserhhungen bewirkten. Der Beitrag schlie\t mit einer Diskussion zum allmhlichen Verschwinden von Boykotten gegen Preiserhhungen. Zum einen hat das Thema Preiserhhungen an Aktualitt eingeb\t; Fragen wie Tierversuche oder Umweltschden knnen heute mehr Engagement bewirken. Zum anderen hat sich die Rolle der Frauen in den letzten Jahrzehnten — nicht zuletzt durch strkere Berufsttigkeit — so gewandelt, da\ Frauen fr Boykottaktivitten nicht mehr so leicht zu motivieren sind wie frher.
A growing body of research on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in marketing has shown that (1) CSR plays a role in consumers' brand and product evaluations, over and above economic or ‘rational’ considerations such as product attributes; and (2) CSR has a spillover or ‘halo effect’ on otherwise unrelated consumer judgments, such as the evaluation of new products. Yet CSR's halo on consumer behavior may extend beyond product evaluations, into nonroutine types of judgments such as attributions. We examine the possibility that the CSR halo affects consumers' attributions in a product–harm crisis situation. In two studies that employ experimental manipulations of prior CSR on a sample of consumers, we examine whether attributions that are influenced by CSR mediate the impact of product–harm crises on consumers' brand evaluations. The results of Study 1 support the hypothesis. Study 2 introduces a boundary condition on the results of Study 1, showing that mediation effects are only found for consumers that are CSR-sensitive. The findings point to a role of CSR in consumer behavior that is more complex than previously conceptualized.
Individuals should be responsible for the impact of their actions. Consumers ought to consider the impact of their economic votes on the societies of which they are a part. This article discusses the perspective of academics, the impact of consumer votes, a proposal for improvement, possible benefits and costs, implementation, opportunities in research, and possible changes in teaching.
Thesis--Johns Hopkins University, 1914. Includes bibliographical references.