Consumer outrage: Emotional reactions to unethical corporate behavior

Lindenmeier, Jörg; Schleer, Christoph; Pricl, Denise

doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.09.022

Cited by 162 publications

(193 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The internal attribution of the event appraised is one of the key criteria differentiating guilt and pride from other emotions. For example, consumers feel guilty when they believe that they have caused a negative outcome personally (e.g., they have polluted or purchased a product unethically manufactured) while they feel anger or outrage if they perceive that the same event is caused by others or by a company (Lindenmeier et al 2012;Soscia 2007).…”

Section: Increasing Consumers' Sense Of Agency: the Experience Of Selmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feelings that Make a Difference: How Guilt and Pride Convince Consumers of the Effectiveness of Sustainable Consumption Choices

2014

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A significant body of research concludes that stable beliefs of perceived consumer effectiveness lead to sustainable consumption choices. Consumers who believe that their decisions can significantly affect environmental and social issues are more likely to behave sustainably. Little is known, however, about how perceived consumer effectiveness can be increased. We find that feelings of guilt and pride, activated by a single consumption episode, can regulate sustainable consumption by affecting consumers' general perception of effectiveness. This paper demonstrates the impact that guilt and pride have on perceived consumer effectiveness and shows how this effect rests on the ability of these emotions to influence perceptions of agency. After experiencing guilt or pride, consumers see themselves as the cause of relevant sustainability outcomes. The process of causal attribution associated with these emotions influences consumers' use of neutralization techniques. Through the reduction in consumers' ability to neutralize their sense of personal responsibility, guilt and pride positively influence perceived consumer effectiveness. The inability to rationalize-away their personal responsibility, persuades consumers that they affect sustainability outcomes through their decisions. The research advances our understanding of sustainable consumption and identifies a new avenue for the regulation of individual consumer behavior that has significant implications for the development of sustainable marketing initiatives.

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Section: Increasing Consumers' Sense Of Agency: the Experience Of Selmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feelings that Make a Difference: How Guilt and Pride Convince Consumers of the Effectiveness of Sustainable Consumption Choices

2014

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“…While Lindenmeier et al (2012) test the relationship between perceived (un)fairness of corporate behavior and feelings of moral outrage empirically, most research merely assumes that unethical behavior causes feelings of righteous anger or moral outrage. Considering that in many cases of irresponsible corporate behavior observers are not directly affected by the consequences of the ethical transgression (e.g., Ohbuchi et al 2004), this assumption seems justifiable.…”

Section: Moral Outrage and Angermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Existing analyses investigating stakeholders' reactions to irresponsible corporate behavior document the important role played by moral outrage (Lindenmeier et al 2012) or righteous anger (Cronin et al 2012;Grappi et al 2013b;Romani et al 2013). This growing body of research shows that feelings of moral anger can motivate consumer boycotts (Braunsberger and Buckler 2011;Cronin et al 2012;Friedman 1999), generate negative attitudes toward the organization (Grappi et al 2013a, b) and create negative word-of-mouth (Grappi et al 2013b;Lindenmeier et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Extended Model of Moral Outrage at Corporate Social Irresponsibility

2014

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A growing body of literature documents the important role played by moral outrage or moral anger in stakeholders' reactions to cases of corporate social irresponsibility. Existing research focuses more on the consequences of moral outrage than a systematic analysis of how appraisals of irresponsible corporate behavior can lead to this emotional experience. In this paper, we develop and test, in two field studies, an extended model of moral outrage that identifies the cognitions that lead to, and are associated with, this emotional experience. This research contributes to the existing literature on reactions to corporate social irresponsibility by explaining how observers' evaluation of irresponsible corporate behavior leads to reactions of moral anger. The paper also helps clarify the difference between moral outrage and other types of anger and offers useful insights for managers who have to confront public outrage following cases of irresponsible corporate behavior. Finally, the analysis of the causes of stakeholders' anger at irresponsible corporations opens important avenues for future research that are presented in the paper.

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“…Consumer behavior is determined by ethical values and economic motives [2,6]. Main ethical values include, but are not limited to fair labor [15], human rights [14] or the environment [6]. Although there is an open debate in the literature on consumer motivations to consume ethically, with some researchers considering consumers as selfinterested [19], and others as altruistic actors [20], all researchers recognize an attitude-behavior gap.…”

Section: Sustainable Consumption and Sustainable Supply Chainsmentioning

confidence: 99%