Measuring Perceived Corporate Hypocrisy: Scale Development in the Context of U.S. Retail Employees

Abstract

Despite an increasing amount of research on perceived corporate hypocrisy (PCH), limited research has investigated PCH among employees. Particularly, the literature lacked a valid instrument for estimating employees' PCH, even though employees experience severe consequences for PCH. To address this gap, a scale was developed to measure employees' PCH, using a three-stage Item Response Theory modeling approach. After a series of qualitative studies and six quantitative scale-development iterations, PCH was found to be a unidimensional construct represented by the perceived lack of morality, perceived control breach, double standards, and a value-behavior gap. Further, the nine-item PCH scale was confirmed to be reliable, valid, and unbiased for different demographic groups. The scale makes theoretical contributions by being one of the few attempts to objectively measure employees' hypocrisy judgements and incorporating corporations' double standard and perceived commitment to morality as defining features of employees' PCH. Assessment of employees' PCH can help in expanding the hypocrisy literature beyond consumers' perceptions. Finally, the scale enables corporations to measure employees' PCH and get an in-depth understanding of the issues of concern as work and organizational phenomena. By implementing proper management strategies, corporations can potentially avoid PCH, create more favorable perceptions among employees, and improve their reputations.

Sustainability in Supply Chains with Behavioral Concerns

“…In this Special Issue, supply chain sustainability with behavioral concerns has been examined and we introduce the accepted articles as follows. Goswami et al [42] studied the measurement of perceived corporate hypocrisy (PCH) in the context of U.S. retail employees. The role of corporate hypocrisy in sustainability achievements has been addressed in previous research with a focus on consumers' and/or investors' perceptions.…”

How Corporate Social Responsibility Can Buffer the Unfavorable Outcomes of the Brand in Crisis: A Mediation Role of Corporate Hypocrisy and Gratitude in Saudi Arabia

“…Inconsistency between verbal and nonverbal behaviors triggers uncomfortable feelings to customers. Brand hypocrisy in customers' minds can be understood as a minor way of dishonesty [56]. Therefore, whenever there are contradictions in the firm's behaviors, there will be no benefit of the CSR practices that the firm is engaging in [57].…”

It’s All About Stakeholders: Corporate Moral Responsibilities, Stakeholder Capitalism, and Hypocrisy Perceptions

“…Such inconsistencies, where corporations continue to harm stakeholders through their actions while maintaining a public front of social sensitivity, potentially create rooms of PCH among stakeholders. PCH is created when stakeholders think corporations to be not walking the talk (Goswami et al, 2018). Thus, we hypothesize that inconsistencies related to CMR claims and actions generate PCH among stakeholders (H1).…”

“…While PCH is evoked in both consumers and employees, exploratory research suggests that employees' PCH could differ than that of consumers (Goswami & Ha-Brookshire, 2016). Compared to consumers, employees have insiders' view of their corporations (Scheidler et al, 2018).…”

“…For stakeholders, participants were identified as either retail employees (n = 305) having experience of working at a retail corporation for at least one continuous year or retail consumers (n = 198). US retail industry was selected as literature reported of stakeholders' hypocrisy perceptions existing in this environment (Goswami et al, 2018). Participants saw one randomly assigned stimulus set, followed by questions about PCH measured using six items (Wagner et al, 2009) on a 7-point Likert-type scale (1: strongly disagree to 7: strongly agree).…”