Examining individual tolerance for unethical consumer behavior provides a key insight to how people behave as consumers worldwide. In this study, consumer reactions to 11 unethical consumer behavior scenarios are investigated using sample data from Austria, Brunei, France, Hong Kong, the UK, and the USA. Nationality is found to be a significant predictor of how consumers view various questionable behaviors. Gender is not a significant predictor, while age and religious affiliation are found to be significant predictors of consumer ethical perceptions. The study identifies distinct consumer clusters based on their perceptions of consumer unethical behavior. Implications of the findings are discussed and future research directions are provided.
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1 June 2004
Research Article|
June 01 2004
Reactions to unethical consumer behavior across six countries
Emin Babakus;
Emin Babakus
The University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
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T. Bettina Cornwell;
T. Bettina Cornwell
The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
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Vince Mitchell;
Vince Mitchell
Manchester School of Management, UMIST, Manchester, UK
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Bodo Schlegelmilch
Bodo Schlegelmilch
Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Vienna, Austria
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Publisher: Emerald Publishing
Online ISSN: 2052-1200
Print ISSN: 0736-3761
© Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2004
Journal of Consumer Marketing (2004) 21 (4): 254–263.
Citation
Babakus E, Bettina Cornwell T, Mitchell V, Schlegelmilch B (2004), "Reactions to unethical consumer behavior across six countries". Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 21 No. 4 pp. 254–263, doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760410542165
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