The Library
Deception aversion, norm violation and consumer responses to prosocial initiatives
Tools
Alempaki, Despoina, Isoni, Andrea and Read, Daniel (2023) Deception aversion, norm violation and consumer responses to prosocial initiatives. Behavioural Public Policy . doi:10.1017/bpp.2023.32 ISSN 2398-063X. (In Press)
|
PDF
deception-aversion-communal-norm-violation-and-consumer-responses-to-prosocial-initiatives.pdf - Published Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (207Kb) | Preview |
|
PDF
WRAP-deception-aversion-norm-violation-consumer-responses-prosocial-initiatives-Read-2023.pdf - Accepted Version Embargoed item. Restricted access to Repository staff only - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (593Kb) |
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/bpp.2023.32
Abstract
Companies face increasing pressure to adopt social responsibility initiatives while simultaneously providing shareholder value. However, consumers may respond negatively to ‘win-win’ initiatives that benefit society while bringing financial gain to the corporation, producing a backlash effect. Previous researchers have attributed this backlash effect to the violation of a communal relationship norm that companies trigger in consumers when communicating their win-win initiatives. We propose the alternative hypothesis that the backlash derives from people's deception aversion. We find evidence supporting deception aversion in three preregistered studies showing that companies are evaluated negatively when their actions differ from those implied by their stated prosocial policy and not, as predicted by the communal norm violation hypothesis, when they merely earn a profit. Our results suggest that companies should not fear that earning a profit from prosocial activities will carry reputational risk, so long as they are transparent.
Item Type: | Journal Article | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alternative Title: | ||||||||||
Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HF Commerce H Social Sciences > HG Finance |
|||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Behavioural Science Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School |
|||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Social responsibility of business , Business ethics, Industries -- Social aspects, Consumer behavior , Corporate profits | |||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Behavioural Public Policy | |||||||||
Publisher: | Cambridge University Press | |||||||||
ISSN: | 2398-063X | |||||||||
Official Date: | 1 December 2023 | |||||||||
Dates: |
|
|||||||||
DOI: | 10.1017/bpp.2023.32 | |||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | |||||||||
Publication Status: | In Press | |||||||||
Re-use Statement: | This article has been accepted for publication in a revised form for publication in Behavioural Public Policy. | |||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | |||||||||
Copyright Holders: | Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press | |||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 26 October 2023 | |||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 30 October 2023 | |||||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
|
|||||||||
Related URLs: |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year