Double Standards in the Judgment of Consumer versus Business Unethical Behavior

• Authors: Sinkevičius Mindaugas , Gineikienė Justina , Huettinger Maik , Adomavičius Benas

Title variants

HR

Dvostruki standardi u procjenama neetičnog ponašanja potrošača i poslovnih subjekata

• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Double standards in terms of individuals being more tolerant of questionable consumer practices than of similar business practices have been researched in several studies (e.g., De Bock, Vermeir & Van Kenhove, 2013; De Bock & Van Kenhove, 2011; Vermeir & Van Kenhove, 2008; DePaulo, 1987). However, a mismatch between the perceptions of a company’s corporate behavior and a consumer’s ethical behavior has scarcely been assessed from the point of view of individual differences on the consumer side. The purpose of the current study is to explore individual differences (optimistic versus pessimistic attitude towards business) in the use of ethical judgments regarding questionable conduct of a business versus that of a consumer. In other words, we investigate if the consumers who are positively disposed towards business are less critical of unethical corporate than of consumer actions. In our study, we compared the level of optimism with regard to businesses with attitudes towards business ethics (using the Perceived Role of Ethics and Social Responsibility scale (PRESOR) created by Singhapakdi, Vitell, Rallapalli and Kraft (1996)), and the attitudes towards consumer ethics (using the Consumer Ethics Scale (CES) by Vitell and Muncy (1992)). Research results indicate that the individuals having optimistic attitudes towards business are less likely to use double standards when it comes to (un)ethical consumer behavior, compared to (un)ethical corporate actions. Limitations and suggestions for further research are presented.

HR

Dvostruki standardi prema kojima pojedinci pokazuju veću razinu tolerancije prema etički upitnim postupcima potrošača nego prema sličnim postupcima u poslovnim svijetu istraživani su u nekoliko radova (npr. De Bock, Vermeir i Van Kenhove, 2013.; De Bock i Van Kenhove, 2011.; Vermeir i Van Kenhove,, 2008.; DePaulo, 1987.). No nepodudarnost percepcija o korporativnom etičkom ponašanju poduzeća i potrošača rijetko se procjenjivala iz perspektive individualnih razlika među potrošačima. Svrha ovog rada jest istražiti individualne razlike (optimistični u odnosu na pesimistične stavove o poslovanju) u etičkom prosuđivanju etički upitnog ponašanja poslovnih subjekata nasuprot takvom ponašanju potrošača. Drugim riječima, istražujemo jesu li potrošači pozitivnijeg stava prema poslovanju manje kritični prema neetičkim postupcima poduzeća u odnosu na takve, neetične postupke potrošača. U radu uspoređujemo razinu optimizma prema poslovanju sa stavovima prema poslovnoj etici (korištenjem ljestvice Percipirana uloga etike i društvene odgovornosti - PRESPOR čiji su autori Singhapakdi, Vitell, Rallapalli i Kraft,1996.), i stavove prema etici potrošača (korištenjem ljestvice Etike potrošača - CES autora Vittellija i Muncyja ,1992.). Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da su pojedinci optimističnih stavova prema poslovanju manje skloni korištenju dvostrukih standarda po pitanju (ne)etičnog ponašanja potrošača u usporedbi s (ne)etičnim postupcima poduzeća. Navode se ograničenja istraživanja i preporuke za buduća istraživanja.

Keywords

EN

consumer ethics, business ethics, double standards

HR

potrošačka etika, poslovna etika, dvostruki standardi

• Publisher: Faculty of Economics & Business Zagreb, Department of Marketing, Zagreb, Croatia and CROMAR (Croatian Marketing Association)
• Journal: Market - Tržište
• Year: 2014
• Volume: 26
• Issue: 1

Dates

published

2014-06-30

Contributors

author

Sinkevičius Mindaugas

• University of Management and Economics, Lithuania

author

Gineikienė Justina

• Vilnius University, Lithuania

author

Huettinger Maik

• University of Management and Economics, Lithuania

author

Adomavičius Benas

• University of Management and Economics, Lithuania

Identifiers

ISSN

0353-4790