IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v111y2012i4p551-565.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Un/ethical Company and Brand Perceptions: Conceptualising and Operationalising Consumer Meanings

Author

Listed:
  • Katja Brunk

Abstract

Based on three empirical studies, this research sets out to conceptualise and subsequently operationalise the construct of consumer perceived ethicality (CPE) of a company or brand. Study 1 investigates consumer meanings of the term ethical and reveals that, contrary to philosophical scholars’ exclusively consequentialist or nonconsequentialist positions, consumers’ ethical judgments are a function of both these evaluation principles, illustrating that not any one scholarly definition of ethics alone is capable of capturing the content domain. The resulting conceptualisation identifies six key themes explicating the construct. Building upon these findings, studies 2 and 3 were conducted to operationalise CPE. Such operationalisation is an essential prerequisite for future explorations and theory development given the absence of a suitable tool to capture and quantify the strength and direction of CPE. The key focus was on developing a valid and reliable multi-item measurement tool that is practical, parsimonious and easy to administer. The scale’s general applicability allows deployment in academic and business contexts as well as different research areas and doing thus facilitates the much-needed theory building in this new research area. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Katja Brunk, 2012. "Un/ethical Company and Brand Perceptions: Conceptualising and Operationalising Consumer Meanings," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(4), pages 551-565, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:111:y:2012:i:4:p:551-565
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-012-1339-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-012-1339-x
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-012-1339-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Spiggle, Susan, 1994. "Analysis and Interpretation of Qualitative Data in Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 21(3), pages 491-503, December.
    2. Roberts, James A., 1996. "Will the real socially responsible consumer please step forward?," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 79-83.
    3. Huber, Frank & Vollhardt, Kai & Matthes, Isabel & Vogel, Johannes, 2010. "Brand misconduct: Consequences on consumer-brand relationships," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(11), pages 1113-1120, November.
    4. Muncy, James A. & Vitell, Scott J., 1992. "Consumer ethics: An investigation of the ethical beliefs of the final consumer," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 297-311, June.
    5. Clement, Ronald W., 2006. "Just how unethical is American business?," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 313-327.
    6. Lee Cronbach, 1951. "Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 16(3), pages 297-334, September.
    7. Ping, Robert Jr., 2004. "On assuring valid measures for theoretical models using survey data," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 125-141, February.
    8. Cohn, Deborah Y., 2010. "Commentary essay on "exploring origins of ethical company/brand perceptions -- A consumer perspective of corporate ethics"," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(12), pages 1267-1268, December.
    9. Henry Kaiser, 1974. "An index of factorial simplicity," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 39(1), pages 31-36, March.
    10. Brunk, Katja H. & Blümelhuber, Christian, 2011. "One strike and you're out: Qualitative insights into the formation of consumers' ethical company or brand perceptions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 134-141, February.
    11. Becker-Olsen, Karen L. & Cudmore, B. Andrew & Hill, Ronald Paul, 2006. "The impact of perceived corporate social responsibility on consumer behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 46-53, January.
    12. Michael Bendixen & Russell Abratt, 2007. "Corporate Identity, Ethics and Reputation in Supplier–Buyer Relationships," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 76(1), pages 69-82, November.
    13. Shea, Linda J., 2010. "Using consumer perceived ethicality as a guideline for corporate social responsibility strategy: A commentary essay," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 263-264, March.
    14. Brunk, Katja H., 2010. "Exploring origins of ethical company/brand perceptions -- A consumer perspective of corporate ethics," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 255-262, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ferrell, O.C. & Harrison, Dana E. & Ferrell, Linda & Hair, Joe F., 2019. "Business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and brand attitudes: An exploratory study," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 491-501.
    2. Katja H. Brunk & Cara Boer, 2020. "How do Consumers Reconcile Positive and Negative CSR-Related Information to Form an Ethical Brand Perception? A Mixed Method Inquiry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(2), pages 443-458, January.
    3. Vera Herédia-Colaço & Rita Coelho do Vale & Sofia B. Villas-Boas, 2019. "Does Fair Trade Breed Contempt? A Cross-Country Examination on the Moderating Role of Brand Familiarity and Consumer Expertise on Product Evaluation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(3), pages 737-758, May.
    4. Brunk, Katja H., 2010. "Exploring origins of ethical company/brand perceptions: Reply to Shea and Cohn's commentaries," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(12), pages 1364-1367, December.
    5. Magdalena Öberseder & Bodo Schlegelmilch & Patrick Murphy & Verena Gruber, 2014. "Consumers’ Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility: Scale Development and Validation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 101-115, September.
    6. Jatinder Singh & Oriol Iglesias & Joan Batista-Foguet, 2012. "Does Having an Ethical Brand Matter? The Influence of Consumer Perceived Ethicality on Trust, Affect and Loyalty," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(4), pages 541-549, December.
    7. Xinming Deng, 2012. "Understanding Consumer’s Responses to Enterprise’s Ethical Behaviors: An Investigation in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(2), pages 159-181, May.
    8. Bianca Grohmann & H. Bodur, 2015. "Brand Social Responsibility: Conceptualization, Measurement, and Outcomes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(2), pages 375-399, October.
    9. Chenfeng Yan & Quan Chen & Xinyue Zhou & Xin Dai & Zhilin Yang, 2024. "When the Automated fire Backfires: The Adoption of Algorithm-based HR Decision-making Could Induce Consumer’s Unfavorable Ethicality Inferences of the Company," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 190(4), pages 841-859, April.
    10. Bodo Schlegelmilch & Magdalena Öberseder, 2010. "Half a Century of Marketing Ethics: Shifting Perspectives and Emerging Trends," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 93(1), pages 1-19, April.
    11. Michaelidou, Nina & Micevski, Milena, 2019. "Consumers' ethical perceptions of social media analytics practices: Risks, benefits and potential outcomes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 576-586.
    12. Sudbury-Riley, Lynn & Kohlbacher, Florian, 2016. "Ethically minded consumer behavior: Scale review, development, and validation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 2697-2710.
    13. Brunk, Katja H. & Blümelhuber, Christian, 2011. "One strike and you're out: Qualitative insights into the formation of consumers' ethical company or brand perceptions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 134-141, February.
    14. Jose Ribamar Siqueira Junior & Enrique Horst & German Molina & Laura H. Gunn & Felipe Reinoso-Carvalho & Burcu Sezen & Nathalie Peña-García, 2023. "Branding in the eye of the storm: the impact of brand ethical behavior on brand commitment during the COVID-19 crisis in a South American country," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 95-115, March.
    15. Magdalena Öberseder & Bodo Schlegelmilch & Verena Gruber, 2011. "“Why Don’t Consumers Care About CSR?”: A Qualitative Study Exploring the Role of CSR in Consumption Decisions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 104(4), pages 449-460, December.
    16. Kumar, Vikas & Kaushal, Vikrant & Shashi,, 2023. "Role of customer perceived brand ethicality in inducing engagement in online brand communities," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    17. Yu-Shan Huang & Shuqin Wei & Tyson Ang, 2022. "The Role of Customer Perceived Ethicality in Explaining the Impact of Incivility Among Employees on Customer Unethical Behavior and Customer Citizenship Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(2), pages 519-535, June.
    18. María Manuela Palacios-González & Antonio Chamorro-Mera, 2020. "Analysis of Socially Responsible Consumption: A Segmentation of Spanish Consumers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-15, October.
    19. Saravana Jaikumar & Viswanath Pingali & Vineet Virmani, 2019. "Shareholders’ reaction to ethical image of sports teams: an event study in the Indian Premier League," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 46(4), pages 283-300, December.
    20. Grappi, Silvia & Bergianti, Francesca & Gabrielli, Veronica & Baghi, Ilaria, 2024. "The effect of message framing on young adult consumers’ sustainable fashion consumption: The role of anticipated emotions and perceived ethicality," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:111:y:2012:i:4:p:551-565. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.