IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v122y2014i1p167-177.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Ethical Attribute Stigma: Understanding When Ethical Attributes Improve Consumer Responses to Product Evaluations

Author

Listed:
  • H. Bodur
  • Ting Gao
  • Bianca Grohmann

Abstract

Although several articles have investigated ethical product attributes, earlier research has not empirically examined different benefits offered by ethical attributes (i.e., symbolic or utilitarian benefits). This study demonstrates that ethical attributes have functional benefits as well as symbolic benefits. More importantly, when the ethical attribute benefit is congruent with the product category benefit, ethical attributes improve product evaluations. In addition, products with a higher degree of physical contact with consumers are affected more positively by benefit congruity of ethical attributes. For products with lower degree of physical contact, benefit congruity of ethical attributes still has a positive impact, but not for consumers who have strong price–quality beliefs. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • H. Bodur & Ting Gao & Bianca Grohmann, 2014. "The Ethical Attribute Stigma: Understanding When Ethical Attributes Improve Consumer Responses to Product Evaluations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(1), pages 167-177, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:122:y:2014:i:1:p:167-177
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-013-1764-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-013-1764-5
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-013-1764-5?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. Gilles Laurent & Pierre Chandon & Brian Wansink, 2000. "A Benefit Congruency Framework of Sales Promotion Effectiveness," Post-Print hal-00458440, HAL.
    2. Arul Mishra, 2009. "Influence of Contagious versus Noncontagious Product Groupings on Consumer Preferences," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 36(1), pages 73-82, June.
    3. Strahilevitz, Michal & Myers, John G, 1998. "Donations to Charity as Purchase Incentives: How Well They Work May Depend on What You Are Trying to Sell," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 24(4), pages 434-446, March.
    4. Auger, Pat & Devinney, Timothy M. & Louviere, Jordan J. & Burke, Paul F., 2008. "Do social product features have value to consumers?," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 183-191.
    5. Carlos J. Torelli & Alokparna Basu Monga & Andrew M. Kaikati, 2012. "Doing Poorly by Doing Good: Corporate Social Responsibility and Brand Concepts," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 38(5), pages 948-963.
    6. Guido Berens & Cees Riel & Johan Rekom, 2007. "The CSR-Quality Trade-Off: When can Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Ability Compensate Each Other?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 74(3), pages 233-252, September.
    7. Meyvis, Tom & Janiszewski, Chris, 2002. "Consumers' Beliefs about Product Benefits: The Effect of Obviously Irrelevant Product Information," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 28(4), pages 618-635, March.
    8. 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.
    9. George E. Newman & Gil Diesendruck & Paul Bloom, 2011. "Celebrity Contagion and the Value of Objects," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 38(2), pages 215-228.
    10. Rao, Akshay R & Monroe, Kent B, 1988. "The Moderating Effect of Prior Knowledge on Cue Utilization in Product Evaluations," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 15(2), pages 253-264, September.
    11. LAURENT, Gilles & CHANDON, Pierre & WANSINK, Brian, 2000. "A benefit congruency framework of sales promotion effectiveness," HEC Research Papers Series 698, HEC Paris.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gary M. Fleischman & Eric N. Johnson & Kenton B. Walker & Sean R. Valentine, 2019. "Ethics Versus Outcomes: Managerial Responses to Incentive-Driven and Goal-Induced Employee Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(4), pages 951-967, September.
    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. Rahayu Lestari & Lisa Amelia & Alvin Hizrian, 2018. "Determinants Customer Satisfaction and Implications of Interest in Buying Repeated Types of Buyers in Food Vendors Street Vendors (PMKL) in Tangerang Selatan-Banten," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 8(4), pages 24-31.
    4. Joanne L. Tingey-Holyoak & John D. Pisaniello, 2017. "Strategic Responses to Resource Management Pressures in Agriculture: Institutional, Gender and Location Effects," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 381-400, August.
    5. Vera Herédia-Colaço & Rita Coelho do Vale, 2018. "Seize the Day or Save the World? The Importance of Ethical Claims and Product Nature Congruity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 783-801, October.
    6. Kharis Kurnianto & Setyo Aji Nugroho & Jati Tri Priyambodo, 2018. "Influence of Products, Premium Pricing, and Service processes On Customer Satisfaction of Pt Asuransi Jiwa Taspen 2014-2018 Period," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 8(6), pages 62-66.
    7. Bodur, H. Onur & Tofighi, Maryam & Grohmann, Bianca, 2016. "When Should Private Label Brands Endorse Ethical Attributes?," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 204-217.

    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. Bodur, H. Onur & Tofighi, Maryam & Grohmann, Bianca, 2016. "When Should Private Label Brands Endorse Ethical Attributes?," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 204-217.
    2. Yoojung Kim & Sejung Marina Choi, 2022. "When Bad Becomes Good: The Role of Congruence and Product Type in the CSR Initiatives of Stigmatized Industries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-16, July.
    3. Noble, Stephanie M. & Griffith, David A. & Weinberger, Marc G., 2005. "Consumer derived utilitarian value and channel utilization in a multi-channel retail context," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(12), pages 1643-1651, December.
    4. Sooyeon Lee-Wingate & Kim Corfman, 2010. "A Little Something for Me and Maybe for You, Too: Promotions that Relieve Guilt," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 385-395, December.
    5. Michael G. Luchs & Minu Kumar, 2017. "“Yes, but this Other One Looks Better/Works Better”: How do Consumers Respond to Trade-offs Between Sustainability and Other Valued Attributes?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(3), pages 567-584, February.
    6. Jenni Sipilä & Sascha Alavi & Laura Marie Edinger-Schons & Sabrina Dörfer & Christian Schmitz, 2021. "Corporate social responsibility in luxury contexts: potential pitfalls and how to overcome them," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 280-303, March.
    7. Mobin Fatma & Zillur Rahman, 2016. "Consumer responses to CSR in Indian banking sector," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 13(3), pages 203-222, October.
    8. Santhiya Ramasamy & Karpal S. Dara Singh & Azlan Amran & Mehran Nejati, 2020. "Linking human values to consumer CSR perception: The moderating role of consumer skepticism," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1958-1971, July.
    9. Honea, Heather & Dahl, Darren W., 2005. "The Promotion Affect Scale: Defining the Affective Dimensions of Promotion," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 543-551, April.
    10. Ivanova Marusya, 2012. "A Benefit-Based Approach for Increasing the Effectiveness of Promotions," Scientific Annals of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 59(2), pages 67-82, December.
    11. Ji Wu & Haichuan Zhao & Haipeng (Allan) Chen, 2021. "Coupons or Free Shipping? Effects of Price Promotion Strategies on Online Review Ratings," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 32(2), pages 633-652, June.
    12. Mimouni Chaabane, Aida & Pez, Virginie, 2017. "“Make me feel special†: Are hierarchical loyalty programs a panacea for all brands? The role of brand concept," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 108-117.
    13. Harper Roehm & Michelle Roehm, 2007. "The relationship between FSI advertising style and coupon redemption," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 237-247, December.
    14. Suwelack, Thomas & Hogreve, Jens & Hoyer, Wayne D., 2011. "Understanding Money-Back Guarantees: Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Outcomes," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 87(4), pages 462-478.
    15. Guillaume Le Borgne & Lucie Sirieix & Sandrine Costa, 2014. "Food waste and promotions," Working Papers hal-01140919, HAL.
      • Le Borgne, G. & Sirieix, L. & Costa, S., 2014. "Food waste and promotions," Working Papers MoISA 201405, UMR MoISA : Montpellier Interdisciplinary center on Sustainable Agri-food systems (social and nutritional sciences): CIHEAM-IAMM, CIRAD, INRAE, L'Institut Agro, Montpellier SupAgro, IRD - Montpellier, France.
    16. Wagner, Tillmann & Rudolph, Thomas, 2010. "Towards a hierarchical theory of shopping motivation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 415-429.
    17. 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.
    18. Mohammad Nurunnabi & Yazeed Alfakhri & Demah H. Alfakhri, 2018. "Consumer perceptions and corporate social responsibility: what we know so far," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 15(2), pages 161-187, June.
    19. Anupam Singh & Priyanka Verma, 2018. "Driving Brand Value Through CSR Initiatives: An Empirical Study in Indian Perspective," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 19(1), pages 85-98, February.
    20. Byun, Kyung-Ah (Kay) & Duhan, Dale F. & Dass, Mayukh, 2020. "The preservation of loyalty halo effects: An investigation of the post-product-recall behavior of loyal customers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 163-175.

    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:122:y:2014:i:1:p:167-177. 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.