Investigating the Different Roles of the Factors Affecting Ethically Questionable Consumer Behaviour

Based on an empirical study in the context of Romania, this paper examines the different levels of importance regarding the determinants within the ethically questionable consumer behaviour. The quantitative study is based on the model of the theory of planned behaviour incorporating the factor of perceived unfairness. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess measurement structures and the proposed model was estimated using structural equation modelling. Significantly, perceived behavioural control is shown to have an obvious positive impact on the intention to behave unethically in terms of digital piracy context, but this is not significant in case of shoplifting. Instead, the influence of the perceived unfairness is shown to be considerable when it comes to the consumer action of stealing goods from a shop. As such, the influencing factors of ethically questionable behaviour change their importance depending on the type of the behaviour. In other words, companies need to understand the consumer perceptions toward the difficulty of engaging in ethically questionable behaviour and to consider their responsibilities in relation to their consumers. Limitations of the study and future directions for research are considered as well.