A dirty store is a cost forever: The harmful influence of disorderly retail settings on unethical consumer behavior

Abstract

In this paper, we employ insights from the field of environmental psychology to investigate whether consumers are more likely to engage in unethical behavior in disorderly retail settings than in orderly retail settings. In particular, we investigate whether the spreading of disorder (Keizer, Lindenberg, & Steg, 2008), a theory used to explain norm-violating behavior in urban settings, can also explain norm-violating behavior in retail settings. The results from two behavioral experiments and one online study confirm that consumers shopping in retail settings that deviate from the norm that a store should be clean are more likely to engage in different forms of unethical behavior.