Do Thugs Sell? An Investigation of the Relationship between Deviance and Stakeholder Response

Abstract

Although there have been many cases in the popular press detailing the deviant actions of celebrities, athletes, and corporations, theoretically, little is known about the relationship between an individual’s deviant actions and the response from key stakeholders that support that individual. On the one hand, the concept of deviance or misconduct is fuzzy (Vaughan, 1999). Similarly, it is not so straightforward that key stakeholders will always sanction an actor that is deviant (Bensman & Gerver, 1963). Drawing upon an empirical analysis of the relationship between misconduct by professional football players, and the influence that this has on attendance at football games, we examine the relationship between deviance and stakeholder response. Additional, we build upon Greve, Palmer and Pozner (2010) theoretical insights on social-control agents to examine if the relationship between deviance and stakeholder response is moderated by a change in social-control agents. Our study speaks to the renewed interest in stakeholders (Barnett, 2012) and the link between deviant actions and organizational outcomes Greve, Palmer and Pozner (2010).