Don’t blame the powerless: The impact of hierarchy on reactions to responses to ethical scandals

Abstract

We examine consumer reactions to the blaming of higher-level (e.g., upper managers) vs. lower-level (e.g., sales associates) employees for an ethical scandal. Using a multi-methods approach involving interviews and three experiments, we find support for a series of insights: (1) consumers are biased toward attributing greater responsibility for an ethical scandal to higher-level vs. lower-level employees; (2) consumers hold more favorable attitudes regarding the company when the CEO places the blame on the higher- (vs. lower-) level employees; (3) consumers, even when parties are considered equally responsible, react more positively to a company that blames higher-level employees; (4) the effect of blaming higher-level employees is only observed among those more dispositioned to reject hierarchical differences (i.e., individuals low on power distance beliefs).