Partners in crime? The impact of consumers' culpability for corporate social irresponsibility on their boycott attitude

Abstract

Corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) covers a diverse spectrum of wrongdoings, ranging from tax evasion to bad working conditions in supply chains. If consumers conclude that a company is responsible for a CSI incident, one commonly used regulatory behavior are boycotts. However, pressure is mounting that partial responsibility for certain CSI incidents should also lie with customers due to how their consumption demands help drive irresponsible company conduct. To date, no research has established whether a consumer culpability path for CSI exists next to the corporate culpability path. The study at hand focuses on how the novel construct of consumer culpability impacts consumers' boycott attitude and which role CSI-type specific consumer benefits play (e.g., low prices stemming from bad working conditions). Findings are based on a sample of consumers' (N = 5662) unaided recall of over 500 unique CSI incidents of 460 companies that were categorized in a stakeholder-based typology.