The impacts of locus of crisis outcome control on responsibility attribution in hindsight: focusing on comparisons between the American and Chinese public

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Through two equivalent national surveys in the United States (US) and China, this study investigated how people’s forethoughtful assessments of crisis outcomes affect their retrospective responsibility attribution and subsequent demand for regulatory intervention. The results revealed that when Americans and Chinese perceived that they could rely on the government as a proxy agent to achieve desirable crisis outcomes, they attributed more responsibility to the in-crisis company. The increased blame company attribution would spill over into their blame for social systems. These heightened attributional activities led to people’s calls for regulatory intervention. Inconsistent findings for the two countries are also discussed.