You Could Do It Better! Consumer Negative Responses toward Moral Crisis in the Fashion Industry

Abstract

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><span style="font-size: 16px;">Crisis events regarding fashion business strategies and processes have raised moral concerns from individuals and the society. The goal of this study is to understand different types of moral crisis that have happened in the fashion industry (i.e., moral crisis in supply-chain management vs. moral crisis in public relations) and to identify consumers’ responses, which consequently influence behavioral intentions (i.e., negative word of mouth, patronage cessation). Findings revealed that affective and cognitive responses due to the crisis event led to negative word of mouth in social media and patronage cessation behaviors. Importantly, we found that the effects of consumers’ responses could be distinct according to different types of moral crisis. This study suggests practical implications for fashion brands that they can create back-up strategies for reacting by understanding consumer responses and behaviors due to a moral crisis.</span></font><br>