Together with Katja Brunk i presented a paper on “The Impact of un/ethical Corportate Conduct on Consumers´Ethical Perceptions” at the ACR conference in Pittsburg. Find a small summary here, an extended abstract in the download section, and the paper in the ACR proceedings.
Based on 20 long interviews (McCracken 1988) with general consumers, this research demonstrates that the impact of various kinds of un/ethical business practices of a given company on consumers’ perceived ethicality (CPE) is asymmetrical. The resulting taxonomy identifies three distinct dimensions of varying direction and impact on CPE: (1) Monovalent ethical dissatisfiers which have a negative effect; (2) Bivalent ethical dis/satisfiers that either favorably or unfavorably influence ethical perceptions, commensurate with a company’s efforts; and (3) Monovalent ethical satisfiers, capable of generating a positive impact. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for managers and academics.