Impact of consumer power on consumers' reactions to corporate transgression.

ABSTRACT: We addressed how individuals' power influences their judgments regarding corporate transgressions. Based on the Situated Focus Theory of Power, which theorizes that powerful people respond more in accordance to circumstantial factors, we tested the interaction of power and the type of corporate discourse offered by the accused company. Across two studies (overall N = 216), we experimentally primed power (Study 1) and manipulated participants' sense of direct control over the company (Study 2). We consistently found an interaction effect of power and corporate discourse on people's negative attitudes toward the company-particularly on the unwillingness to use the company's products. Particularly, high-power individuals were prone to strongly vary their attitudes based on the mitigative/non-

SUBMITTER: Hashimoto T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5933779 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature