Consumer Attitude to Firms’ Unethical Behaviours : The Role of Ethical Self-Identity and Brand Relationship Quality

In recent times consumers are becoming more conscious of how companies’ actions affect society and consumers’ interests in corporate social responsibility cannot be overemphasized. Previous research provides empirical evidence on the relationship between a firm’s unethical behavior and brand trust. Specifically, it is known that high levels of consumer perceived unethicality reduce the level of trust consumers have for the brand in question. The present study adds to the discourse by examining how other boundary conditions - brand relationship quality and ethical self-identity affect the relationship between the severity of a firm’s unethical behavior and brand trust. A theoretical framework with hypothesized relationships is developed and tested to answer the research questions. The results, consistent with the hypotheses, provide evidence that, ethical self-identity interact with severity of firm’s unethicality on brand trust. Additionally, band relationship quality also moderated the relationship between severity of firm’s ethicality on brand trust. A closer look at the interaction effects shows that, ethical self-identity represents an important consumer trait that managers must consider when they want to gain the consumers’ trust of their brand. Also, brand relationship building provides a buffer for firms when an unfortunate circumstance occurs.