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This paper aims to investigate the role of personal and affective factors in curbing unethical consumer behaviour (UCB). Specifically, this study scrutinizes how religiosity, consumer ethical beliefs (CEBs) and anticipated guilt influence UCB.

Using a survey-based approach, the author distributed offline and online questionnaires among students enrolled in a public university in Roorkee, India and analysed the data using structural equation modelling.

The results provide evidence that intrinsically religious individuals develop strong ethical beliefs, which can help them to refrain from unethical behaviour and adopt ethical conduct. Also, individuals prone to experiencing anticipated guilt show less inclination to commit unethical behaviour.

This research presents significant theoretical and practical implications to facilitate academic understanding and managerial decision-making in the context of consumer ethics.

This research is one of the few empirical studies in the Indian context that simultaneously examines the antecedents and consequences of CEB.

The internet has provided a gamut of benefits to consumers. The digital world, however, also provides space for various illegal or unethical consumer activities. Consumers may not always be fully aware of the unethical or illegal nature of some of the online activities that they engage in. This study aims to examine the questionable side of online consumer behaviour in an emerging market where internet penetration and smart phone accessibility is rapidly expanding. Using a third-person technique, this study attempts to empirically capture the perceptions of Indian adults regarding the prevalence of various questionable online activities such as unauthorized downloading of digital content, spreading fake news/misinformation and fraudulent returns and to understand the extent to which these respondents believe that such actions are acceptable or illegal and unethical.

An online questionnaire was used to collect primary data from 212 consumers. Non-probability convenience and snowball sampling was used for the purpose.

Unauthorized watching or downloading of online content is reported to be the most prevalent among the various types of questionable behaviours examined. However, it is behaviours such as fraudulent returns and spreading misinformation through online channels which are considered to be the most unethical or illegal. Certain behaviours which may be deemed to be unethical and illegal nevertheless are seen as acceptable. Significant differences between demographics in the case of several of the unethical activities are reported.

This study examines the grey and dark side of online behaviours among consumers in an emerging market and points to the need for action on several fronts to increase consumer awareness and sensitivity about the unethical or illegal nature of some of their online activities and the implications for multiple stakeholders. Based on the findings of this study, recommendations directed at consumers, marketers and policymakers are discussed.

Although the benefits of online communication channels have been extensively studied, their ability to facilitate certain unethical and even illegal activities is an under-researched area. The inclination to engage in these types of questionable behaviours may have been exacerbated by the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study highlights the importance of research on various grey consumer activities in the digital space and paves the way for further investigations by identifying online actions which are considered as most prevalent and/or unethical and illegal.

The purpose of this study is to explore how institutional trust, frugality and materialism motivate consumers’ unethical behavior.

The authors conducted the study in two phases – qualitative and quantitative. In the qualitative phase through a content analysis of semi-structured interviews, a list of unethical activities was obtained. In the quantitative phase, a questionnaire was developed, which had questions related to the unethical activities. Data collection for the quantitative phase was achieved through mall intercept surveys. The collected data were subjected to exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and multivariate regression analysis.

Poor institutional environment, frugal attitude and materialistic values motivate consumers from an emerging economy to indulge in unethical acts some of which were not explored before such as booking a cab but not boarding or stealing electricity.

Research evidence on unethical consumer behavior is lacking from emerging markets. Furthermore, extant studies have used mainly national culture models to explore unethical behavior, and finally, the role of institutional trust and frugality has not been explored in previous studies. The present study tries to fill these gaps by considering these elements as the cornerstone of this study.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a model that focuses on the cultural drivers and trust outcomes of consumer perceptions on issues pertaining to the unethical marketing behavior of firms. It specifically investigates: the role of cultural orientation in forming consumer ethical ideology; the link between the consumer's ethical ideology and his/her perceptions regarding the unethical marketing behavior of firms; the effect of perceived unethical marketing behavior on trust in firms; and the moderating role of gender, age, and education of the consumer.

The article is based on a quantitative survey conducted among 387 Cypriot consumers aged 18 and above, using stratified random sampling procedures. The items comprising the constructs used were derived from multiple literature sources and these were measured on a seven‐point Likert scale. Data were gathered through personal, face‐to‐face interviews conducted at central locations in all major towns of Cyprus. To test the hypothesized relationships among the constructs of the model, structural equation modeling was employed.

The study confirmed that both power distance and uncertainty avoidance are important in forming idealistic attitudes, while both individualism and masculinity lead to an egoistic attitude. Idealism was observed to have a positive association with perceived marketing unethicality, while egoism was found to negatively affect consumer perceptions of unethical marketing behavior by firms. It was also revealed that perceived unethical marketing behavior decreases consumer trust. The study also revealed that the link between idealism and perceived marketing unethicality is stronger among male and older individuals, while consumer's level of education had no moderating impact on this link. Finally, none of the consumer demographics examined (i.e. gender, age, and education) moderated the association between egoism and perceived unethical marketing behavior.

The originality of the study lies in the fact that: it puts together in a single model both antecedents and outcomes of the marketing unethicality of firms, as this is perceived by the individual consumer; concurrently examines the role of cultural orientation and ethical ideology of the consumer in forming ethical attitudes and responses; focuses on the instrumental role of cultural characteristics on consumer ethical perceptions from the perspective of the individual, rather than the society as a whole; places emphasis on unethical issues taking place across all elements of the marketing mix; and provides useful examination of the effects of unethical marketing practices on consumer trust.

Prior research suggests that consumers can engage in moral decoupling by separating their judgments of morality from their judgments of performance. Hence, they might rationalize the benefits of unethical behavior without condoning the behavior itself. This paper aims to study how a discrete positive emotion, such as authentic pride, can mitigate moral decoupling.

Using three experimental studies, this research investigates and tests the underlying mechanism driving authentic pride, its effects and its key moderator. The results are analyzed using ANOVAs, regression-based serial mediation and moderated mediation analyses.

The results show that authentic pride decreases consumer acceptance of unethical behavior across different contexts, including purchase intentions for unethically manufactured products (Study 1), evaluations of the corporate social responsibility activities of a tobacco company (Study 2) and acceptance of questionable consumer behavior in daily situations (Study 3).

This research explores attitudes and behavioral intentions as dependent variables. It would thus be of interest for future research to examine a behavioral measure.

Given the potential problems of moral decoupling among consumers, marketers can devise effective strategies to reduce this problem using authentic pride appeals.

This research demonstrates how authentic pride can decrease consumer acceptance of unethical behavior. More importantly, this research enriches our understanding of the underlying mechanism driving the influence of authentic pride such that it increases the belief in a just world, which in turn lowers moral decoupling (a serial mediation).

In this research, the authors aim to identify a situation when a consumer’s judgment of unethical behavior is not consistent with their intention to act ethically.

Across two studies, participants were asked to evaluate how ethical an actor’s behavior was when the actor knowingly kept surplus change from a distracted cashier. The identity of the actor was manipulated to be of either high or low similarity to the participants. The business where the distracted cashier worked for was described as either locally owned or a chain. Participant’s intended action in similar situation was assessed after their evaluation of how ethical/unethical the actor’s behavior was.

While participants generally find the actor’s behavior to be unethical, identity overlap between the participant and the actor is found to moderate how likely one is to emulate the actor’s behavior in a similar situation. Identity overlap is found to positively predict one’s likelihood to act like the actor in the scenarios. Whether the business was locally owned or a chain was not found to affect one’s ethical judgment or ethical intention.

Identity overlap is found to positively predict one’s likelihood to act like the actor in the scenarios.

Whether the business was locally owned or a chain was not found to affect one’s ethical judgment nor ethical intention. While participants in general do show that they judge the actor’s behavior as unethical, identity overlap between the participant and the actor moderates how likely one is to act like the actor if put in the same scenario.

The research suggests that consumers are more likely to act unethically when they identify with “similar” others, regardless of how unethical they consider that behavior to be.

This research suggests that even when consumers acknowledge that certain behavior against a business is unethical, their intention to engage in the unethical behavior may not be predicted by their judgment of how unethical the behavior is. Instead, consumers are likely to emulate unethical behavior of those whom they consider similar to themselves, regardless of how unethical they judge that behavior to be.

The study has two objectives: (1) expand our knowledge of the relationship between unethical behaviour and both trust and satisfaction and (2) demonstrate that unethical behaviour research should be examined multi-dimensionally.

Data were collected by resorting to a mixed methods approach. First, individual interviews were performed with 31 bank consumers from six main commercial banks in Bukavu city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Interview notes were submitted for content analysis to identify items and components that underpin the unethical practices construct. Second, a quantitative survey was conducted with 410 consumers from the same six banks. An aggregated-disaggregated structural equations modelling approach was used to test the impact of unethical practices on relationship outcomes through two studies. Study 1 tested a model that links unethical behaviour as a one-dimensional construct to trust and satisfaction. Study 2 tested a model that directly connects the four specific unethical behaviour components to both trust and satisfaction.

Results from study 1 reveal that perceived unethical behaviour negatively influences consumer trust. Results also confirm that trust positively influences customer satisfaction. Results from study 2 confirm that unresponsive, disrespect and lying behaviours negatively influence both trust and satisfaction. Banks which are involving in those specific unethical behaviours can neither satisfy their consumers, nor maintain a sustainable and profitable relationship with them. Therefore, unethical behaviours harm the relationships outcomes in the banking sector.

The perceived unethical behaviour scale derives from a single data set and its reliability and validity need to be improved. Relationships between constructs are tested in a more direct way and ignore moderating variables. Perceived unethical behaviour is connected to relationship outcome variables while its impact on firms’ metrics have been ignored.

Banks have to understand customers’ perception of unethical behaviours and find a way to overcome them. Banks should recruit, motivate and retain employees who demonstrate an ethical inclination in the service encounter and create structures and mechanisms in order to monitor and manage unethical practices.

Banks employees' unethical behaviour and practices not only damage the trust and reputation of banks but also can lead to frustration on the part of customers and damage their relationship with the institution. Our paper is a warning of this danger and might improve the social interactions between organisations (in general) and customers.

Unethical behaviour is measured with a four-component scale in contrast to previous studies that have used bi-dimensional or one-dimensional scales. The study tests a disaggregated model that links four components of perceived unethical behaviour to relationship outcome variables. Perceived unethical behaviours are analysed from the customers’ perspective by resorting to mixed methods strategy.

Examining individual tolerance for unethical consumer behavior provides a key insight to how people behave as consumers worldwide. In this study, consumer reactions to 11 unethical consumer behavior scenarios are investigated using sample data from Austria, Brunei, France, Hong Kong, the UK, and the USA. Nationality is found to be a significant predictor of how consumers view various questionable behaviors. Gender is not a significant predictor, while age and religious affiliation are found to be significant predictors of consumer ethical perceptions. The study identifies distinct consumer clusters based on their perceptions of consumer unethical behavior. Implications of the findings are discussed and future research directions are provided.

This study examines the differential influence of religiosity, materialism and guilt on consumer ethical judgment. It further investigates how the influence may differ across two religiosity dimensions (intrinsic and extrinsic) and two types of unethical behaviour (active and passive).

A quasi-experimental approach assigned Pakistani university students randomly to two groups. One group (n=144) answered a survey regarding an active unethical behaviour (changing price tag), while the other (n=123) answered a similar survey but regarding a passive unethical behaviour (given and pocketing surplus change). This paper used projective technique to help reduce respondents' sensitiveness to the two scenarios. The data was methodologically analysed and fitted using structural equation modelling.

Religiosity does not influence ethical judgment directly, but is mediated by guilt. As expected, materialism negatively determines ethical judgment, and the influence is stronger with active than with passive unethical behaviour. Materialism influences ethical judgment more (less) than guilt does when unethical behaviour is active (passive). Religiosity stems more from intrinsic than extrinsic dimension regardless of the unethical-behaviour type.

Overall, this study highlights that the effects of religiosity on consumer ethics is not straightforward in that the relationship cannot be fully understood without accounting for the role of guilt and materialism, as well as the types of religiosity and ethical behaviour. Significant academic and managerial implications are presented.

This is an initial study on consumer ethics to consider the differential influence of religiosity, materialism and guilt across different religiosity dimensions and unethical behaviour. The context of a Muslim market is also under-researched compared to Western markets.

This research looks at the main effect of individuals’ moral philosophies, idealism and relativism, and its impact on the four dimensions of the consumer ethics beliefs – active benefit, passive benefit, no harm and doing good. The moderating impact of two dominant personalities – Machiavellianism and narcissism – was also analyzed. Based on Hunt–Vitell theory of ethics, this study aims to propose that there is a positive and significant impact of more relativistic and less idealistic moral philosophies on the decreased consumer ethical perceptions and that the narcissistic/Machiavellian personality traits drive that effect.

A total of 497 survey respondents were recruited via an online platform. All respondents were asked to answer questions, which were divided into four major parts. The first part consisted of scales related to both moral philosophies, the second part had both dark personality scales, the third part questioned about their consumer ethical beliefs and the final part was related to consumer demographics.

Relativists had higher scores in three consumer unethical belief dimensions. Idealists were not supportive of the active and passive illegal activities, as did their positive relation with doing good aspect of the ethical beliefs. Machiavellians strengthen the positive relativism relationship. The idealistic relation of narcissists, compared to relativistic relation, is stronger on unethical decision-making for consumers.

This study contributes to the current knowledge of individual’s moral philosophies and their impact on consumer ethical beliefs. It further demonstrates how the dark personalities of narcissism and Machiavellianism drive the relationship.