Consumer Motivations For Boycott Participation: a Field Study

ABSTRACT - While boycotts are increasingly relevant for management decision-making, there has been little research of an individual’s motivation to boycott. We present a study of an actual boycott in which we examined motivations for participation. Consistent with our hypotheses, moderators of the relationship between perceived egregiousness of the firm’s act and boycotting were four sets of variables, reflecting: the desire to promote change, the scope for self-enhancement, rationalizations that inhibit boycotting, and costs to the boycotter of participation.

Citation:

Jill G. Klein, N. Craig Smith, and Andrew John (2003) ,"Consumer Motivations For Boycott Participation: a Field Study", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 6, eds. Darach Turley and Stephen Brown, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 359.

European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 6, 2003      Page 359

CONSUMER MOTIVATIONS FOR BOYCOTT PARTICIPATION: A FIELD STUDY

Jill G. Klein, INSEAD, France

N. Craig Smith, London Business School, UK

Andrew John, AJK Executive Consulting, INSEAD, France

ABSTRACT -

While boycotts are increasingly relevant for management decision-making, there has been little research of an individual’s motivation to boycott. We present a study of an actual boycott in which we examined motivations for participation. Consistent with our hypotheses, moderators of the relationship between perceived egregiousness of the firm’s act and boycotting were four sets of variables, reflecting: the desire to promote change, the scope for self-enhancement, rationalizations that inhibit boycotting, and costs to the boycotter of participation.

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