TY - JOUR
T1 - The Developmental Process of Unethical Consumer Behavior
T2 - An Investigation Grounded in China
AU - Liu, Zhiqiang
AU - Yang, Zhilin
AU - Zeng, Fue
AU - Waller, David
PY - 2015/5
Y1 - 2015/5
N2 - This study seeks to understand how consumers make unethical decisions and how unethical consumer behavior (UCB) is formed in a relational society. By taking a relational interactive perspective and adopting a grounded theory approach, we have developed a theoretical framework for examining UCB's developmental process in a relational society. The framework reveals 4 levels (i.e., the socio-cultural, individual psychological, situational, and individual behavioral levels) and 12 paths of UCB formation. Importantly, this study finds that UCB in a relational society is influenced by guanxi-oriented social culture so deeply that it cannot be considered the result of a purely individual behavior choice.
AB - This study seeks to understand how consumers make unethical decisions and how unethical consumer behavior (UCB) is formed in a relational society. By taking a relational interactive perspective and adopting a grounded theory approach, we have developed a theoretical framework for examining UCB's developmental process in a relational society. The framework reveals 4 levels (i.e., the socio-cultural, individual psychological, situational, and individual behavioral levels) and 12 paths of UCB formation. Importantly, this study finds that UCB in a relational society is influenced by guanxi-oriented social culture so deeply that it cannot be considered the result of a purely individual behavior choice.
KW - Unethical consumer behavior
KW - Relational interaction
KW - Consumer ethics
KW - Guanxi
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84895776864&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/pubmetrics.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84895776864&origin=recordpage
U2 - 10.1007/s10551-014-2061-7
DO - 10.1007/s10551-014-2061-7
M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal
SN - 0167-4544
VL - 128
SP - 411
EP - 432
JO - Journal of Business Ethics
JF - Journal of Business Ethics
IS - 2
ER -