Sustainability and Social Responsibility

What to Say and What to Do: Determinants of Corporate Hypocrisy and Its Negative Consequence for Customer Retention Intentions

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Abstract

When a firm claims to be something that it is not, consumers will perceive the firm to be hypocritical, which often leads to negative attitudes and beliefs toward the firm and its activities (Wagner, Lutz, & Weitz, 2009). In this light, researchers have argued that a firm’s misalignment between its stated sustainability goals and what it actually does to achieve these goals creates perceptions of corporate hypocrisy among consumers (Goswami &Ha-Brookshire, 2016). However, it remains uncertain whether or not this relationship is always true across all types of sustainability-related claims and activities. To fill this gap in the research, our study aimed to empirically locate the determinants of perceived corporate hypocrisy by manipulating corporate mission statements (i.e., saying) and corporate activities (i.e., doing) in the experimental design, and test the role of perceived corporate hypocrisy on consumer distrust and retention intentions such as switching and resilience (Bhattacharya & Sen, 2003).

How to Cite:

Jung, S., Bhaduri, G. & Ha-Brookshire, J. E., (2019) “What to Say and What to Do: Determinants of Corporate Hypocrisy and Its Negative Consequence for Customer Retention Intentions”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 76(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.9463