Don’t blame the powerless: The impact of hierarchy on reactions to responses to ethical scandals

We examine consumer reactions to the blaming of higher-level (e.g., upper managers) vs. lower-level (e.g., sales associates) employees for an ethical scandal. Using a multi-methods approach involving interviews and three experiments, we find support for a series of insights: (1) consumers are biased...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business research 2023-10, Vol.165, p.114075, Article 114075
Main Authors: Palmeira, Mauricio, Hartmann, Nathaniel N., Chan, Eugene, Sekar, Samuel B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Blame attribution
Ethical scandal
Hierarchy
Power distance beliefs
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Summary:We examine consumer reactions to the blaming of higher-level (e.g., upper managers) vs. lower-level (e.g., sales associates) employees for an ethical scandal. Using a multi-methods approach involving interviews and three experiments, we find support for a series of insights: (1) consumers are biased toward attributing greater responsibility for an ethical scandal to higher-level vs. lower-level employees; (2) consumers hold more favorable attitudes regarding the company when the CEO places the blame on the higher- (vs. lower-) level employees; (3) consumers, even when parties are considered equally responsible, react more positively to a company that blames higher-level employees; (4) the effect of blaming higher-level employees is only observed among those more dispositioned to reject hierarchical differences (i.e., individuals low on power distance beliefs).
ISSN:0148-2963
1873-7978
DOI:10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114075