RT Article
T1 Does Consumer Unethical Behavior Relate to Birthplace? Evidence from China
JF Journal of business ethics
VO 113
IS 3
SP 475
OP 488
A1 Zhao, BaoChun
A1 Xu, ShanShan
LA English
PB Springer Science + Business Media B. V
YR 2013
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1785647164
AB This study explores the relationship between individual birthplace [rural birthplace (RB) and urban birthplace (UB)] and consumer unethical behavior (CUB). As a result, CUB is verified to closely relate to individual birthplace, and those new urban residents with RB are found to behave more ethically than the patrimonial urban residents with UB in CUB4 (“no harm/no foul”). This study also finds that the differentiation of CUB between two categories of consumers is correlated with the personal moral ideology or Machiavellianism (MA) functioning with varying degree, which idealism ideology is a main variable impacting on the unethical behaviors of the members born in the rural subculture while MA for those in the urban one. Additionally, the “no harm/no foul” (CUB4) and the “actively benefiting from a questionable action” (CUB3) in the list of CUBs are found to be more efficient in discriminating the two groups than the other two kinds, the “passively benefiting at the expense of others” (CUB2) and the “actively benefiting from an illegal activity” (CUB1). The results shed light on the roles of individual birthplace in influencing CUB and contribute to a better understanding on the effects of subculture on CUB.
K1 Urban–rural dual market of China
K1 Subculture
K1 Ethical differentiation
K1 Consumer unethical behaviors
K1 Consumer ethics
K1 Birthplace
DO 10.1007/s10551-012-1317-3