Investigating the Different Roles of the Factors Affecting Ethically
4.2 Literature Review
4.2.1 Consumer Ethically Questionable Behaviour
Consumer ethics has greatly advanced in recent years (Vitell2015) therefore there is a need for an understanding of why and in which context some consumers engage in ethically questionable behaviour. All aspects of consumer behaviour (the acquisition, use or disposition of products) could have an ethical component (Vitell2003) and consumers may become opportunistic depending on the situation or their relationship with businesses. Although many companies make efforts to permanently apply ethi- cal principles (Dabija et al.2016), consumers might fail to act always in accordance with their moral norms in their consumption choices (Hassan et al.2013). Research in relation to ethically questionable behaviour by consumers examines a variety of ethical dilemmas. In terms of measuring, Muncy and Vitell (1992) created and later updated (Vitell and Muncy2005) the Consumer Ethics Scale, a reliable instrument that has been adapted by the present study as well. This scale offers a useful typology of ethically questionable behaviour, from which this study decided to focus on the most prevalent behaviours—digital privacy and shoplifting. Within the consumer ethics research, Sudbury-Riley and Kohlbacher (2016) have recently developed a new research instrument called the Ethically Minded Consumer Behaviour (EMCB) scale that offers researchers a valid instrument for measuring a variety of consump- tion choices pertaining environmental issues and corporate social responsibility.
The current study could be considered a complex investigation because it com- bines an attempt to identify the determinants of ethically questionable behaviour with the different roles of these factors within the consumer decision-making process.
4.2.2 Theory Development and Hypotheses
The present study builds on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB, Ajzen1991), but also incorporates the possible impact of perceived unfairness in relation to eth- ically questionable behaviour to examine the extent to which consumers are moti- vated ‘to redress an unfair imbalance between consumers and suppliers’ (Fukukawa and Ennew2010: 52). TPB, consisting of attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control, remains one of the most significant attitude-behaviour theories due to its improved levels of prediction (Fukukawa2002).
The influence of attitude on ethically questionable behaviour proved to be extremely varied in previous studies. When exploring software piracy, for exam- ple, Phau and Ng (2010) found that favourable attitude is likely to result in stronger intention to behave unethically. Accordingly, attitudes were the main influence on shoplifting intentions (Tonglet2001). Instead, when investigating a range of ethically questionable behaviours, Fukukawa and Ennew (2010) emphasized that attitudes are less significant in predicting intention to adopt such behaviours than other situational
factors. Based on these arguments, the present study suggests that attitude will be more favourable when consumers perceive significant benefits from the behaviour and less serious consequences. Thus,
H1 Attitude toward performing an ethically questionable behaviour will be posi- tively related to the consumer’s behavioural intention.
Social influence is an important determinant to consider in consumer ethics studies, because pressure from referent groups could challenge consumers to make certain choices in terms of a negative behaviour. For example, an individual may be using pirated software, but his/her friends or family may be using the licensed version, which they perceive to be ethical and legal as well (Phau and Ng2010). To comply with the social norms, the individual could be tempted to conform to others behaviour.
Therefore, when investigating piracy, Aleassa et al. (2011) found that the impact of perceived subjective norms on intention to pirate software was twice as great as that of attitude toward such a behaviour. In addition to previous findings about the crucial impact of others on consumer behaviour, Cherrier and Murray (2007: 22) emphasized
‘the impermanence of such influence’. Thus, the current study expects that:
H2 Social norm associated with performing an ethically questionable behaviour is positively related to consumers’ behavioural intention.
Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC) refers to the perception of the ease or difficulty of adopting a specific behaviour (Fukukawa and Ennew2010), either in terms of the consumer’s skills or the necessary resources to practice the behaviour. Yoon (2011) found PBC to be an influential factor in pirating digital materials. In the context of shoplifting, Tonglet (2001: 351) highlighted the importance of the consumer’s
‘perceptions of opportunity, low apprehension risks and ineffective security’ when it comes to a wrong behaviour. In this case, when consumers consider that a specific behaviour is easy to be performed because they can control it, they are more likely to engage in that behaviour. Therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed:
H3 Perceived behavioural control is positively related to consumers’ intention con- cerning ethically questionable behaviour in consumption.
However, in many cases, there are other situational factors that influence the con- sumer’s intention to adopt a questionable behaviour. Fukukawa and Ennew (2010) research shows how attitudes and situational factors such as perceived unfairness influence intention to engage in the ethically questionable behaviour. The perception of unfairness is very useful to the current study, helping to identify the relationship quality between consumers and companies. For example, the perceptions of price unfairness (Bechwati et al.2009) could influence shopping intentions. Moreover, when consumers feel they are treated unfairly in an exchange relationship, they are willing to respond in kind, with various negative actions (Fukukawa et al.2007).
Therefore, this research proposes that:
H4 The perception of unfairness in relation to business is positively related to con- sumers’ intention concerning ethically questionable behaviour in consumption.
4.2.3 Research Methodology
4.2.3.1 Data Collection and Sample
A non-probability sampling technique was used for this research. The method was quota sampling based on two relevant characteristics: age and gender. The question- naire was delivered to residents in Cluj-Napoca, the second largest city in Romania after its capital. The research used a self-administered questionnaire and respon- dents had no obligation to mention their identity, a fact that assured anonymity of the responses. A total of 413 (62.19%) valid and complete responses out of 675 were obtained over a period of 4 weeks. The SEM (Structural Equation Modelling) approach (with AMOS 20.0) was used to test the proposed hypotheses.
4.2.3.2 Measurements
The measurements for attitude, social norm, perceived behavioural control, perceived unfairness and intention concerning ethically questionable behaviour were adapted from the study of Fukukawa and Ennew (2010). The study used a seven-point scale to indicate the respondents’ agreement or disagreement with the research items.
4.2.3.3 Findings
In accordance with Global Software Survey (2016), the high rate of software piracy for Romania (60%) justifies the analysis of this behaviour in comparison with another prevalent type such as shoplifting (Global Retail Theft Barometer2014–2015).
Concerning Romanian consumers ethically questionable behaviour, attitude was found to be the strongest antecedent of intention, no matter what type of behaviour has been considered. This result supported H1, in accordance with previous studies (Phau and Ng2010). At the same time, social norm seems to be an insignificant factor in this research in terms of the influence upon ethically questionable behaviour, therefore H2 was not supported, being similar with the results of Cronan and Al-Rafee’s (2008).
Taking separately,perceived behavioural controlandperceived unfairnessare related differently to consumers’ intention concerning ethically questionable behaviour in consumption. Digital piracy is perceived as being acceptable by many Romanian consumers, which adopt it without any reservation, omitting some ethical issues that may arise. Thus, in accordance with the study of Aleassa et al. (2011), this research indicates thatperceived behavioural controlwas found to have a great impact on intention to pirate, suggesting that the less difficult consumers believe an action to be, the more they will try to adopt that behaviour (see Table4.1). In this case, H3 is supported, consumers feeling motivated to adopt such behaviour because they are able to control it and the risk is perceived to be minimum. In this way, consumers get over ethical considerations, moral standards or laws against piracy and find nothing
Table 4.1 Digital piracy Causal relations Dependent variable
Independent variable
Standardized regression coefficients
P
INTENTION <— ATTITUDE 0.528 ***
<— CONTROL 0.351 ***
<— UNFAIRNESS 0.004 0.961
p < 0.05*; p < 0.01**; p < 0.001***
Source(created by the authors)
Table 4.2 Shoplifting Causal relations Dependent variable
Independent variable
Standardized regression coefficients
P
INTENTION <— ATTITUDE 0.400 ***
<— CONTROL −0.149 0.053
<— UNFAIRNESS 0.317 ***
p < 0.05*; p < 0.01**; p < 0.001***
Source(created by the authors)
wrong in downloading movies or music from Internet, even more considering it an unethical behaviour (Cockrill and Goode2012; Robertson et al.2012).
Instead, shoplifting is perceived as less acceptable, where the consumer actively benefits from an illegal activity. Interestingly, perceived behavioural controldoes not influence consumer shoplifting intention (H3 was not supported), butperceived unfairnesshas a strong impact on the intention to engage in a fraudulent behaviour, a result that supported H4. This finding is in line with previous research (Fukukawa et al. 2007: 193) where ‘consumers are willing or prepared to engage in norm- breaking behaviour as consequences of a perceived unfair relationship with firms’
(Table4.2).