Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 268-282 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Psychology and Marketing |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Publication status | Published - 3 Mar 2018 |
Abstract
In almost every product category, companies have incorporated the emergence of ethical and environmental consumerism into their business activities. Although ethical consumers are supposed to be concerned with a broad spectrum of ethical issues and demand that products and business practices meet their moral principles, a critical perspective supports the assumption that a dark side of consumer personality also exists. Consequently, the role of consumers has become a top priority, especially in the specific ascription of bright and dark personality traits when evaluating cruel business practices and unethical behavior. The paper aims to investigate whether anthropomorphic communication about cruel business tactics affects the formation of explicit and implicit brand attitudes and to shed light on the role of consumers’ personality traits in perceiving anthropomorphic cues and in forming brand attitudes. Referencing the Dark Triad of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy in relation to animal cruelty in the cosmetics industry, the results of an empirical study (N = 610) provide evidence that perceptions of brands or companies conducting cruel practices differ between consumers with more distinct Dark Triad traits and those with stronger empathetic traits.
Keywords
- animal testing, anthropomorphism, cosmetics industry, Dark Triad, empathy, explicit and implicit attitudes, IAT
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychology(all)
- Applied Psychology
- Business, Management and Accounting(all)
- Marketing
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In: Psychology and Marketing, Vol. 35, No. 4, 03.03.2018, p. 268-282.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - When pain is pleasure
T2 - Identifying consumer psychopaths
AU - Karampournioti, Evmorfia
AU - Hennigs, Nadine
AU - Wiedmann, Klaus Peter
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Copyright: Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/3/3
Y1 - 2018/3/3
N2 - In almost every product category, companies have incorporated the emergence of ethical and environmental consumerism into their business activities. Although ethical consumers are supposed to be concerned with a broad spectrum of ethical issues and demand that products and business practices meet their moral principles, a critical perspective supports the assumption that a dark side of consumer personality also exists. Consequently, the role of consumers has become a top priority, especially in the specific ascription of bright and dark personality traits when evaluating cruel business practices and unethical behavior. The paper aims to investigate whether anthropomorphic communication about cruel business tactics affects the formation of explicit and implicit brand attitudes and to shed light on the role of consumers’ personality traits in perceiving anthropomorphic cues and in forming brand attitudes. Referencing the Dark Triad of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy in relation to animal cruelty in the cosmetics industry, the results of an empirical study (N = 610) provide evidence that perceptions of brands or companies conducting cruel practices differ between consumers with more distinct Dark Triad traits and those with stronger empathetic traits.
AB - In almost every product category, companies have incorporated the emergence of ethical and environmental consumerism into their business activities. Although ethical consumers are supposed to be concerned with a broad spectrum of ethical issues and demand that products and business practices meet their moral principles, a critical perspective supports the assumption that a dark side of consumer personality also exists. Consequently, the role of consumers has become a top priority, especially in the specific ascription of bright and dark personality traits when evaluating cruel business practices and unethical behavior. The paper aims to investigate whether anthropomorphic communication about cruel business tactics affects the formation of explicit and implicit brand attitudes and to shed light on the role of consumers’ personality traits in perceiving anthropomorphic cues and in forming brand attitudes. Referencing the Dark Triad of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy in relation to animal cruelty in the cosmetics industry, the results of an empirical study (N = 610) provide evidence that perceptions of brands or companies conducting cruel practices differ between consumers with more distinct Dark Triad traits and those with stronger empathetic traits.
KW - animal testing
KW - anthropomorphism
KW - cosmetics industry
KW - Dark Triad
KW - empathy
KW - explicit and implicit attitudes
KW - IAT
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85042732128&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/mar.21085
DO - 10.1002/mar.21085
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85042732128
VL - 35
SP - 268
EP - 282
JO - Psychology and Marketing
JF - Psychology and Marketing
SN - 0742-6046
IS - 4
ER -