Corporate Social ‘Irresponsibility’: Are Consumers’ Biases in Attribution of Blame Helping Companies in Product–Harm Crises Involving Hybrid Products?

Carvalho, Sergio W.; Muralidharan, Etayankara; Bapuji, Hari

doi:10.1007/s10551-014-2258-9

Cited by 57 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…While most academic research takes months and years to conduct and communicate, the time from our initial engagement with this issue to the publication of our first report was only three weeks. Finally, this experience also shows that to achieve a pluralistic impact, scholars may have to write different pieces for different audiences (e.g., academic papers in top-tier journals (Carvalho, Muralidharan & Bapuji, 2015;Hora, Bapuji & Roth, 2011), managerial articles (Bapuji & Beamish, 2008c), policy focused papers (Bapuji & Morris, 2011), teaching cases (Bapuji & Beamish, 2008a;2008b), and op-eds) and also use other modes to communicate the findings (e.g., media interviews, presentations to and discussions with stakeholders, and making videos).…”

Section: Conducting Impactful Ib Scholarshipmentioning

confidence: 93%

Impacting practice through IB scholarship: Toy recalls and the product safety crisis

Bapuji

Beamish

2019

J Int Bus Stud

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IB research has made significant contributions in understanding MNEs, yet examples of scholarship that have had a demonstrable impact on practice and policy are rare. This article presents research we conducted in the wake of the 2007 global product safety crisis as one such example. We reflect on it to suggest that IB research can enhance its impact by focusing attention on issues that affect both MNEs and societies, and by using available data to arrive at even basic explanations and solutions to inform practice and prompt further academic research.

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Section: Conducting Impactful Ib Scholarshipmentioning

confidence: 93%

Impacting practice through IB scholarship: Toy recalls and the product safety crisis

Bapuji

Beamish

2019

J Int Bus Stud

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“…Then, following Baum and Ingram, 1998;Haunschild and Sullivan, 2002) ------Please insert table 4 about here------Second, we controlled for country of manufacturing as majority of the toys sold in the US are imported from developing economies (Bapuji, 2011). While country of origin has been shown to influence consumer attributions of blame in product recall situations (Carvalho et al, 2015), extant research specifically suggests that import country of origin influences recall timing decisions (Majid and Bapuji, 2018;Muralidharan et al, 2015). Muralidharan et al (2015) characterized institutional unfavorability of the import country and predicted timing decisions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The more I err, the less I pay

Muralidharan

Bapuji

Hora

2019

EJM

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Purpose-This study investigates the effect of firm characteristics and product-harm crisis characteristics on remedies offered to consumers by firms in the event of a product recall crisis. Design/methodology/approach-Published data on 868 product recalls in the U.S toy industry from 1988 to 2011 has been used to investigate the effects of firm experience in product recalls, type of firm (company versus intermediary, i.e. distributor/retailer) and product recall severity in predicting remedies offered to consumers in the event of a product recall. Findings-The findings show that firm recall experience, firm type (company vs. intermediary), and recall severity are negatively associated with recall remedies offered. Specifically, firms offer lower remedies if they have higher recall experience, if they are more upstream companies in the supply chain (farther from consumers), and the recall is more severe. Research limitations/implications-This study focuses on the toy industry and does not consider product complexity, firm reputation, and the role of external regulatory agencies in the prediction of remedies offered by firms. Future research may extend this study to other industries (such as automobiles and food) and factor the influence of product complexity, reputation, and the role of stakeholder pressures in remedial decision making by firms. Practical implication-Offering a high remedy to consumers of a recalled product may be a responsible decision by a firm, but it may also attract stakeholder wrath. The study has implications in managing multiple goals in product recall crisis management. Originality/value-Studies focused on issues of interest to consumers during a recall crisis, such as swift recalls and appropriate remedies, are limited. This study contributes to the understanding of the antecedents of recall remedies.

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“…Most attribution research focuses on self-or other-blame (Cowley 2005;Heidenreich et al 2015;Hess et al 2003), but only a limited number of studies has examined the attribution of blame among multiple third parties (such as in our present multi-brand context of branded outsourcing). Perhaps the most relevant paper is the recent work by Carvalho et al (2015), who find that consumers hold an attribution bias in favor of the brand company and against the (less visible) manufacturer of hybrid products in product harm crises. Based on their findings, it may be expected that branded outsourcing of the management of a particular customer touchpoint may lead to a shift of blame (or positive) attribution from the focal brand to the (more visible) third party.…”

Section: Causal Attributions In the Case Of Branded Outsourcingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Outsourcing the pain, keeping the pleasure: effects of outsourced touchpoints in the customer journey

Kranzbühler

Kleijnen

Verlegh

2018

J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci.

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Firms struggle to manage touchpoints in their customer journey that consumers perceive as dissatisfying. Based on attribution theory and associative learning we examine branded outsourcing as a strategic means to reduce such touchpoints' negative impact on brand evaluations. We find in the field and in a series of experimental studies that brands can reduce the detrimental impact of dissatisfying touchpoints. This effect is reversed for satisfying touchpoints. Importantly, we find that the explanation for the effect of branded outsourcing goes beyond consumers' responsibility attributions. Rather, we find evidence that branded outsourcing reduces the extent to which consumers mentally associate the focal brand with the outsourced touchpoint, which results in a shift in brand evaluations. In an additional study we show that a strong thirdparty brand is not always more beneficial than a weak third-party brand, which further enhances the managerial relevance of our findings.

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Corporate Social ‘Irresponsibility’: Are Consumers’ Biases in Attribution of Blame Helping Companies in Product–Harm Crises Involving Hybrid Products?

Cited by 57 publications

References 56 publications

Impacting practice through IB scholarship: Toy recalls and the product safety crisis

Impacting practice through IB scholarship: Toy recalls and the product safety crisis

The more I err, the less I pay

Outsourcing the pain, keeping the pleasure: effects of outsourced touchpoints in the customer journey

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