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The Developmental Process of Unethical Consumer Behavior: An Investigation Grounded in China

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Abstract

This study seeks to understand how consumers make unethical decisions and how unethical consumer behavior (UCB) is formed in a relational society. By taking a relational interactive perspective and adopting a grounded theory approach, we have developed a theoretical framework for examining UCB’s developmental process in a relational society. The framework reveals 4 levels (i.e., the socio-cultural, individual psychological, situational, and individual behavioral levels) and 12 paths of UCB formation. Importantly, this study finds that UCB in a relational society is influenced by guanxi-oriented social culture so deeply that it cannot be considered the result of a purely individual behavior choice.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge research grants from China National Natural Science Foundation (71072104, 71172215, 71272123 & 71372129), program for New Century Excellent Talents (NCET) in University supported by Ministry of Education of China (273619), and City University of Hong Kong (9680022).

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Liu, Z., Yang, Z., Zeng, F. et al. The Developmental Process of Unethical Consumer Behavior: An Investigation Grounded in China. J Bus Ethics 128, 411–432 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2061-7

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