When and how does corporate hypocrisy trigger vindictive customer behaviors? The moderating role of self-construal

초록

Although past research has unpacked various detrimental consequences of corporate hypocrisy, scant research has directly investigated a psychological mechanism underlying the negative impact of corporate hypocrisy on customers’revengeful behavior. Focusing on psychological drivers, the current research investigates when and how corporate hypocrisy triggers vindictive customer behaviors. Using a two-wave survey of 356 customers of South Korean banks, this research not only tests the mediating role of customer cynicism in the relationship between corporate hypocrisy and vindictive customer behaviors (i.e., desire for revenge and aggressive behavior) but also explores how individuals’ self-construal moderates the proposed mediation effect. Drawing on self-construal theory, this research further suggests that customers with interdependent (vs. independent) self-construal exhibit higher (vs. lower) levels of cynical attitudes toward hypocritical firms, which leads to stronger (vs. weaker) vindictive customer behaviors. The present study highlights that brand managers should seamlessly communicate with customers to resolve inconsistencies in a firm’s behavior through various marketing communication channels. In addition, this study shows that detecting customer cynicism emanating from hypocrisy perceptions should be a primary job for brand managers dealing with vindictive customer behaviors.