IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeeman/v63y2012i3p404-418.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A signaling theory of consumer boycotts

Author

Listed:
  • Heijnen, Pim
  • van der Made, Allard

Abstract

We present a theory that explains the prevalence of consumer boycotts. In our model, a firm does not know how concerned consumers are about the firm's misconduct. Because it is only optimal for the firm to alter its behavior if consumers are very concerned, consumers have an incentive to overstate their concern by boycotting the firm. We show that free-riding problems do not preclude such boycotting. In fact, in each equilibrium boycotting occurs with positive probability and the firm always caters to the demands of those who boycott should boycotting ensue.

Suggested Citation

  • Heijnen, Pim & van der Made, Allard, 2012. "A signaling theory of consumer boycotts," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 404-418.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:63:y:2012:i:3:p:404-418
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2012.01.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095069612000149
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jeem.2012.01.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David P. Baron, 2003. "Private Politics," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(1), pages 31-66, March.
    2. David P. Baron, 2001. "Private Politics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Integrated Strategy," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 7-45, March.
    3. Grossman, Sanford J. & Perry, Motty, 1986. "Perfect sequential equilibrium," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 97-119, June.
    4. Drew Fudenberg & Jean Tirole, 1991. "Game Theory," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262061414, April.
    5. Alesina, Alberto & Drazen, Allan, 1991. "Why Are Stabilizations Delayed?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(5), pages 1170-1188, December.
    6. Ragnar E. Löfstedt & Ortwin Renn, 1997. "The Brent Spar Controversy: An Example of Risk Communication Gone Wrong," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), pages 131-136, April.
    7. In-Koo Cho & David M. Kreps, 1987. "Signaling Games and Stable Equilibria," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 102(2), pages 179-221.
    8. Palfrey, Thomas R. & Rosenthal, Howard, 1984. "Participation and the provision of discrete public goods: a strategic analysis," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 171-193, July.
    9. Robert Innes, 2006. "A Theory of Consumer Boycotts under Symmetric Information and Imperfect Competition," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(511), pages 355-381, April.
    10. von der Fehr, Nils-Henrik Morch, 1992. "How entry threats induce slack," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 231-249, June.
    11. John Sutton, 1997. "One Smart Agent," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 28(4), pages 605-628, Winter.
    12. David P. Baron & Daniel Diermeier, 2007. "Strategic Activism and Nonmarket Strategy," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(3), pages 599-634, September.
    13. Anat R. Admati & Motty Perry, 1987. "Strategic Delay in Bargaining," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 54(3), pages 345-364.
    14. Pim Heijnen & Lambert Schoonbeek, 2008. "Environmental groups in monopolistic markets," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 39(4), pages 379-396, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Werner Bönte & Christian Dienes, 2013. "Environmental Innovations and Strategies for the Development of New Production Technologies: Empirical Evidence from Europe," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(8), pages 501-516, December.
    2. Yi Zheng, 2020. "Non-organized boycott: alliance advantage and free riding incentives in uneven wars of attrition," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(1), pages 123-141, March.
    3. Peck, James, 2017. "Temporary boycotts as self-fulfilling disruptions of markets," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 1-12.
    4. Omar Al Serhan & Elias Boukrami, 2015. "Mapping studies on consumer boycotting in international marketing," Transnational Marketing Journal, Oxbridge Publishing House, UK, vol. 3(2), pages 130-151, October.
    5. Bin Liu & Tao Li & Sang-Bing Tsai, 2017. "Low Carbon Strategy Analysis of Competing Supply Chains with Different Power Structures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-21, May.
    6. Wirl, Franz & Feichtinger, Gustav & Kort, Peter M., 2013. "Individual firm and market dynamics of CSR activities," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 169-182.
    7. Burani, Nadia & Mantovani, Andrea, 2020. "Non-linear pricing and conscious consumption," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Baron, David P., 2011. "Credence attributes, voluntary organizations, and social pressure," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(11), pages 1331-1338.
    2. Pamina Koenig & Sebastian Krautheim & Claudius Löhnert & Thierry Verdier & Thierry Verdier, 2021. "Local Global Watchdogs: Trade, Sourcing and the Internationalization of Social Activism," CESifo Working Paper Series 9068, CESifo.
    3. Krautheim, Sebastian & Verdier, Thierry, 2016. "Offshoring with endogenous NGO activism," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 22-41.
    4. Georgy Egorov & Bård Harstad, 2017. "Private Politics and Public Regulation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 84(4), pages 1652-1682.
    5. Löhnert, Claudius, 2022. "Firms under pressure: International trade and social activism," Passauer Diskussionspapiere, Volkswirtschaftliche Reihe V-87-22, University of Passau, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    6. Elias Asproudis, 2011. "Revisiting environmental groups and members’ behaviour: budget, size and (im)pure altruism," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 13(2), pages 139-156, June.
    7. Löhnert, Claudius, 2022. "Plausible deniability: Integration vs. outsourcing with heterogeneous firms and unethical suppliers," Passauer Diskussionspapiere, Volkswirtschaftliche Reihe V-88-22, University of Passau, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    8. Julien Daubanes & Jean-Charles Rochet, 2019. "The Rise of NGO Activism," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 183-212, November.
    9. Richard Chisik, 2015. "Job market signalling, stereotype threat and counter‐stereotypical behaviour," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(1), pages 155-188, February.
    10. Patrice Cassagnard & Tendai Espinosa, 2022. "From boycott to buycott: is activism from the North good for the South?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 158(4), pages 1107-1135, November.
    11. Aldashev, Gani & Limardi, Michela & Verdier, Thierry, 2015. "Watchdogs of the Invisible Hand: NGO monitoring and industry equilibrium," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 28-42.
    12. Thomas P. Lyon & John W. Maxwell, 2011. "Greenwash: Corporate Environmental Disclosure under Threat of Audit," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 3-41, March.
    13. Sophie Hatte & Pamina Koenig, 2020. "The Geography of NGO Activism against Multinational Corporations," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 34(1), pages 143-163.
    14. Rodolphe Durand & Robert M. Grant & Tammy L. Madsen & Sinziana Dorobantu & Aseem Kaul & Bennet Zelner, 2017. "Nonmarket strategy research through the lens of new institutional economics: An integrative review and future directions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 114-140, January.
    15. Tomer Blumkin & Yoram Margalioth & Adi Sharoni, 2014. "The Signaling Role of Corporate Social Responsibility," CESifo Working Paper Series 4962, CESifo.
    16. Eso, Peter & Schummer, James, 2004. "Bribing and signaling in second price auctions," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 299-324, May.
    17. Kotchen Matthew & Moon Jon J., 2012. "Corporate Social Responsibility for Irresponsibility," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-23, November.
    18. Peck, James, 2017. "Temporary boycotts as self-fulfilling disruptions of markets," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 1-12.
    19. Yao, Zhiyong, 2012. "Bargaining over incentive contracts," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 98-106.
    20. Philipp Herkenhoff & Sebastian Krautheim, 2018. "The International Organization of Production in the Regulatory Void," CESifo Working Paper Series 6922, CESifo.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:63:y:2012:i:3:p:404-418. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622870 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.