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The Role of Individual- and Contextual-Level Social Capital in Product Boycotting: A Multilevel Analysis

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  • Grzegorz Zasuwa

    (Department of Economics and Management, Faculty of Social Sciences, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland)

Abstract

Product boycotts represent an important form of sustainable consumption, as withholding purchasing can restrain firms from damaging the natural environment or breaking social rules. However, our understanding of consumer participation in these protests is limited. Most previous studies have focused on the psychological and economic determinants of product boycotting. Drawing on social capital literature, this study builds a framework that explains how individual- and contextual-level social capital affects consumer participation in boycotts of products. A multilevel logistic regression analysis of 29 country representative samples derived from the European Social Survey (N = 54221) shows that at the individual level product boycotting is associated with a person’s social ties, whereas at the country level, generalized trust and social networks positively affect consumer decisions to take part in these protests. These results suggest that to better understand differences among countries in consumer activism, it is necessary to consider the role of social capital as an important predictor of product boycotting.

Suggested Citation

  • Grzegorz Zasuwa, 2019. "The Role of Individual- and Contextual-Level Social Capital in Product Boycotting: A Multilevel Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-16, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:4:p:949-:d:205393
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    Cited by:

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    2. Neureiter, Michael & Bhattacharya, C.B., 2021. "Why do boycotts sometimes increase sales? Consumer activism in the age of political polarization," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 64(5), pages 611-620.
    3. Abbasi, Kaleemullah & Alam, Ashraful & Du, Min (Anna) & Huynh, Toan Luu Duc, 2021. "FinTech, SME efficiency and national culture: Evidence from OECD countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    4. Grzegorz Zasuwa & Agnieszka Marek & Grzegorz Wesolowski & Joanna Niewiadoma, 2020. "Consumer Activism in Times of Economic Crisis and Recovery: A Cross-Country aAnalysis of the Role of Social Capital in Boycotting Products," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 2), pages 928-938.

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