IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v142y2017i3d10.1007_s10551-015-2733-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Emotional Intelligence and Consumer Ethics: The Mediating Role of Personal Moral Philosophies

Author

Listed:
  • Rafi M. M. I. Chowdhury

    (Bond University)

Abstract

Research on the antecedents of consumers’ ethical beliefs has mainly examined cognitive variables and has (with a few exceptions) neglected the relationships among affective variables and consumer ethics. However, research in moral psychology indicates that moral emotions have a significant role in ethical decision-making (Haidt, Handbook of affective sciences, 2003). Thus, the ability to experience, perceive and regulate emotions should influence consumers’ ethical decision-making. These abilities, which are components of emotional intelligence (Davies et al., J Person Soc Psychol, 1998), are examined as antecedents to consumers’ ethical beliefs in this study. Five hundred Australian consumers participated in this study by completing an online questionnaire that included measures of emotional intelligence, consumers’ ethical beliefs and personal moral philosophies (idealism and relativism, Forsyth, J Person Soc Psychol, 1980). Results demonstrate that the ability to appraise and express emotions in oneself is directly negatively related to beliefs regarding actively benefiting from illegal actions as a consumer, passively benefiting at the expense of the seller and actively benefiting from questionable but legal actions as a consumer. The ability to appraise and express emotions in oneself is directly positively related to beliefs regarding ‘doing-good’ (pro-social) actions. The ability to appraise and recognise emotions in others is also directly positively related to beliefs regarding ‘doing-good’ actions as well as pro-environmental buying actions. The effects of the different components of emotional intelligence on consumers’ ethical beliefs are (in most cases) mediated by personal moral philosophies. This study demonstrates the relationship between emotional intelligence and consumer ethics and highlights the interplay of affect and cognition in consumers’ ethical decision-making.

Suggested Citation

  • Rafi M. M. I. Chowdhury, 2017. "Emotional Intelligence and Consumer Ethics: The Mediating Role of Personal Moral Philosophies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 527-548, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:142:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-015-2733-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2733-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-015-2733-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-015-2733-y?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. Weihui Fu, 2014. "The Impact of Emotional Intelligence, Organizational Commitment, and Job Satisfaction on Ethical Behavior of Chinese Employees," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(1), pages 137-144, June.
    2. Rafi Chowdhury & Mario Fernando, 2014. "The Relationships of Empathy, Moral Identity and Cynicism with Consumers’ Ethical Beliefs: The Mediating Role of Moral Disengagement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(4), pages 677-694, November.
    3. Jeffery Bray & Nick Johns & David Kilburn, 2011. "An Exploratory Study into the Factors Impeding Ethical Consumption," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 98(4), pages 597-608, February.
    4. Chieh-Peng Lin & Shwu-Chuan Chen & Chou-Kang Chiu & Wan-Yu Lee, 2011. "Understanding Purchase Intention During Product-Harm Crises: Moderating Effects of Perceived Corporate Ability and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(3), pages 455-471, September.
    5. Sarah Steenhaut & Patrick Kenhove, 2006. "The Mediating Role of Anticipated Guilt in Consumers’ Ethical Decision-Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 69(3), pages 269-288, December.
    6. Adam Lindgreen & Valérie Swaen & Wesley Johnston, 2009. "Corporate Social Responsibility: An Empirical Investigation of U.S. Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(2), pages 303-323, April.
    7. Scott J. Vitell & Robert Allen King & Jatinder Jit Singh, 2013. "A special emphasis and look at the emotional side of ethical decision-making," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 3(2), pages 74-85, June.
    8. Jacob Joseph & Kevin Berry & Satish Deshpande, 2009. "Impact of Emotional Intelligence and Other Factors on Perception of Ethical Behavior of Peers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 89(4), pages 539-546, November.
    9. Helmut Schneider & John Krieger & Azra Bayraktar, 2011. "The Impact of Intrinsic Religiosity on Consumers’ Ethical Beliefs: Does It Depend on the Type of Religion? A Comparison of Christian and Moslem Consumers in Germany and Turkey," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(2), pages 319-332, August.
    10. S. Steenhaut & P. Van Kenhove, 2006. "The Mediating Role of Anticipated Guilt in Consumers’ Ethical Decision-Making," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 06/370, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    11. Qingguo Zhai & Margaret Lindorff & Brian Cooper, 2013. "Workplace Guanxi: Its Dispositional Antecedents and Mediating Role in the Affectivity–Job Satisfaction Relationship," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(3), pages 541-551, October.
    12. Long-Chuan Lu & Chia-Ju Lu, 2010. "Moral Philosophy, Materialism, and Consumer Ethics: An Exploratory Study in Indonesia," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 94(2), pages 193-210, June.
    13. Rafi Chowdhury & Mario Fernando, 2013. "The Role of Spiritual Well-Being and Materialism in Determining Consumers’ Ethical Beliefs: An Empirical Study with Australian Consumers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 113(1), pages 61-79, March.
    14. John Angelidis & Nabil Ibrahim, 2011. "The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on the Ethical Judgment of Managers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 99(1), pages 111-119, February.
    15. Satish Deshpande & Jacob Joseph, 2009. "Impact of Emotional Intelligence, Ethical Climate, and Behavior of Peers on Ethical Behavior of Nurses," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(3), pages 403-410, March.
    16. Scott Vitell & Jatinder Singh & Joseph Paolillo, 2007. "Consumers’ Ethical Beliefs: The Roles of Money, Religiosity and Attitude toward Business," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 73(4), pages 369-379, July.
    17. Jennifer Mencl & Douglas May, 2009. "The Effects of Proximity and Empathy on Ethical Decision-Making: An Exploratory Investigation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(2), pages 201-226, March.
    18. Muncy, James A. & Vitell, Scott J., 1992. "Consumer ethics: An investigation of the ethical beliefs of the final consumer," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 297-311, June.
    19. Satish Deshpande, 2009. "A Study of Ethical Decision Making by Physicians and Nurses in Hospitals," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(3), pages 387-397, December.
    20. Abhijit Patwardhan & Megan Keith & Scott Vitell, 2012. "Religiosity, Attitude Toward Business, and Ethical Beliefs: Hispanic Consumers in the United States," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 110(1), pages 61-70, September.
    21. Robert Baron & Hao Zhao & Qing Miao, 2015. "Personal Motives, Moral Disengagement, and Unethical Decisions by Entrepreneurs: Cognitive Mechanisms on the “Slippery Slope”," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 107-118, April.
    22. A. Lindgreen & V. Swaen & W. Johnston, 2009. "Corporate social responsibility : an empirical investigation of U.S. organizations," Post-Print hal-00575825, HAL.
    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. Faiq Aziz & Ahmad Aizuddin Md Rami & Zeinab Zaremohzzabieh & Seyedali Ahrari, 2021. "Effects of Emotions and Ethics on Pro-Environmental Behavior of University Employees: A Model Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-17, June.
    2. Rafi M. M. I. Chowdhury, 2019. "The Moral Foundations of Consumer Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 585-601, September.
    3. Connie R. Bateman & Sean R. Valentine, 2021. "Consumers’ Personality Characteristics, Judgment of Salesperson Ethical Treatment, and Nature of Purchase Involvement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(2), pages 309-331, March.
    4. Toti, Jean-François & Diallo, Mbaye Fall & Huaman-Ramirez, Richard, 2021. "Ethical sensitivity in consumers’ decision-making: The mediating and moderating role of internal locus of control," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 168-182.

    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. Oylum Korkut Altuna & F. Müge Arslan & A. Ercan Gegez & Özge Sýðýrcý, 2016. "Development of a Scale on e-Consumers’ Attitudes towards Ethically Questionable Online Behaviors," Bogazici Journal, Review of Social, Economic and Administrative Studies, Bogazici University, Department of Economics, vol. 30(1), pages 99-134.
    2. Denni Arli & Felix Septianto & Rafi M. M. I. Chowdhury, 2021. "Religious But Not Ethical: The Effects of Extrinsic Religiosity, Ethnocentrism and Self-righteousness on Consumers’ Ethical Judgments," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(2), pages 295-316, June.
    3. Barbara Culiberg, 2015. "The Role of Moral Philosophies and Value Orientations in Consumer Ethics: a Post-Transitional European Country Perspective," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 211-228, September.
    4. Bock, Dora E. & Thomas, Veronica L. & Wolter, Jeremy & Mangus, Stephanie M., 2024. "Gratitude: A catalyst for encouraging consumer ethics," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    5. Elodie Gentina & L. J. Shrum & Tina M. Lowrey & Scott J. Vitell & Gregory M. Rose, 2018. "An Integrative Model of the Influence of Parental and Peer Support on Consumer Ethical Beliefs: The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem, Power, and Materialism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(4), pages 1173-1186, July.
    6. Denni Arli & Fandy Tjiptono, 2014. "The End of Religion? Examining the Role of Religiousness, Materialism, and Long-Term Orientation on Consumer Ethics in Indonesia," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(3), pages 385-400, September.
    7. Yanyan Chen & Dirk C. Moosmayer, 2020. "When Guilt is Not Enough: Interdependent Self-Construal as Moderator of the Relationship Between Guilt and Ethical Consumption in a Confucian Context," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(3), pages 551-572, January.
    8. Jatinder J. Singh & Nitika Garg & Rahul Govind & Scott J. Vitell, 2018. "Anger Strays, Fear Refrains: The Differential Effect of Negative Emotions on Consumers’ Ethical Judgments," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(1), pages 235-248, August.
    9. Henrike Andersch & Jörg Lindenmeier & Florian Liberatore & Dieter K. Tscheulin, 2018. "Resistance against corporate misconduct: an analysis of ethical ideologies’ direct and moderating effects on different forms of active rebellion," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 88(6), pages 695-730, August.
    10. Rafi M. M. I. Chowdhury, 2018. "Religiosity and Voluntary Simplicity: The Mediating Role of Spiritual Well-Being," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 149-174, September.
    11. Rafi Chowdhury & Mario Fernando, 2013. "The Role of Spiritual Well-Being and Materialism in Determining Consumers’ Ethical Beliefs: An Empirical Study with Australian Consumers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 113(1), pages 61-79, March.
    12. Hsiu-Hua Chang & Long-Chuan Lu, 2019. "Actively Persuading Consumers to Enact Ethical Behaviors in Retailing: The Influence of Relational Benefits and Corporate Associates," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(2), pages 399-416, May.
    13. Weihui Fu, 2014. "The Impact of Emotional Intelligence, Organizational Commitment, and Job Satisfaction on Ethical Behavior of Chinese Employees," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(1), pages 137-144, June.
    14. Ricky Y. K. Chan & Piyush Sharma & Abdulaziz Alqahtani & Tak Yan Leung & Ashish Malik, 2024. "Mediating Role of Cultural Values in the Impact of Ethical Ideologies on Chinese Consumers’ Ethical Judgments," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 191(4), pages 865-884, May.
    15. Chun-Chen Huang & Long-Chuan Lu, 2017. "Examining the Roles of Collectivism, Attitude Toward Business, and Religious Beliefs on Consumer Ethics in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(3), pages 505-514, December.
    16. Helmut Schneider & John Krieger & Azra Bayraktar, 2011. "The Impact of Intrinsic Religiosity on Consumers’ Ethical Beliefs: Does It Depend on the Type of Religion? A Comparison of Christian and Moslem Consumers in Germany and Turkey," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(2), pages 319-332, August.
    17. Kutaula, Smirti & Gillani, Alvina & Leonidou, Leonidas C. & Christodoulides, Paul, 2022. "Integrating fair trade with circular economy: Personality traits, consumer engagement, and ethically-minded behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 1087-1102.
    18. Lamberto Zollo, 2021. "The Consumers’ Emotional Dog Learns to Persuade Its Rational Tail: Toward a Social Intuitionist Framework of Ethical Consumption," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(2), pages 295-313, January.
    19. Scott J. Vitell & Robert Allen King & Jatinder Jit Singh, 2013. "A special emphasis and look at the emotional side of ethical decision-making," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 3(2), pages 74-85, June.
    20. Joëlle Vanhamme & Adam Lindgreen & Gülen Sarial-Abi, 2023. "Luxury Ethical Consumers: Who Are They?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(3), pages 805-838, March.

    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:kap:jbuset:v:142:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-015-2733-y. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.