| It is generally believed that consumers will respond to ethical products with attributes that reflect moral principles such as fair trade more favorably. However, Luchs, Naylor, Irwin, and Raghunathan (2010) find that whether or not consumers prefer sustainable products is determined by benefits they seek from various product categories. Findings of their research suggest that sustainability can be a liability when marketing certain products since it has potential negative effects on consumer perceptions when strength-related attributes are valued. However, Luchs et al. (2010) only investigate this issue with physical products. Whether or not similar interpretations will be found in services remains unknown. This current study extends the idea proposed by Luchs et al. (2010) to the service industry. Specifically, this study intends to investigate whether or not consumers view more ethical service providers as less capable of providing effective and satisfying services than less ethical ones. |
Updated 07/09/2013