Consumer Response To Unethical Retailer Behavior

1. Consumer Response To Unethical Retailer Behavior

2. Introduction One of the major reasons behind the success or failure of an organization is the quality of its customer service. However, if an organization takes part in any type of unethical activities, then it would directly affect the perspectives of the customers of that organization. In this report, this factor will be discussed with special focus on the retail industry.

3. Concept of unethical behavior Unethical behavior can be very simply defined as that particular type of behavior where a retailer lacks values, principles and good manners while performing their business operations. Different types of unethical behaviors or activities observed in retail organizations are as follows; • Disrespecting the customers • Ignoring the needs of the customers • Failing to listen to the customers • Selling bad quality products and services

4. Equity Theory According to Equity Theory, four causes of dissatisfactions of the customers are as follows; • Response of employees related to delivery • Response of employees related to the needs of the customers • Slow actions of the employees • Challenging consumer behavior

5. Types of consumer reactions in retail Types of consumer reactions recorded due to unethical behavior in retail are as follows; • Private response • Voiced response • Posting poor ratings • Protesting against the brand • Switching to a different brand

6. Levels of recovery • Unethical recovery – When the retailers try to resolve the problems of the consumers in an unethical manner • Ethical recovery – When the retailers try to resolve the problems of the consumers in an ethical manner • No recovery – when the retailers don’t take any steps to resolve an issue

7. A Case Study Of

8. A Case Study on Nestle Nestle started selling powder milk for the infants and the target customers were the citizens belonging to the underdeveloped countries. However, the quality of this product was very poor and it caused the deaths of thousands of newborns. What was worse was that Nestle would sell this product by promoting that it was better than breast milk. However, in 1977 WHO protested against this product and Nestle had to stop its production.

9. Conclusion From the discussions, it can be concluded that retailers don’t always take part in unethical activities intentionally. However, if there are any such activities recorded, organizations should take actions against it at the earliest. This way, they can easily win back the satisfaction of the customers.

10. References • Haberstroh, K., Orth, U.R., Hoffmann, S. and Brunk, B., 2017. Consumer response to unethical corporate behavior: A re-examination and extension of the moral decoupling model. Journal of business ethics, 140(1), pp.161-173. • Bossuyt, S., Van Kenhove, P. and De Bock, T., 2016. A dirty store is a cost forever: The harmful influence of disorderly retail settings on unethical consumer behavior. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 33(1), pp.225-231. • Muller, M. (2013). Nestlé baby milk scandal has grown up but not gone away. the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/nestle-baby-milk-scandal-food-industry-standards [Accessed 12 Feb. 2019].