Ryoo Yuhosua, Kim WooJin
School of Journalism and Advertising, College of Arts and Media, Southern Illinois University, 1100 Lincoln Drive, Carbondale, IL 62901 USA.
Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising, College of Media, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 119 Gregory Hall, 810 S. Wright Street, Urbana, IL 61801 USA.
J Bus Ethics. 2023 Mar 2:1-20. doi: 10.1007/s10551-023-05369-1.
Governments, institutions, and brands try various intervention strategies for countering growing cyberbullying, but with questionable effectiveness. The authors use hypocrisy induction, a technique for subtly reminding consumers that they have acted contrary to their moral values, to see whether it makes consumers more willing to support brand-sponsored anti-cyberbullying CSR campaigns. Findings demonstrate that hypocrisy induction evokes varying reactions depending on regulatory focus, mediated by guilt and shame. Specifically, consumers who have a dominant promotion (prevention) focus feel guilt (shame), which motivates them to overcome their discomfort by supporting (avoiding) an anti-cyberbullying campaign. Moral regulation is drawn as a theoretical underpinning to explain various consumer reactions to hypocrisy induction, the moderating role of regulatory focus, and mediating role of guilt and shame. The research contributes to the literature and provides practical implications by explaining when and why brands can use hypocrisy induction to persuade consumers to support social causes through the lens of moral regulation theory.
政府、机构和品牌尝试了各种干预策略来应对日益增长的网络欺凌行为，但效果存疑。作者运用伪善诱导这一技巧，即巧妙地提醒消费者他们的行为违背了自身道德价值观，来探究这是否会让消费者更愿意支持品牌赞助的反网络欺凌企业社会责任活动。研究结果表明，伪善诱导会引发不同的反应，这取决于监管焦点，并由内疚和羞耻感介导。具体而言，具有主导性促进（预防）焦点的消费者会感到内疚（羞耻），这促使他们通过支持（避免）反网络欺凌活动来克服自身的不适感。道德监管被视为一种理论基础，用于解释消费者对伪善诱导的各种反应、监管焦点的调节作用以及内疚和羞耻感的中介作用。该研究通过从道德监管理论的角度解释品牌何时以及为何可以利用伪善诱导来说服消费者支持社会事业，为相关文献做出了贡献，并提供了实际意义。
