Ethical Judgment of Food Fraud. Effects on Consumer Behavior

This study brings important insights for the food industry by addressing how consumers ethically judge or evaluate unethical firm behavior, in specific reference to food fraud, and if and to what extent that judgment affects the consumer-brand relationship and consumer behavior. it is an empirical investigation of the unethical intentional mislabeling in the U. S food industry. The paper analysis if there are statistically significant associations between brand attachment, ethical judgment, brand commitment, and purchase intention. Quantitative data (151) was collected about three different leading manufacturing food brands (three studies). Correlation and regression analyses were conducted. Findings reveal the important relation between all the constructs. Significant effects on how consumers ethically judged this brand transgression. Thus, it was found that as consumers judged this action as more unethical, the intentions to both stay committed to and purchase the brand were considerably damaged. [GRAPHICS] .