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Reflections on Consumer Sophistication and Its Impact on Ethical Business Practice
Author(s) -
TITUS PHILIP A.,
BRADFORD JEFFREY L.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of consumer affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.582
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1745-6606
pISSN - 0022-0078
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6606.1996.tb00730.x
Subject(s) - sophistication , economic interventionism , interim , business , marketing , dilemma , intervention (counseling) , ethical dilemma , government (linguistics) , public policy , economics , sociology , economic growth , political science , law , psychology , philosophy , linguistics , epistemology , psychiatry , politics , social science
This paper investigates consumer sophistication and its role in the development of proactive public policy. Consumer sophistication is examined in light of several historical shifts in market structure and consumer lifestyles. These shifts create market conditions that foster the emergence of a “Corporate Dilemma” in which unsophisticated consumers reward unethical business practices and punish ethical business behavior. To reduce unethical business practices in the market, this paper proposes that the optimum level of interim government intervention should be based on the level of consumer sophistication in the market.