Open AccessConsumer Ethicality Perception and Legitimacy: Competitive Advantages in COVID-19 Crisis
Author(s) -
G. L. Payne,
Alicia BlancoGonzález,
Giorgia Miotto,
Cristina del-Castillo
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
american behavioral scientist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1552-3381
pISSN - 0002-7642
DOI - 10.1177/00027642211016515
Subject(s) - legitimacy , perception , mediation , meaning (existential) , covid-19 , business , field (mathematics) , marketing , key (lock) , residence , public relations , psychology , political science , social psychology , sociology , computer science , politics , medicine , demography , mathematics , disease , computer security , pathology , neuroscience , infectious disease (medical specialty) , pure mathematics , law , psychotherapist
The article aims to analyze the cause–effect relationship between Brand Ethicality Perception (CPE), legitimacy and purchase intention during the COVID-19 first wave, taking into consideration the mediation effect of the country of residence. Data collection was based on a survey launched during the COVID-19 lockdown in Madrid and New York. To analyze the established hypotheses and to test the multigroup analysis, we applied a structural modelling with SmartPLS. The research contributes to the field of brand management, and specifically of ethical branding, since it will analyze how stakeholders’ expectations fulfillment is key to build a consistent and valued brand meaning in crisis’ situations, demonstrating that ethical behaviors are key for gaining corporate legitimacy and, therefore, for improving business performances.