Consumer choices among service brands offering ethical attributes

Eileen Bridges, Mary Schramm and Abhik Roy

The Service Industries Journal, 2019, vol. 39, issue 15-16, 1167-1189

Abstract: This research improves understanding of how consumers integrate their evaluations of ethical attributes with other service features in making brand choices. Although consumers appreciate brands they perceive to be ethical, few studies have examined what consumers are willing to give up in order to select a brand that offers specific ethical attributes, and under what conditions they might be willing to do so. To better characterize consumer choice, both compensatory and non-compensatory models are tested; findings suggest that compensatory models, which allow for tradeoffs between attributes, offer better fit. Both healthcare services and banking services are examined, to better understand consumer valuation of ethical attributes under different conditions. The assumptions are made that healthcare services are more variable and require greater interaction with front line providers and service facilities/equipment than do banking services, and findings are discussed accordingly. The results suggest that consumers value ethical attributes significantly more in banking than in healthcare, supporting the idea that services which offer low contact and hence also low variability lead consumers to a greater focus on ethical service attributes. Managerial implications are provided.

Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/02642069.2018.1502752 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:servic:v:39:y:2019:i:15-16:p:1167-1189

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/FSIJ20

DOI: 10.1080/02642069.2018.1502752

Access Statistics for this article

The Service Industries Journal is currently edited by Eileen Bridges, Professor Domingo Ribeiro, Ronald Goldsmith, Barry Howcroft and Youjae Yi

More articles in The Service Industries Journal from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().