How does the Culpability of the Product Harm Crisis Shape Consumer Purchasing Behavior During Product Harm Crises: an Asian Perspective

Abstract

Even a growing body of literature discusses the detrimental consequences of product harm crisis; very few have discussed how the culpability of the crisis shapes consumer > purchases decisions from a cross-cultural perspective in a highly globalized marketing environment. Moreover, studies related to consumer perceptions between Asian countries are very rare in the present crisis literature. Therefore, current comparative study-between China and Sri Lanka investigates consumer purchase decisions in two different crisis grounds; company culpable and consumer culpable. The main objective of the study is to examine whether there is a significant difference in consumers’ purchase decisions between China and Sri Lanka with respect to the culpability of the crisis. A self administrated, pre-tested questionnaire survey was conductedand two samples of Sri Lankan (n=100) and Chinese (n=101) based undergraduate marketing and business management specialized students were participated in the survey. Study used a fictitious product harm crisis scenario to highlight the company and consumer culpable product harm crises situations. A fictitious yogurt brand “X” was used as the stimulus brand.Purchase intentions related to the affected brand, other products of the affected brand and any other products from the affected company were measured with 7- point Likert scales.Results of independent t test reveal that consumers’ perceptions of purchase intention decisions vary significantly between china and Sri Lanka under the consumer culpable crisis. However, the main purchase decisions are insignificant between these two countries when company is accused for the crisis. Current study provides an indispensable guide for the crisis managers to take managerial decisions in midst of crisis and for further comparative research investigations in the crisis literature.