Do many options result in listening to oneself or others during boycott campaigns?

Purpose

This study empirically investigates whether and how boycott attitudes and subjective norms influence the impact of the perceived behavioral control of boycotts on boycott intention.

Design/methodology/approach

To test our hypotheses, we perform a hierarchical linear regression analysis using data from Japanese (n = 500) and South Koreans (n = 571).

Findings

Boycott attitudes strengthen the positive effect of perceived behavioral control on boycott intentions for Japanese and South Koreans. Contrary to our assumptions, while the direct impact of perceived behavioral control on boycott intention is not significant, there is a negative moderating effect of subjective norms for Japanese consumers.

Originality/value

We argue that when perceived behavioral control is evident in boycotts, consumers listen more to themselves than to others. Our cross-national analysis of actual boycott campaigns is the first study on boycott research to offer implications for the interaction effects among the three key antecedents of psychological motivation factors in the theory of planned behavior.