Consumer culpability, ethicality and responses to corporate social irresponsibility

Purpose This study investigates how consumer culpability and consumer perceived ethicality (CPE) jointly shape divergent responses to corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) in China’s fast fashion market. This study aims to explain the moral mechanisms linking consumer culpability to ethical judgments and coping strategies, integrating moral philosophy and cognitive dissonance theory. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a quantitative approach using survey data collected from 324 Chinese consumers. Partial least squares-structural equation modelling was employed to test the hypothesized relationships among consumer culpability, CPE, boycott and moral decoupling. Findings Results show that consumer culpability negatively predicts CPE, and in turn, CPE mediates the effects of culpability on boycott and moral decoupling. Specifically, higher culpability leads to lower CPE and greater boycott behavior, whereas higher CPE promotes moral decoupling. These findings reveal the dual pathways through which moral conflict drives consumer responses to CSI. Research limitations/implications As the data were collected within the Chinese fast fashion market, generalizability may be limited. Future research could explore cross-cultural differences and longitudinal effects to better understand moral coping in diverse CSI contexts. Originality/value This paper integrates moral philosophy with cognitive dissonance theory to clarify how ethical judgments interact in shaping consumer responses to CSI in fast fashion industry. Also, it advances consumer ethics research by proposing an integrated framework in which consumer culpability shapes boycott and moral decoupling through CPE. By examining these constructs together rather than in isolation, it offers new insights into how self-attributed responsibility drives consumers toward punishment or justification in response to CSI.