Gender Difference in the Perception of Guilt in Consumer Boycott

Abstract

In Brazil, studies on consumer boycott still feature some gaps, including theoretical ones. Our article aims to present the significant difference between male and female perception of guilt in the specific case of a multinational company which sells products in Brazil. To achieve that goal, the boycott motivations scale (KLEIN; SMITH; JOHN, 2004) was validated by means of 218 respondents from two universities located in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Using regression, a difference among genders was found based on one of the validation factors of the scale (perception of guilt). The results show that out of the four factors found by the Factorial Analysis, only the “perception of guilt” factor proved to be significant for the difference of means between men and women (p<0.002). That implies that the women of our study sample felt guiltier than the men regarding boycott motivations. That empiric result makes our article relevant to the Marketing area. In addition, some historical, anthropological and psychological implications are presented in its last section. Understanding guilt and its relation with the social construction of woman in society is a required development to strengthen the empiric findings of our study.