Corporate Social Responsibility and Consumer Choice: Lessons from the Milk Boycott

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kim, In Kyung; Kim, Kyoo Il
• 署名单位: Sogang University; Michigan State University
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2021.01062
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 5625-5644
• 关键词: Boycott; CSR; discrete choice demand; milk

摘要

We study the impact of a boycott on one of the largest Korean dairy producers, triggered by the exposure of the firm's unethical management practices, on sales of its own and others. We find empirical evidence that the boycott had substantial and long-lasting consequences. First, consumer utility from the boycotted products decreased significantly, reflecting consumers' strong willingness to take part in collective action. Second, our discrete choice demand model, which addresses both price endogeneity and product substitution, estimates that sales of the boycotted firm decreased by almost 8% or, equivalently, by 8.1 million liters during the 12-month postboycott period. Third, the boycotted firm's sales and revenue decreases would have been more severe had the firm not cut prices after the boycott outbreak. Our findings emphasize top-level managers' role in fostering an ethical organizational culture within the firm and taking proper and timely countermeasures to curb losses incurred by a boycott.