Confronting Consumers&rsquo; Complicity: Do Confrontations with Causal Responsibility for Sweatshop Labor Raise Moral Obligation?

Felicitas Flade; Mario Messer; Roland Imhoff

doi:10.5334/irsp.775

Figures & Tables

Table 1

Summary of Studies S1–S5.

STUDY	TARGET	CAUSAL INVOLVEMENT [NO INVOLVEMENT]	VIGNETTE
S1	Self vs. Other	Self: You [other tourists] vs. Other: a tourist [other tourists]	buy jewelry
S2	Self vs. Other	Self: You [other tourists] vs. Other: a tourist [other tourists]	buy jewelry
S3	Self	You [other tourists]	buy jewelry
S4	Other	Mizarcs [Dwalkhs]	buy stone furniture
S5	Self	American ingroup vs. [Chinese outgroup]	buy clothing vs. buy wooden furniture

[i] Note: All studies featured a causal involvement between subjects manipulation orthogonal to the Target manipulation (if more than one Target condition).

Forest Plot of the Effect Size Estimates in the Meta-analysis of Studies S3, 2, 3, S1, S2.
*Note*: The forest plot is based on a random-effects model meta-analysis of the effect of causal involvement in creating and maintaining poor working conditions on the perceived moral obligation to support the suffering workers. It shows the summary effect for all comparisons included in Studies S3 to 3, S1, and S2 and the effects for the subgroups comprising other-judgments and self-judgments.

Moral Obligation Judgments in Study 1.
*Note*: Mean moral obligation judgments (with 95% CIs) as a function of experimental group (role of target: causally involved vs. *not* causally involved in creating poor working conditions × 2 target: self vs. other).

Moral Obligation Judgments in Study 2.
*Note*: Mean moral obligation judgments (with 95% CIs) as a function of experimental group (role of target: causally involved vs. *not* causally involved in creating poor working conditions × 2 target: close vs. distant other).

Table A1

Means and Standard Deviations (in Parentheses) of all Dependent Variables as a Function of Causal Involvement of the Target of Judgment and Self- versus Other-Judgment in Study 1.

DEPENDENT VARIABLE	SELF		OTHER
DEPENDENT VARIABLE	CAUSALLY INVOLVED	NOT CAUSALLY INVOLVED	CAUSALLY INVOLVED	NOT CAUSALLY INVOLVED
Moral Obligation	3.60 (1.63)	3.38 (1.54)	3.76 (1.60)	2.92 (1.54)
Causal Responsibility	3.67 (1.83)	2.63 (1.81)	4.67 (1.64)	2.89 (1.73)

[i] Note: All dependent variables range from 1 to 7.

Table A2

Means and Standard Deviations (in Parentheses) of All Dependent Variables as a Function of Causal Involvement of the Target of Judgment and Self- versus Other-Judgment in Study 2.

DEPENDENT VARIABLE	CLOSE OTHER		DISTANT OTHER
DEPENDENT VARIABLE	CAUSALLY INVOLVED	NOT CAUSALLY INVOLVED	CAUSALLY INVOLVED	NOT CAUSALLY INVOLVED
Moral Obligation	3.22 (1.00)	2.84 (1.06)	3.30 (0.82)	2.46 (1.03)
Causal Responsibility	4.04 (1.61)	2.99 (1.79)	4.13 (1.47)	2.53 (1.77)

[i] Note: Causal Responsibility ranges from 1 to 7 on a 7-point scale, Moral Obligation ranges from 1 to 5 on a 5-point scale.

Table A3

Summary of Studies in This Line of Research.

STUDY	TARGET	CAUSAL INVOLVEMENT [NO INVOLVEMENT]	VIGNETTE
S1	Self vs. Other	Self: You [other tourists] vs. Other: a tourist [other tourists]	buy jewelry
S2	Self vs. Other	Self: You [other tourists] vs. Other: a tourist [other tourists]	buy jewelry
S3	Self	You [other tourists]	buy jewelry
S4	Other	Mizarcs [Dwalkhs]	buy stone furniture
S5	Self	American ingroup vs. [Chinese outgroup]	buy clothing vs. buy wooden furniture
1	Self vs. Other	American ingroup vs. [Chinese outgroup]	buy clothing vs. buy wooden furniture
2	Close vs. Distant Other	Cocoa [Azuki beans]	buy cocoa products vs. Azuki bean products

[i] Note: All studies featured a causal involvement between subjects manipulation orthogonal to the Target manipulation (if more than one Target condition).

Table A4

Fixed-Effects ANOVA Results of Study 1 Using Causal Responsibility as a Criterion.

PREDICTOR	SUM OF SQUARES	df	MEAN SQUARE	F	p	η_p²	η_p² 90% CI [LL, UL]
(Intercept)	9351.64	1	9351.64	3036.18	<.001	.797	[.78, .81]
Involvement	385.92	1	385.92	125.29	<.001	.139	[.10, .18]
Target	78.01	1	78.01	25.33	<.001	.032	[.01, .05]
Involvement × Target	26.62	1	26.62	8.64	.003	.011	[.00, .03]
Error	2383.97	774	3.08

[i] Note: LL and UL represent the lower-limit and upper-limit of the partial η_p² confidence interval, respectively.

Table A5

Fixed-Effects ANOVA Results of Study 1 Using Moral Obligation as a Criterion.

PREDICTOR	SUM OF SQUARES	df	MEAN SQUARE	F	p	η_p²	η_p² 90% CI [LL, UL]
(Intercept)	9066.11	1	9066.11	3646.37	<.001	.825	[.81, .84]
Involvement	53.92	1	53.92	21.69	<.001	.027	[.01, .05]
Target	4.29	1	4.29	1.73	.19	.002	[.00, .01]
Involvement × Target	18.79	1	18.79	7.56	.006	.010	[.00, .02]
Error	1924.43	774	2.49

[i] Note: LL and UL represent the lower-limit and upper-limit of the partial η_p² confidence interval, respectively.

Table A6

Fixed-Effects ANOVA Results of Study 2 Using Causal Responsibility as a Criterion.

PREDICTOR	SUM OF SQUARES	df	MEAN SQUARE	F	p	η_p²	η_p² 90% CI [LL, UL]
(Intercept)	6046.40	1	6046.40	2187.47	<.001	.807	[.79, .82]
Involvement	225.83	1	225.83	81.70	<.001	.135	[.09, .18]
Target	4.40	1	4.40	1.59	.21	.003	[.00, .02]
Involvement × Target	9.46	1	9.46	3.42	.07	.006	[.00, .02]
Error	1448.39	524	2.76

[i] Note: LL and UL represent the lower-limit and upper-limit of the partial η_p² confidence interval, respectively.

Table A7

Fixed-Effects ANOVA Results of Study 2 Using Moral Obligation as a Criterion.

PREDICTOR	SUM OF SQUARES	df	MEAN SQUARE	F	p	η_p²	η_p² 90% CI [LL, UL]
(Intercept)	4509.87	1	4509.87	4653.78	<.001	.899	[.89, .91]
Involvement	48.205	1	48.21	49.74	<.001	.087	[.05, .13]
Target	2.882	1	2.88	2.97	.09	.006	[.00, .02]
Involvement × Target	6.607	1	6.61	6.82	.01	.013	[.00, .03]
Error	507.796	524	.97

[i] Note: LL and UL represent the lower-limit and upper-limit of the partial η_p² confidence interval, respectively.

Confronting Consumers’ Complicity: Do Confrontations with Causal Responsibility for Sweatshop Labor Raise Moral Obligation?

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