Business-Size Bias in Consumer Dishonesty: People are More Dishonest Against Big than Small Organizations

Despite the potential for market domination and power abuse, big businesses can also enhance consumer choice, job benefits, and welfare. Yet, big businesses are often portrayed as inherently bad, powerful actors. Does this matter for how consumers morally treat these organizations? Informed by moral typecasting theory, we suggest that consumers are less likely to perceive big businesses as victim-like than small businesses, making it seem more acceptable to cheat them for selfish gain. We studied this business-size bias in consumer dishonesty across three surveys (combined N = 1,171) and eight experiments (combined N = 5,670). Study 1 shows that consumers think it is appropriate to be less honest toward big than small businesses, and also believe that others act similarly. Providing causal behavioral evidence from incentivized economic games, Studies 2A-C find that people actually behave more dishonestly toward big than small businesses as well. Studies 3A-C and 4A-B find that greater dishonest intention toward big businesses is mediated by perceptions of big businesses being less vulnerable and less moral than small businesses.