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EASP – European Association of Social Psychology

Travel Grant Report by Silvia Mari

10.04.2019, by Tina Keil in grant report

University of Milano-Bicocca; Research visit to the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

Chunyan Xie and Silvia Mari, Ann Arbor, 2019 in total, 3 pictures
Chunyan Xie and Silvia Mari, Ann Arbor, 2019

Fostering the research group on moral emotions in the context of CSR transgressions

At the end of February 2018, I had the chance to visit the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, right before attending the SPSP Annual Conference in Atlanta (March 1st-3rd, 2018). I’m grateful to the EASP that supported my trip to the USA.

My visit to the vibrant research environment of the University of Michigan was organized by Richard P. Bagozzi, Dwight F. Benton Professor of Behavioral Sciences in Management, at the Ross School of Business. Richard Bagozzi, who is one of the most influential marketing professors in the world, is fostering a research group on moral emotions in the context of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) transgressions. Another member of the group is Chunyan Xie, from Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Haugesund (Norway), who visited the Ross School in the same period. I have known both of them since my Ph.D.: we share the same research interests, even though from different perspectives since we have a diverse background, and we have been collaborating for some years.

Thanks to the EASP grant and the hospitality of the Ross School, I spent a very fruitful period in Ann Arbor. We planned a series of studies, concerning the prosocial consequences of various negative moral emotions (i.e., social disgust, righteous anger, and contempt) on decision making induced by different kinds of corporate social irresponsibility (e.g., perceived corporate community and environmental transgressions). We revised a paper about the possible moderators of these psychological mechanisms (e.g., moral identity). We also revised another paper on political ideology in the consumer behavior domain; the study aim was to investigate how liberals and conservatives react differently toward for-profit corporate transgressions and subsequent support for non-profits, by experiencing different moral emotions. Both papers are now under review at present, and we submitted proposals to the annual Association of Consumer Research conference.

We also discussed strategies to extend this interdisciplinary scholars’ network interested in the social psychology/marketing/politics interface, by promoting the chance to integrate research approaches and increase the attention to public policies. This topic has been overlooked by the social psychology literature.

Additionally, we analyzed data from previous collections on consumers’ moral emotions (measured both at the individual and group-based level) and their behavioral consequences in case of company’s offshoring and reshoring. Specifically, we focused the attention on possible different psychological mechanisms involving emotional reactions at the individual level or at the group-based level, when specific social identities are more salient. Moreover, to continue this line of research, we planned a series of studies, that are at present ongoing in the Italian context, and consider different identities (national and regional identities).

Finally, during my stay at the Ross School, I had the chance to improve my skills in advanced statistical analysis, due to the interaction and exchange with more expert colleagues.

I am grateful to Richard Bagozzi for hosting me at the University of Michigan, and for sharing with Chunyan Xie and me insightful research experience, and to EASP for funding this travel to the USA, which benefits to my professional experience a lot.

Research group’s outputs

  • Xie, C., Bagozzi, R. P. & Mari, S. (2019). How and when do corporate social irresponsibility have prosocial consequences? (Submitted for publication)
  • Xie, C., Bagozzi, R. P. & Mari, S. (2019). Liberals and conservatives react differently toward for- profit corporate transgressions and subsequent support for non-profits. (Submitted for publication)