title：The Role of Severity in Consumer Attributions of Blame  Defensive Attributions in Product-Harm Crises in Mexico Authors: Daniel Laufer a;  Kate Gillespie b;  Brad McBride c; Silvia Gonzalez d

Affiliations:	a University of Cincinnati, USA
	b University of Texas at Austin, USA
	c ITAM-Mexico City,
	d ITESM-Campus Monterrey,

DOI: 10.1300/J046v17n02_03
Publication Frequency: 4 issues per year
Published in: Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Volume 17, Issue 2 & 3 June 2005 , pages 33 - 50
Subjects: Advertising; Business & Corporate Strategy; Business Information Systems; Consumer Behaviour; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Services; Direct Marketing; E-business & E-commerce; E-marketing; International Business; International Marketing; Marketing Communication; Retail Marketing; Sales & Marketing; Sales & Marketing Management;
Formats available: PDF (English)

Article Requests: Order Reprints : Request Permissions

Abstract This paper presents results from a study in Mexico which suggest that observers ' perceptions of the severity of a product-harm crisis affect their assessment of blame to the firm when culpability is ambiguous. As perceptions of crisis severity increase, more blame is assessed to the firm. This finding is consistent regardless of whether the nationality of the victims is the same or different from that of the observers. Perceptions of severity are in turn affected by the observer's tolerance for ambiguity-the lower the tolerance for ambiguity, the higher the perception of crisis severity. The theoretical and practical implications of this research are discussed.

Keywords: Defensive attributions; product harm crises; Mexico; consumer attributions of blame; role of severity

view references (34)