Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Exploring U.S. Retail Employees’ Experiences Of Corporate Hypocrisy, Saheli Goswami, Jung E. Ha-Brookshire

Organization Management Journal

Corporate hypocrisy (CH) exists when people believe that firms are not what they claim to be. Much of the previous research has focused on how consumers may perceive firms as hypocritical and how that might affect firms’ sales and profits, but little has been researched on CH as experienced by employees. This study explored CH experienced by employees in the U.S. retail sector, which is predominantly comprised of part-time, low-income personnel. Through in-depth interviews of 16 retail employees, the study revealed that for participants, inconsistencies in both supervisors’ and corporate claims and actions resulted in perceived CH in employees. This, …