Business Conspiracy Theories
- 1 Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour, Norwegian Business School (BI), Oslo, Norway
- 2 Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, UK
Abstract
This study explored one of the less studied types of conspiracy theorie s, namely those concerned with business, organisations and industry. In all, 400 participants completed a 60-item questionnaire which covered a number of a reas such as dishonest advertising, bribery and corruption. Given the opportunity to respond “don’t know”, a large number (>25%) responded that way to very specific questions. Overall, it seemed that consumers believed drug, oil and tobacco companies were dishonest and devious in t heir marketing. Also, they believed many manufacture r s and advertisers attempted to manipulate and trick customers. Four factors resulted from a number of analyses though correlations and regressions suggested that demographic (age, sex, class) and ideological factors (religious and political beliefs) were n ot strongly related to business conspiracy theories suggesting consensus. Implications for understanding how conspiracy beliefs relate to product purchase and consumer boycotts are discussed.
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