This article examines the role of corporations in constructing the nature, meaning and implications of `consumer responsibility'. It draws on a theoretical framework that elaborates how objects, subjects and concepts are configured in organizational discourse. Using critical discourse analysis, it reveals how consumer responsibility is organized into meaningful cultural knowledge through corporate communications. The findings suggest that such communications rely on strategic juxtapositions that offer a morally unconflicting concept of consumer responsibility that is facilitative of market choice.
Alvesson, Mats, and Dan Karreman2000`Varieties of discourse: On the study of organizations through discourse analysis'. Human Relations53/9: 1125-1149.
2.
Arnould, Eric J., and Craig J. Thompson2005`Consumer Culture Theory (CCT): Twenty years of research'. Journal of Consumer Research31/4: 868-882.
3.
Auger, Pat, Paul Burke, Timothy M. Devinney, and Jordan J. Louviere2003`What will consumers pay for social product features?'. Journal of Business Ethics42/3: 281-304.
4.
Auger, Pat, and Timothy M. Devinney2006`Does what consumers say matter? The misalignment of preferences with unconstrained ethical intentions'. Journal of Business Ethics forthcoming.
Bauman, Zigmunt1995Life in fragments. Essays in postmodern morality. Oxford: Blackwell.
7.
Belk, Russell B., and Janeen A. Costa1998`The mountain man myth: A contemporary consuming fantasy'. Journal of Consumer Research25: 218-240.
8.
Bhattacharya, C.B., and Sankar Sen2004`Doing better at doing good: When, why, and how consumers respond to corporate social initiatives'. California Management Review47/1: 9-24.
9.
Bhattacharyya, Deborah P.1997`Mediating India: An analysis of a guidebook'. Annals of Tourism Research24/2: 371-389.
10.
Borgmann, Albert2000`The moral complexion of consumption'. Journal of Consumer Research26: 418-422.
11.
Carrigan, Marylyn, and Ahmad Attalla2001`The myth of the ethical consumer: Do ethics matter in purchase behaviour?'. Journal of Consumer Marketing18/7: 560-577.
12.
Caruana, Robert2007`Morality and consumption: Towards a multidisciplinary perspective'. Journal of Marketing Management23/3-4: 207-225.
13.
Caruana, Robert, Andrew Crane and James Fitchett2008`Paradoxes of consumer independence: a critical discourse analysis of the independent traveller'. Marketing Theory8(3): 253-272.
14.
Cheong, So-Min, and Marc L. Miller2000`Power and tourism: A Foucauldian observation'. Annals of Tourism Research27/2: 371-390.
15.
Chiapello, Eve, and Norman Fairclough2002`Understanding the new management ideology: A transdisciplinary contribution from critical discourse analysis and new sociology of capitalism'. Discourse and Society13(2): 185-208.
16.
Cobb, Robin2002`Selling responsibility'. Marketing Business June: 25-27.
17.
Crane, Andrew2000`Corporate greening as amoralization'. Organization Studies24/4: 673-696.
18.
Crane, Andrew, and John Desmond2002`Societal marketing and morality'. European Journal of Marketing36/5-6: 548-569.
19.
Crane, Andrew, Dirk Matten, and Laura J. Spence2008Corporate social responsibility: Readings and cases in a global context. London: Routledge.
20.
Cronin, Anne M.2000Advertising and consumer citizenship: Gender, images and rights. London: Routledge.
21.
Davies, Iain, and Andrew Crane2003`Ethical decision making in fair trade companies'. Journal of Business Ethics45/1: 79.
22.
De Cock, Christian, James Fitchett, and Christina Volkmann2004`Constructing the new economy: A discursive perspective'. British Journal of Management15: 1-13.
23.
Dickinson, Roger A., and Mary L. Carsky2005`The consumer as economic voter' in The ethical consumer. R. Harrison, T. Newholm and D. Shaw (eds), 25-36. London: Sage.
24.
Dixon, Donald F.1992`Consumer sovereignty, democracy, and the marketing concept: A macromarketing perspective'. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences9/2: 116-125.
25.
Dobscha, Susan, and Julie L. Ozanne2001`An ecofeminist analysis of environmentally friendly women using qualitative methodology: The emancipatory potential of an ecological life'. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing20/2: 201-214.
26.
Etzioni, Amitai1995The spirit of community: Rights, responsibilities and the communitarian agenda . London: Fontana.
27.
Fairclough, Norman1992Discourse and social change. Cambridge : Polity.
28.
Fairclough, Norman1995Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language . London: Longman.
29.
Foucault, Michel1972The archaeology of knowledge. New York : Pantheon.
30.
Friedman, Monroe1999Consumer boycotts. New York: Routledge.
31.
Garfinkel, Harold1967Studies in ethnomethodology. New York : Prentice Hall.
32.
Gergen, K.J.1973`Social psychology as history', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology26: 309-320.
Gustavsson, Eva, and Barbara Czarniawska2004`Web woman: The on-line construction of corporate and gender images'. Organization11/5: 651-670.
35.
Harrison, Rob, Terry Newholm, and Deirdre Shaw2005`Introduction' in The ethical consumer. R. Harrison, T. Newholm, and D. Shaw (eds), 1-8. London : Sage.
36.
Heracleous, Loizos, and Michael Barrett2001`Organizational change as discourse: Communicative actions and deep structures in the context of information technology implementation'. Academy of Management Journal44/4: 755-778.
37.
Hertz, Noreena2001`Better to shop than to vote?'Business Ethics: A European Review10/3: 190-193.
38.
Holt, Douglas B.2002`Why do brands cause trouble? A dialectical theory of consumer culture and branding'. Journal of Consumer Research29/1: 70-91.
39.
Ibarra-Colado, Eduardo, Stewart R Clegg, Carl Rhodes, and Martin Kornberger2006`The ethics of managerial subjectivity' . Journal of Business Ethics64: 45-55.
40.
Keenoy, Tom W., and Cliff Oswick2002`Discourse, organising and identity: Some theoretical and methodological implications'. Management Research News25: 104-106.
41.
Kozinets, Robert V.2002`Can consumers escape the market? Emancipatory illuminations from Burning Man'. Journal of Consumer Research29: 20-38.
42.
Kozinets, Robert V.2008`Technology/ideology: How ideological fields influence consumers' technological narratives'. Journal of Consumer Research forthcoming.
43.
Livesey, Sharon M.1999`McDonald's and the Environmental Defense Fund: A case study of a green alliance'. Journal of Business Communication36/1: 5-39.
44.
Livesey, Sharon M.2001`Eco-identity as discursive struggle: Royal Dutch Shell, Brent Spar, and Nigeria'. Journal of Business Communication38: 58-91.
45.
Livesey, Sharon M.2002`Global warming wars: Rhetorical and discourse analytic approaches to ExxonMobil's corporate public discourse'. Journal of Business Communication39/1: 117-148.
46.
McDonagh, Pierre1998`Towards a theory of sustainable communication in risk society: Relating issues of sustainability to marketing communications'. Journal of Marketing Management14/6: 591-622.
47.
McDonagh, Pierre2002`Communicative campaigns to effect anti-slavery and fair trade'. European Journal of Marketing36/5-6: 642-666.
48.
Micheletti, Michele, Andreas Follesdal, and Dietlind Stolle (eds) 2004Politics, products, and markets: Exploring political consumerism past and present. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
49.
Mills, Albert J.1995`Man/aging subjectivity, silencing diversity: Organizational imagery in the airline industry. The case of British Airways'. Organization2/2: 243-269.
50.
Mitchell, Alan1997`The power of ethical branding'. Marketing Week May22: 26-27.
51.
Moisander, Johanna, and Sinikka Pesonen2002`Narratives of sustainable ways of living: Constructing the self and the other as a green consumer'. Management Decision40/4: 329-342.
52.
Nairn, Agnes, and Pierre Berthon2003`Creating the customer: The influence of advertising on consumer market segments - evidence and ethics'. Journal of Business Ethics42/1: 83-99.
53.
Norton, Andrew1996`Experiencing nature: The reproduction of environmental discourse through safari tourism in East Africa'. Geoforum27/3: 355-373.
54.
Oswick, Cliff., Tom W Keenoy, and David Grant2000`Discourse, organizations and organizing: Concepts, objects and subjects'. Human Relations53/9: 1115-1123.
PeƱaloza, Lisa1996`We're Here, We're Queer, and We're Going Shopping! A Critical Perspective on the Accommodation of Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Marketplace' . Journal of Homosexuality31/1-2: 9-41.
57.
Phillips, Nelson, and Cynthia Hardy1997`Managing multiple identities: Discourse legitimacy and resources in the UK refugee system'. Organization4/2: 159-185.
Salazar, Noel B.2006`Touristifying Tanzania: Local guides, global discourse' . Annals of Tourism Research33/3: 833-852.
60.
Schaefer, Anja, and Andrew Crane2005`Addressing sustainability and consumption'. Journal of Macromarketing25: 76-92.
61.
Schouten, John W., and James H. McAlexander1995`Subcultures of consumption: An ethnography of the new bikers'. Journal of Consumer Research22: 43-61.
62.
Sender, Katherine2005Business, not politics: The making of the gay market. New York: Columbia University Press.
63.
Shaw, Deirdre, and Terry Newholm2002`Voluntary simplicity and the ethics of consumption'. Psychology and Marketing19/2: 167-185.
64.
Shaw, Deidre, and Edward Shiu2003`Ethics in consumer choice: A multivariate modelling approach' . European Journal of Marketing37/10: 1485-1501.
65.
Shaw, Deidre, Terry Newholm, and Roger Dickenson2006`Consumption as voting: An exploration of consumer empowerment'. European Journal of Marketing40/9-10: 1049-1067.
66.
Shepherd, Robert2003`Fieldwork without remorse: Travel desires in a tourist world'. Consumption, Markets and Culture6/2: 133-144.
67.
Smith, N. Craig1990Morality and the market: Consumer pressure for corporate accountability. London: Routledge .
68.
Strong, Carolyn1997`The problems of translating fair trade principles into consumer purchase behaviour'. Marketing Intelligence & Planning15/1: 32-37.
69.
Thompson, Craig J.2004`Marketplace mythology and discourses of power'. Journal of Consumer Research31/1: 162-180.
70.
Thompson, Craig J., and Elizabeth C. Hirschman1995`Understanding the socialized body: A poststructuralist analysis of consumers' self-conceptions, body images, and self-care practices'. Journal of Consumer Research22: 139-153.
71.
Townley, Barbara1993`Foucault, power/knowledge, and its relevance for human resource management'. Academy of Management Review18/3: 518-545.
72.
Urry, John1990The tourist gaze. London, Sage.
73.
Vogel, David2005The market for virtue: The potential and limits of corporate social responsibility. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
