Motivated to Attack: Consumer Aggression Against Brands and Other Consumers

Across three essays, I document novel forms of consumer aggression that are not well explained by existing frameworks of consumers' prosocial and antisocial behaviors. In Essay 1, I introduce “Retributive Philanthropy” as a form of charitable giving motived by a desire to punish wrongdoers, rather than as an altruistically or status motivated act. In Essay 2, I introduce “Offensive Consumption” as a form of consumption wherein consumers actively desire to offend others with their purchases, rather than offending others as an unintentional byproduct of consumption. In Essay 3, I introduce “Status Seeking Aggression” as a form of consumer aggression against brands that is motivated by status concerns, rather than retributive or reparative aims. Across all essays, I employ a blend of qualitative, experimental, field experimental, and quantitative methods to understand novel phenomena that serve to extend and challenge dominant frameworks for explaining consumer aggression.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph D

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Business Administration

Grantor dc:publisher

The University of Western Ontario

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Milne, Ethan

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Kristofferson, Kirk
• Goode, Miranda

• Consumer Aggression
• Donation
• Boycotts
• Prosocial Behavior
• Offensive Consumption

Statement dc:rights

• Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14721/39654

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uwo.scholaris.ca:20.500.14721/39654