Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

submittedVersion

Publication Date

8-2026

Abstract

Consumers often behave opportunistically, taking more than what fair marketplace exchange warrants (e.g., taking excess samples, returning used items). While each individual transgression may be minor, cumulatively they can undermine firm profitability. Thus, addressing consumer opportunism is an important managerial concern. We identify a novel antecedent of consumer opportunism: consumers’ acceptance of societal hierarchy (i.e., power distance belief [PDB]), including firms’ higher position in it than consumers. Nine studies (plus two supplementary studies) employing archival, correlational, and experimental data provide converging evidence that, in marketplace interactions, this belief evokes a need to feel clever (i.e., to feel smart and knowledgeable vis-à-vis firms), which, in turn, promotes opportunistic behaviors. These behaviors exploit firm policy loopholes, allowing consumers to feel clever without explicitly defying firm authority. Higher-status consumers, who may be accustomed to a position of advantage and consequently less deferential, experience this need more, leading to greater opportunism. Reminders of surveillance reduce opportunism, but brand relationship reminders, paradoxically, license it. This research thus offers novel theoretical insights into consumer opportunism along with substantive managerial implications.

Keywords

Consumer opportunism, power distance, social hierarchy, consumer status, motivation

Discipline

Marketing

Research Areas

Marketing

Publication

Journal of Marketing Research

First Page

1

Last Page

50

ISSN

0022-2437

Identifier

10.1177/00222437261477110

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Embargo Period

8-19-2026

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1177/00222437261477110

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