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An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.
Introduction
The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness consumer boycotts organized through the internet by using the market's response. Boycotts have attracted the interests of scholars who have examined it through different lenses. Some researchers examined the phenomenon through the disciplines of sociology and history ([23] Laidler, 1913, [24] 1930; [17] Hyman, 1980; [9] Friedman, 1971, [11] 1991), others through psychology and economics ([25] Mahoney, 1976; [21] Koku et al. , 1997; [28] Sen et al. , 2001; [20] Klein et al. , 2004). Such other disciplines as political science ([4] DeCrespigny and McKinnell, 1960; [8] Frank et al. , 1982) and marketing ([13] Garrett, 1987; [19] Klein et al. , 2003) have also been used.
By their nature, boycotts are rather unique. Even though they generally require group efforts, they are different from embargoes which are state-sponsored ([13] Garrett, 1987). They are also different from industrial actions (work-stoppage) which are often union-sponsored (see [3] Chavez, 1983). Having been a subject of extensive inquiry, boycotts have been defined differently by different scholars. [10] Friedman (1985, p. 97) defined boycotts as:
[...] an attempt by one or more parties to achieve certain objectives by urging individual consumers to refrain from making selected purchases in the marketplace.
[13] Garrett (1987, p. 47) sees boycotts as:
[...] concerted, but nonmandatory, refusal by a group of actors (the agents) to conduct marketing transactions with one or more other actors (the target) for the purpose of communicating displeasure with certain target policies and attempting to coerce the target to modify those policies.
Although scholars cannot agree on a single cause, it has been well documented that boycotts have been increasing in frequency over the years (see [27] Savan, 1989, [11] Friedman, 1991). Several reasons have been adduced to explain this phenomenon; one explanation is that they have become a common means through consumers express their disapproval of a company's actions or products ([18] John and Klein, 2003). To the extent that boycotts are viewed as empowering an otherwise powerless group, Etzioni (in [14] Hoandler, 1969) ascribed the increasing frequency of boycotts to a part of the "daily routines of democracy."