TITLE:
Business Conspiracy Theories
AUTHORS:
Adrian Furnham, Jona Leka
KEYWORDS:
Business Conspiracy, Corruption, Dishonesty
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.14 No.9,
September
21,
2023
ABSTRACT: This study explored one of the
less studied types of conspiracy theories, namely those concerned with business,
organisations and industry. In all, 400 participants completed a 60-item
questionnaire which covered a number of areas
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 their marketing. Also, they believed many manufacturers 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 not strongly related to business conspiracy theories
suggesting consensus. Implications for understanding how conspiracy beliefs
relate to product purchase and consumer boycotts are discussed.