Reciprocity on the Edge of Distance Paradox: How Sustainability Motives and Hypocrisy Shape Consumer Responses to Nearshoring

Abstract

Despite growing interest in corporate relocation decisions and sustainability, the existing literature is limited in its consumer-centric approach. Integrating social exchange theory and construal level theory, this research investigates how consumers perceive sustainability-driven nearshoring motives (i.e., socio-economic vs. environmental) and further examines how psychological distance (i.e., spatial and social) shapes consumer gratitude and consumer brand reactions (i.e., willingness to reciprocate and brand avoidance), following a corporate hypocritical event. Based on three preregistered experiments, including a prestudy, we demonstrate that although sustainability motives foster consumer gratitude and willingness to reciprocate, corporate hypocrisy significantly diminishes positive consumer responses when it occurs in a recently nearshored country with lower spatial distance, rather than in a formerly offshored country with higher spatial distance. Interestingly, consumers often disregard corporate hypocritical practices when they occur in a formerly offshored country (vs. a recently nearshored country) or involve brands with a higher (vs. a lower) social distance, uncovering a distance paradox in consumer concern for sustainability. Highlighting the norm of reciprocity generated through nearshoring, with the conditioning role of psychological distance, we shed light on the mechanisms affecting consumer–brand relationships and provide important implications for both research and practice.