Consumer Behavior

Morality and Psychosocial Factors Behind Fraudulent Return Practices

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Abstract

This study examines the psychosocial, moral, and personality factors influencing consumers' intentions to engage in wardrobing, a form of fraudulent return behavior enabled by lenient retail return policies. Drawing on Cognitive Dissonance Theory, the Fraud Triangle Theory, and consumer decision-making frameworks, data were collected from 345 U.S. consumers via Amazon MTurk and analyzed using multiple regression. The results indicate that moral disengagement, impulsiveness, price consciousness, and religiosity are positively associated with wardrobing intention, while moral awareness has a significant negative effect. In contrast, public self-consciousness, perceived competitiveness, materialism, self-control, opportunism, and moral judgment do not significantly predict wardrobing intention. The model explains 52.9 percent of the variance in wardrobing intention. These findings extend the literature on unethical consumer behavior by underscoring the importance of moral cognition and price sensitivity, and they offer practical implications for retailers seeking to design return policies and ethical communication strategies to reduce opportunistic post-purchase behavior. 

Keywords: unethical consumption, morality, fraudulent product return, post-consumption behavior

How to Cite:

Putra, A. R., Youn, S., Swazan, I. & Kopot, C., (2025) “Morality and Psychosocial Factors Behind Fraudulent Return Practices”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 1(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.17560