Correlates of Racially Profiled Consumers’ Attitudes on Perpetrator Accountability: An Exploratory Study of Canadian Shoppers

Previous research on consumer racial profiling (CRP) highlights the repercussions of everyday discrimination, including heightened negative emotions by the targeted groups and the crisis in negative publicity directed toward retailers. The current study aims to address an inquiry under the veil—what shapes CRP victims’ attitudes on how to address perpetrator accountability? Drawing on three conceptual frameworks from the public opinion literature—justice-related instincts, attribution styles, and empathy—we analyzed data from a diverse sample of 411 Canadians who reported experiencing CRP. Our findings suggest that support for rehabilitative measures was predicted by employee characteristics, whereas support for punitive measures was predicted by race, recency of the incident, and experiencing negative emotions. Hardcore punitiveness was predicted by education level, employee characteristics, and incident-sharing behaviors. This research bridges the gap between research in CRP and public opinion, offering a stepping stone for developing strategies to reduce the suspicion encountered by racial/ethnic minority shoppers in retail settings.