<span>Qualitative research is proposed to study the derivation and effect of stigma in the marketing domain where it has been observed as an underexposed theoretical construct. The study seeks to build on previous research in the social domain by considering how product stigma derives and if it can be characterized similarly in the marketplace. The study is designed to discover, for example, if consumers, in their responses to product stigma, engage in the same stigma development processes that sociologists and psychologists have described operate in social situations. And we are motivated to shed light on how and to what extent consumer attitudes, fueled by beliefs </span><span>about stigmatized products and the consequences of their use, influence marketplace behavior. The proposed research relies upon theoretical constructs related to social stigma, self and social identity and well-tested theories about determinants of behavior and attitude/behavior consistency. A consumer-focused examination of market domain attitudes is recommended to promote our understanding of buying and/or shunning behaviors relative to stigmatized products. A conceptual model is presented and a research design, based on the conduct of semi-structured interviews with a defined sample of consumers in the US Midwest is described.Doctorate of Management Programs</span>
