scholarly journals Towards a Polanyian Perspective on Fair Trade: Market-based Relationships and the Act of Ethical Consumption

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 435-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Watson
Keyword(s):  
Fair Trade ◽  
Ethical Consumption ◽  
Trade Market

Do young consumers care about ethical consumption? Modelling Gen Z's purchase intention towards fair trade coffee

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Robichaud ◽  
Hong Yu
Keyword(s):  
Peer Influence ◽  
Significant Influence ◽  
Fair Trade ◽  
Purchase Intention ◽  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
Subjective Norms ◽  
Ethical Consumption ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Fair Trade Coffee

PurposeA global shift in ethical/sustainable purchase drivers highlights Generation Z (persons aged 15–24) as an important market for producers and marketers. Although much research has touched on fair trade consumption, very little has focused on Gen Z's consumption patterns. This study provides insights into and implications of younger consumers' motivations in ethical/sustainable consumption.Design/methodology/approachThis research examines Gen Z's purchase intention towards fair trade coffee with the theory of reasoned action framework. Data were collected with a convenience sample, and analyses were conducted using structural equation modelling.FindingsThe research found a significant influence of knowledge of fair trade towards product interest. Furthermore, general attitudes towards fair trade had a significant influence on product interest, product likeability and convenience. Lastly, product interest and subjective norms significantly influenced Gen Z's purchase intentions towards fair trade coffee.Originality/valueFindings suggest that Gen Z's shift in ethical/sustainable consumption revolves around their subjective norms or peer influence circles and contributes to the notions of self-branding, identify claims and social currency. Younger generations are digital natives, and social media has created a looking glass into their actions. This digital expansion has created more opportunities for individuals to monitor the actions of others and release information in real-time. Therefore, ethical/sustainable consumption by Gen Z can be used as a communication tool among their peers to project personal values and ideological shifts and to influence others close to them.

scholarly journals Fair Trade for Whom? The Contribution of Fair Trade to Combatting Trade Inequities Faced by East Timorese Coffee Producers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kelle Howson
Keyword(s):  
Fair Trade ◽  
Market Access ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Ethical Consumption ◽  
Agricultural Producers ◽  
Mixed Methods Approach ◽  
Democratic Management ◽  
External Pressures ◽  
Governance Practices

<p>Fair trade aims to empower smallholder agricultural producers in the global South to gain more power over their industries by the formation of transparent and democratically representative cooperatives. However, critiques of the fair trade system have emerged in ethical consumption literature, and pockets suggest that individual producer contexts have more of a role to play in determining the benefits of fair trade than had been previously understood or addressed. This work constitutes a case study designed to examine implementation and practice anomalies within the Timorese fair trade certified coffee industry, and the ways in which they impact on producers’ livelihoods and development. A mixed methods approach is deployed to analyse the coffee cooperative Cooperativa Café Timor, and the producers who sell to it. It finds the cooperative to be subject to a number of external pressures that prevent it from passing on the benefits of fair trade certification to farmers. Governance practices in terms of transparency and grassroots representation are found to be significantly hindered by reliance on outside organisations for market access. Also, producers are found to remain superficially represented within commodity chains; having little or no access to value-added income. The involvement of American private enterprise within the East Timorese fair trade system has served to distance the fair trade cooperative from its grassroots, and acts as somewhat of a barrier to democratic management, participatory decision-making, and the realisation of the objectives of fair trade.</p>

How consumer mindsets in ethnic Chinese societies affect the intention to buy Fair Trade products

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 553-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghi-Feng Yen ◽  
Ru-Yu Wang ◽  
Hsin-Ti Yang
Keyword(s):  
Fair Trade ◽  
Moral Identity ◽  
Ethical Consumption ◽  
Moderating Effect ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Ethnic Chinese ◽  
Consumption Decisions ◽  
Intention To Purchase ◽  
Chinese Societies ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how psychological antecedents (i.e. consumer mindsets) and individual difference characteristics (i.e. moral identity) affect the intention to purchase Fair Trade products based on the triadic reciprocal causation model in social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986). The primary factors that influence ethical consumption decisions in ethnic Chinese societies were explored by integrating the unique cultural environment of the Chinese. Design/methodology/approach The study effective sample comprised university students and professors. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses and indirect effects. Results showed that moral identity internalization had a mediating effect on the relationship between a collectivistic mindset and the intention to purchase Fair Trade products. Findings A high moral identity symbolization had a moderating effect on the relationship between a collectivistic mindset and the intention to purchase Fair Trade products. This demonstrated that the two dimensions of moral identity, internalization and symbolization, play different roles and have different functions in regards to the intention to purchase Fair Trade products. Research limitations/implications Future studies are urged to examine this issue at a cultural level by performing a cross-cultural comparison and to integrate consumer heterogeneity for a deeper examination of the interaction between demographic factors and psychological traits on consumer behaviours regarding Fair Trade products. Originality/value This study indicates that moral identity internalization is the primary factor that influences ethical consumption decisions in Chinese societies. In terms of the moderating effect of moral identity symbolization, results showed that the higher an individual’s moral identity symbolization, the stronger the relationship between a collectivistic mindset and the intention to purchase Fair Trade products is. These results can serve as a reference for marketing communications and market segmentation policies in the business world.

scholarly journals A Study on the Changes in Consumer Perceptions of the Relationship between Ethical Consumption and Consumption Value: Focusing on Analyzing Ethical Consumption and Consumption Value Keyword Changes Using Big Data

2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-259
Author(s):  
Eunjung Shin ◽  
Ae-Ran Koh
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Fair Trade ◽  
Ethical Consumption ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Functional Value ◽  
Emotional Value ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Value Functional ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Consumption Value

The purpose of this study was to analyze big data to identify the sub-dimensions of ethical consumption, as well as the consumption value associated with ethical consumption that changes over time. For this study, data were collected from Naver and Daum using the keyword ‘ethical consumption’ and frequency and matrix data were extracted through Textom, for the period January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2018. In addition, a twoway mode network analysis was conducted using the UCINET 6.0 program and visualized using the NetDraw function. The results of text mining show increasing keyword frequency year-on-year, indicating that interest in ethical consumption has grown. The sub-dimensions derived for 2014 and 2015 are fair trade, ethical consumption, eco-friendly products, and cooperatives and for 2016 are fair trade, ethical consumption, eco-friendly products and animal welfare. The results of deriving consumption value keywords were classified as emotional value, social value, functional value and conditional value. The influence of functional value was found to be growing over time. Through network analysis, the relationship between the sub-dimensions of ethical consumption and consumption values derived each year from 2014 to 2018 showed a significantly strong correlation between eco-friendly product consumption and emotional value, social value, functional value and conditional value.

scholarly journals Human Values as Determinants of Fairtrade Consumption in the Czech Republic

2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 465-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ondřej Částek ◽  
Linda Plaváková
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Fair Trade ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Ethical Consumption ◽  
Multivariate Model ◽  
Human Values ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Ethical Consumerism ◽  
On Line

Ethical consumerism is a growing field. It attracts increasingly more attention not only from the supply and demand sides, but also from researchers. Numerous surveys are trying to describe consumers’ behaviour; many studies are trying to identify and analyse what contributes to the higher ethical consumption. While this is also the case of the Czech Republic, empirical evidence focused on the effect of consumers’ values on ethical consumerism in the Czech Republic is still missing. Therefore, our goal is to examine the effect of consumers’ values on Fairtrade consumption in the Czech Republic. We measure the values through the Human Values Scale (developed by S. Schwartz) and use socio-demographic characteristics as control variables in a multivariate model. We find that Universalism and Power are values which can predict the frequency of Fairtrade purchases among Czech online Fairtrade shoppers. Along with Universalism, gender proves to be an important predictor too. While generalizing our results, we must bear in mind that our sample describes only those who do purchase Fair trade products on-line.

scholarly journals Fair trade governance: revisiting a framework to analyse challenges and opportunities for sustainable development towards a green economy

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Cristina Ribeiro-Duthie ◽  
Fred Gale ◽  
Hannah Murphy-Gregory
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Fair Trade ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Ethical Consumption ◽  
Green Economy ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Decision Making Processes

AbstractAs a relatively new form of non-state governance, the fair trade movement presents an opportunity to promote sustainable production and consumption and hence social change. Global market demands and consumer engagement denote changes in social practices that have led governments to share decision-making processes with private sector and non-governmental organisations. In this context of change, it is important to consider not only whether new forms of governance weaken or strengthen states’ authority within the marketplace but also the extent to which they may allow for “green washing” instead of the green economy proposed by the United Nations Environmental Program. This study considers the fair trade of food production and consumption as a potential innovative model. In doing so it examines the existing general literature on governance, which highlights that decision-making processes tend to reproduce top-down approaches. While such practices may reproduce conventional hierarchies, it is worth questioning the potential of new forms of governance within global markets. This article builds on a sustainability governance analytical framework to deepen understandings of fair trade governance and its possible responses to the dilemmas of food production for ethical consumption and thus sustainable development in transnational relations. This research aims to contribute to the literature on improving compliance with global sustainability standards and through this, inform practices that allow for cooperation towards a green economy.

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