Interpretations of ethical consumption

The importance of ethical behavior in consumers has never been so evident, and in recent years, researchers have generated a great deal of knowledge about ethical consumption. The search for happiness in consumption has been a recurrent line of research by academics of the management and, mainly, the marketing fields. Our study analyses the relationship between ethical and sustainable behavior in consumption and the achievement of consumer happiness. Employing structural equations, the findings of the study suggest that there is a positive relationship between consumers’ predisposition toward sustainable behavior and happiness. In addition, the findings indicate that, when there are reasons to justify unethical behavior in consumption, the consumer also manages to be happier. Important implications for theory and practice are derived from the results. Emphasizing the benefits of sustainable consumption for enhancing happiness might instigate sustainable consumption, especially in the case of those consumers who do not have a positive attitude toward sustainable consumption.

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Globalizing Responsibility: The Political Rationalities of Ethical Consumption

Social & Cultural Geography ◽

10.1080/14649365.2013.777193 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 14 (6) ◽

pp. 731-732

Author(s):

Catherine White

Keyword(s):

Ethical Consumption ◽

The Political

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The Ecological and Ethical Consumption Development Prospects in Poland Compared with the Western European Countries

Comparative Economic Research ◽

10.2478/v10103-011-0013-3 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 101-123 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Małgorzata Koszewska

Keyword(s):

Principal Component ◽

Ethical Consumption ◽

European Countries ◽

Primary Sources ◽

Sources Of Information ◽

Socially Responsible ◽

Secondary Sources ◽

Western European ◽

Polish Economy ◽

Development Prospects

An overview of the Western European literature shows that one of the most distinct trends in consumption that has been noted in the recent years is globally increasing environmental and social awareness. The issue of consumers' behaviours and attitudes towards "socially responsible products" has been gaining importance in Polish economy as well. This article evaluates the development prospects of ethical and ecological consumption in Poland vis-a-vis Western European countries. The comparative analysis being part of the article utilizes primary sources of information, i.e. interviews with a representative sample of Polish adults, as well as secondary sources of information. A factor analysis or, more precisely, a principal component analysis, allowed dividing Polish consumers into groups that were typologically homogeneous in respect of their sensitivity to various aspects of business ethics and ecology.

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

British Food Journal ◽

10.1108/bfj-05-2021-0536 ◽

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.

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Ethical infrastructure: Halal and the ecology of askesis in Muslim Russia

Anthropological Theory ◽

10.1177/14634996211059724 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 146349962110597

Author(s):

Matteo (Teo) Benussi

Keyword(s):

Ethical Consumption ◽

Complex Environments ◽

Inner Self ◽

Conditions Of Possibility ◽

Material Conditions ◽

Material Religion ◽

Late Modern ◽

Inherent Quality ◽

Methodological Ground

This article explores the ecology of late-modern askesis through the concept of ‘ethical infrastructure’: the array of goods, locales, technologies, procedures, and sundry pieces of equipment upon which the possibility of ethicists’ striving is premised. By looking at the ethnographic case of halal living among Muslim pietists in post-Soviet Tatarstan (Russia), I advance a framework that highlights the ‘profane’, often unassuming or religiously unmarked, yet essential material scaffolding constituting the ‘material conditions of possibility’ for pious life in the lifeworld of late modernity. Halalness is conceptualised not as an inherent quality of a clearly defined set of things, but as a (sometimes complicated) relationship between humans, ethical intentionality, and infrastructurally organised habitats. Pointing beyond the case of halal, this article syncretises theories of self-cultivation, material religion, ethical consumption, and infrastructure to address current lacunas and explore fresh theoretical and methodological ground. This ‘ethical infrastructure’ framework enables us to conceptualise the embeddedness of contemporary ethicists in complex environments and the process by which processes of inner self-fashioning change and are changed by material worlds.

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