The evolving passage of consumer ethics research: a systematic literature review

PurposeAs a crucial counter-equivalent to business ethics, consumer ethics has emerged as a promising research domain for practitioners and academicians alike. Despite its pertinence for both industry and academia, little is known about the existing state of consumer ethics research. To address this limitation, a systematic literature review was conducted to identify key research themes, gaps in the extant literature and set the agenda for future research.Design/methodology/approachThis literature review is based on a sample of 81 research articles drawn from Scopus and EBSCO host databases and analysed on different classification bases, covering a period from 2004 to 2019.FindingsThe results reveal that pro-social behaviour has gained recent attention in consumer ethics research. Moreover, there has been a renewed focus to understand and mitigate the attitude–behaviour gap in ethical consumption. The authors also found that majority of the studies have been conducted in Europe and North America, in a single country context.Research limitations/implicationsConsumer ethics has significant economic and social consequences worldwide. Consumer ethics insights can help marketers and practitioners to devise strategies that minimize business losses due to unethical consumer behaviour, incentivize ethical consumption and align corporate social responsibility initiatives that draw consumer support.Originality/valueTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first major (systematic) review on consumer ethics after Vitell’s review of 2003. This review provides valuable directions for future research to carry this domain forward.

Ethical Consumption as the Basis for Counteracting Food Waste

The objective of the article is to present the concept of practical consumer ethics, which may constitute the axiological basis of sustainable consumption and such an attitude of the consumer that will prevent the negative impact of food consumption on the natural and social environment and will counteract the food waste. The authors consider ethical consumption against the background of the normative pattern of sustainable consumption, which is the practical operationalisation of the concept of sustainable development. This pattern implies, on the one hand, consumer ethics and, on the other hand, an environmentally and socially responsible lifestyle. Against this background, the authors postulate the concept of frugalism as a practical ethics of consumption, based on aretological assumptions and the values of Henryk Skolimowski's ecological ethics. Frugalism, in its normative assumptions, contributes to deconsumption by changing the system of values, attitudes and preferences of a consumer, who voluntarily decides to limit the amount of purchased products, preferring those that are recycled and more sustainable. The authors present comparative statements of the features of the consumerist and frugalistic attitudes.

Are atheist consumers less ethical? Investigating the role of religiosity and atheism on consumer ethics

Purpose There is a perception that non-religious consumers are less ethical than religious consumers. Studies found prejudices against atheists around the world and assumed that those who committed unethical behavior were more likely to be atheists. Hence, first, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of consumers’ intrinsic religiosity, extrinsic religiosity and atheism on consumers’ ethical beliefs. Second, this study attempts to segment consumers and identify differences between these segments. Design/methodology/approach Using data from 235 study participants in the USA and 531 in Vietnam. Subsequently, a two-step cluster approach was used to identify segments within these samples. Findings The study results show consumers’ intrinsic religiosity negatively influences all consumers’ unethical beliefs. Similarly, atheism also negatively influences all consumers’ unethical beliefs. This study also complements other studies exploring consumer ethics in developing countries. In addition, the segmentation analysis produced unique segments. The results from both samples (USA and Vietnam) indicated that non-religious consumers are less likely to accept various unethical behaviors compared to religious consumers. Religious consumers are not necessarily more ethical and atheism consumers are not necessarily less ethical. In the end, are implications for business ethics, religious and non-religious leaders on how to view the impact of beliefs on consumer ethical behaviors. Originality/value This is one of the first few studies investigating the impact of atheism on consumer ethics. The results of this study further extend the knowledge of study in consumer ethics by comparing consumers’ religiosity and atheism.

The Influence of Marketing Ethics and Consumer Ethics on Consumer Behaviour and Decisions Before and During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Literacy Study

One of the focuses of marketing in a company is how to achieve customer loyalty. That is reflected in how companies maintain brands, consumers, and product-consumer relationships. In some cases, companies focus solely on profit, resulting in the company losing its reputation. There is an opinion that consumers demand ethics and responsibility from companies to stakeholders, in this case, consumers. Consumers in this position can provide feedback regarding the company's marketing ethics. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, consumers are also more vigilant and careful in choosing products. So, with the COVID-19 Pandemic conditions like this, it is necessary to study whether consumer ethics in determining product choices and behavior towards products will be affected and whether a company's marketing ethics also influence product determination and consumer behavior towards products. This article aims to examine whether marketing ethics and consumer ethics influence consumer behavior and decisions to buy a product or interact further with the product, especially in the current era of the COVID 19 Pandemic. And the method used for this article is a systematic literature review. From this research, it is concluded that marketing and consumer ethics have a role in influencing consumers to choose to buy products and the responses given after making a purchase or through transaction experience with a company. And consumer behavior and decisions are very dependent on how ethical the company is in marketing its products both before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic