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Journal of Business Ethics (2011) 98:597608 Springer 2010 DOI 10.1007/s10551-010-0640-9
An Exploratory Study into the Factors Impeding Ethical Consumption
Jeffery Bray
Nick Johns David Kilburn
ABSTRACT. Although consumers are increasingly engaged with ethical factors when forming opinions about products and making purchase decisions, recent studies have highlighted significant differences between consumers intentions to consume ethically, and their actual purchase behaviour. This article contributes to an understanding of this Ethical Purchasing Gap through a review of existing literature, and the inductive analysis of focus group discussions. A model is suggested which includes exogenous variables such as moral maturity and age which have been well covered in the literature, together with further impeding factors identified from the focus group discussions. For some consumers, inertia in purchasing behaviour was such that the decision-making process was devoid of ethical considerations. Several consumers manifested their ethical views through post-purchase dissonance and retrospective feelings of guilt. Others displayed a reluctance to consume ethically due to personal constraints, a perceived negative impact on image or quality, or an outright negation of responsibility. Those who expressed a desire to consume ethically often seemed deterred by cynicism, which caused them to question the impact they, as an individual, could achieve. These findings enhance the understanding of ethical consumption decisions and provide a platform for future research in this area.
KEY WORDS: attitudebehaviour gap, ethical consumption, Fair Trade
Introduction
It is commonly stated that ethical consumption is growing (Berry and McEachern, 2005; Davis, 2006; Nicholls, 2002; Webster, 2000). A longitudinal study by the Co-operative Bank reports that sales of ethical goods rose between 2004 and 2007 at around 12% a year, reaching 35.5 bn in 2007 (Clavin,
2008). Such growth patterns undoubtedly show great potential, but sales in this area still represent less than 6% of the overall consumer market of some 600 bn (Macalister, 2007). A large scale study by Cowe and Williams (2000) found that more than one third of consumers in the UK described themselves as ethical purchasers, yet ethically accredited products such as Fair Trade lines only achieved a 13% share of their market. Cowe and Williams (2000) named this the 30:3 phenomenon, since approximately 30% of consumers profess to care about ethical standards, but only 3% of purchases reect...