mapping ethical consumer behavior: integrating the empirical research and identifying future...

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Mapping Ethical Consumer Behavior:Integrating the Empirical Research andIdentifying Future DirectionsEleni Papaoikonomou a , Gerard Ryan a & Mireia Valverde aa Department of Business Management , Universitat Rovira i VirgiliPublished online: 24 May 2011.

To cite this article: Eleni Papaoikonomou , Gerard Ryan & Mireia Valverde (2011) Mapping EthicalConsumer Behavior: Integrating the Empirical Research and Identifying Future Directions, Ethics &Behavior, 21:3, 197-221, DOI: 10.1080/10508422.2011.570165

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ETHICS & BEHAVIOR, 21(3), 197–221

Copyright © 2011 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

ISSN: 1050-8422 print / 1532-7019 online

DOI: 10.1080/10508422.2011.570165

Mapping Ethical Consumer Behavior: Integrating theEmpirical Research and Identifying Future Directions

Eleni Papaoikonomou, Gerard Ryan, and Mireia ValverdeDepartment of Business Management

Universitat Rovira i Virgili

The concept of “ethical consumer behavior” has gained significant attention among practitioners andacademic researchers, generating increasing but disjointed knowledge on the topic. By analyzingthe empirical research on ethical consumer behavior, this article provides researchers with a map toguide future research. In total, we review 80 studies. The main contributions of the article includethe identification of the main trends in the ethical consumer literature and the conceptualization ofethical consumer behavior. In addition, several areas for future research are proposed and discussed.

Keywords: ethical decision making, consumer behavior, consumer ethics, business ethics

In recent years, the study of ethics in human behavior has presented a wide diversity of per-spectives and foci. Researchers are interested in the ways individuals employ or ignore ethicsin carrying out different social roles: as students (Flaming, Agacer, & Uddin, 2010), as teachers(Gibson, 2008), and as professionals of different kinds (Hopkins, Hopkins, & Mitchell, 2008).In business research, the study of ethics in the marketplace has become increasingly important,opening up new areas for research (cf. Figure 1). Within the context of business ethics, muchresearch is focused on marketing ethics and the dissemination of ethical principles and guidelinesamong marketing professionals, given that marketing is often seen as an “ethically controversial”management field (Carrigan & Attalla, 2001; Kimmel, 2001). Nevertheless, relatively less atten-tion has been placed on ethics in the consumer side of the marketing exchange. However, such afocus is important, because “understanding ourselves as people who consume may explain muchof what we are about as human beings, since in late modernity, many claim, consumption is muchof our life” (Fuat Firat & Dholakia, 2003, p. 2).

In academic research, there is an increase in the number of publications on the ethicsof the consumer. However, ethics of consumption is not perceived in a homogeneous way.Two main streams of research focus on different conceptualizations of what behaving ethi-cally is in consumer situations: consumer ethics and ethical consumer behavior (Chatzidakis &Mitussis, 2007).

Correspondence should be addressed to Eleni Papaoikonomou, Department of Business Management, UniversitatRovira i Virgili, Catalonia, Spain. E-mail: [email protected]

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198 PAPAOIKONOMOU, RYAN, VALVERDE

Consumer Side Business Side

Business Ethics

Consumer Ethics

Ethical Consumer Behavior

Marketing Ethics

FIGURE 1 The study of ethics in the marketplace.

Consumer ethics studies how consumers perceive and react to potentially unethical purchasesituations or behaviors. Counterfeiting, using an expired sales coupon, shoplifting, receiving toomuch change at the counter, or changing price tags on products are some examples (Chiu, Hsieh,Chang, & Lee, 2009; Vitell, 2003).

In the ethical consumer behavior literature, the focus of this article, ethics has a differentmeaning. In broad terms, it refers to the making of consumer decisions according to socialand environmental considerations such as animal, social, and environmental welfare (Low &Davenport, 2007). Early research was narrowly focused on the study of the green consumer,prompted by the “alternative consumers” movement of the 1970s (Chatzidakis & Mitussis, 2007).Since the 1990s, more issues related to the welfare of society (Shaw & Shiu, 2002) have beenincluded, thus broadening the conceptualization of ethical consumer behavior. Presently, thereis a growing multidisciplinary literature on the evolving and dynamic phenomenon of ethicalconsumer behavior, with contributions from sociology (e.g., Caruana, 2007), ethics (Barnett,Cafaro, & Newholm, 2005), social psychology (e.g., Sparks & Shepherd, 1992), anthropol-ogy (Wagner-Tsukamoto, 2003), human geography (Low & Davenport, 2007), and economics(Altman, 2005).

Although there is a vast amount of empirical evidence and a number of different literaturereviews on consumer ethics (see Vitell, 2003), this is not the case for ethical consumer behavior.The literature on this topic is scattered, complex, and disparate. Hence, the aim of the currentarticle is to make a necessary and timely contribution to this literature by examining the followingquestions:

• What questions are examined empirically in the literature?• What are the results of this research? Where is there conclusive and consistent evidence

and where are there inconsistencies?• What methodologies are adopted and what type of contexts are the focus of research?• What should be the main focus of future research on the topic?

In doing so, we provide a map of the knowledge on ethical consumer behavior that can guide theefforts of researchers in the future.

The article is structured as follows. We explain the methodology employed in the review,followed by the results of the review. Finally, we draw conclusions and indicate avenues forfuture research.

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MAPPING ETHICAL CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 199

METHOD

This review focuses on ethical consumer behavior studies published in English mainly in,but not limited to, marketing, business, sociology, and ethics journals. A systematic literaturereview was undertaken following the guidelines by Tranfield, Denyer, and Smart (2003) andby Moustaghfir (2008). Hence, an electronic and bibliography search from identified articleswas conducted on a number of different databases (InformaWorld, ProQuest, EBSCO, BusinessSource Elite, SpringerLink, Emerald, and Wiley Interscience) using keywords such as ethicalconsumer, socially responsible, and ethical decision making as search strings. The followinginclusion criteria were established:

• The time frame for the selection of articles was limited to the period 1990 to 2009, becauseaccording to key authors in the field, ethical consumer research experienced a veritableexplosion during this period (Carrigan & Attalla, 2001; Cherrier, 2005; Newholm & Shaw,2007).

• Articles in the English language were chosen, as most relevant scholarly journals arepublished in English (also see Moustaghfir, 2008).

• All the selected articles are empirical. Nonempirical articles were found, but they are mostlydiscussions of specific issues, for example, ethical consumers in the context of the globaleconomic and financial crisis (Carrigan & De Pelsmacker, 2009). The lack of conceptualor theoretical articles is worth noting, with few notable exceptions (e.g., Chatzidakis &Mitussis, 2007; Moisander, 2007).

In total, 80 studies were selected. Comparative tables were prepared following a similarorganization schema. These are presented throughout this article:

1. Paper details (Author-Year of Publication-Journal)2. Context (Country from which the sample was drawn)3. Methodology and Sampling4. Focus of the study5. Main Findings

RESULTS

This section presents the main findings of the review. In the first subsection, the main generaltrends are outlined and discussed. In the following subsections, findings are grouped by the-matic categories. The last subsection comments on the methodologies employed and the selectedcontexts.

General Trends and Main Topics

Three research categories attracted the attention of most researchers during the last 20 yearsbased on the main research question posed by the studies. They are as follows:

• Profiling the ethical consumer: These studies aim to identify who the ethical consumer isand to provide a profile on the basis of sociodemographic, environmental, and personalityvariables.

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• Modeling the ethical consumer. These studies provide models that aim to predict ethicalconsumer behaviors and describe the influencing factors.

• Understanding and exploring the ethical consumer: This category mainly explores whattypes of practices constitute ethical consumer behaviors in the existing literature and whatdrives ethical consumers to be ethical.

The studies are grouped and presented according to these research categories. The reviewreveals a clear increase in the amount of academic work published on ethical consumer behaviorand especially since 2006 (cf. Figure 2, solid black line). Although research on profiling andmodeling can be found throughout the 1990s, research that attempts to better understand theethical consumer is almost inexistent until 2000. This is the only research category to present asteady increase over the years, probably as researchers recognize the need to explore and under-stand before major contributions in profiling and modeling can be made. This research categoryconstitutes the vanguard of ethical consumer research.

Profiling the Ethical Consumer

In total, 31 profiling studies were identified. Different segmentation variables are used, but theuse of sociodemographics is the most common (24 of 31 studies), probably because data areeasier to gather.

Table 1 shows that existing empirical evidence is inconclusive in terms of generating a generalprofile of the ethical consumer. Only with regards to gender and education are the results moreconsistent, suggesting that the ethical consumer is often female and of a relatively high educationalstatus (e.g., Diamantopoulos, Schlegelmilch, Sinkovics, & Bohlen, 2003; Roberts, 1996).

Other authors attempt to explain ethical consumer behavior on the grounds of the con-sumer’s personality. Green consumers appear to be opinion leaders and careful shoppers (Shrum,McCarty, & Lowrey, 1995), innovative (Bhate, 2001; Bhate & Lawler, 1997), extroverted, andguided by self-fulfillment values (Fraj & Martinez, 2006b).

Nevertheless, many authors agree that sociodemographics and personality variables are notsufficient to accurately define the ethical consumer (Bhate & Lawler, 1997; Diamantopouloset al., 2003; Roberts, 1996; Shaw & Clarke, 1999). Shaw and Clarke (1999) claimed that thereis a need to look beyond the relationships between discrete variables and behavior and to adopt

9080

70

6050

403020

100

1990–1993 1994–1997 1998–2001 2002–2005 2006–2009

TOTAL

PROFILING

MODELING

UNDERSTANDING

FIGURE 2 Evolution of ethical consumer behavior.

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ers,

dist

rust

fulo

fad

vert

isin

gR

ober

ts(1

996)

US

Surv

eyof

582

adul

tcon

sum

ers

EC

CB

scal

eN

ocl

ear

profi

les

Bha

te&

Law

ler

(199

7)U

KSt

ruct

ured

inte

rvie

ws

with

148

resp

onde

nts

Purc

hase

and

use

ofen

viro

nmen

tally

frie

ndly

prod

ucts

Inno

vato

rsm

ore

envi

ronm

enta

llyfr

iend

ly.I

ncon

clus

ive

resu

ltsfo

rre

latio

nshi

pof

high

invo

lvem

enti

npu

rcha

sean

den

viro

nmen

tally

frie

ndly

beha

vior

Dom

ina

&K

och

(199

8)U

SSu

rvey

of11

3w

omen

shop

pers

Text

ilean

dap

pare

lrec

yclin

gbe

havi

orN

oac

cura

teso

ciod

emog

raph

icpr

ofile

Stra

ugha

n&

Rob

erts

(199

9)U

SSu

rvey

of23

5un

iver

sity

stud

ents

EC

CB

scal

eG

reen

cons

umer

sar

epo

litic

ally

“lef

t”an

dal

trui

st

Bha

te(2

001)

Indi

a,G

reec

e,an

dU

KSu

rvey

of13

2M

BA

stud

ents

Env

iron

men

tally

frie

ndly

beha

vior

(gre

enpu

rcha

se,r

ecyc

ling,

etc.

)H

igh

invo

lved

and

inno

vato

rsm

ore

likel

yto

unde

rtak

een

viro

nmen

tally

frie

ndly

activ

ities

Shaw

etal

.(20

05)

UK

Dat

aco

llect

ion:

(a)

Four

focu

sgr

oups

,(b)

Que

stio

nnai

res

base

don

the

Schw

artz

Val

ueSu

rvey

,(c)

8in

-dep

thin

terv

iew

s.Pu

rpos

ive

sam

ple

ofSc

ottis

hC

oop

Soci

ety

mem

bers

FTgr

ocer

ysh

oppi

ngU

nive

rsal

ism

and

self

-dir

ectio

nva

lues

seem

tobe

guid

ing

ethi

cal

cons

umer

beha

vior

s

(con

tinue

d)

203

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nloa

ded

by [

Rye

rson

Uni

vers

ity]

at 0

6:27

10

Oct

ober

201

4

TAB

LE1

(Con

tinue

d)

Mea

sure

sfo

rC

once

ptua

lizi

ngA

rtic

leD

etai

lsC

onte

xtM

etho

dolo

gy/Sa

mpl

ing

Eth

ical

Beh

avio

rM

ain

Fin

ding

s

Fraj

&M

artin

ez(2

006a

)Sp

ain

Surv

eyof

573

indi

vidu

als

with

apr

etes

tin

150

adul

tsM

alon

ey’s

Env

iron

men

talS

cale

(197

8)—

EA

KS

Eco

logi

calc

onsu

mer

asex

trov

ert,

agre

eabl

e,an

dco

nsci

entio

usFr

aj&

Mar

tinez

(200

6b)

Spai

nSu

rvey

of57

3in

divi

dual

s.Pr

etes

tof

ques

tionn

aire

son

150

indi

vidu

als

Env

iron

men

talA

ttitu

dean

dK

now

ledg

eSc

ale

Eco

logi

calc

onsu

mer

sas

look

ing

for

self

-ful

fillm

ent,

tryi

ngto

impr

ove

them

selv

es.A

lso

envi

ronm

enta

llyco

nsci

ous,

enga

ging

inre

cycl

ing

and

activ

ities

that

prot

ectt

heen

viro

nmen

tG

oig

(200

7)Sp

ain

Surv

eyof

2,49

3co

nsum

ers.

Clu

ster

anal

ysis

resu

ltsin

4cl

uste

rs.

Inte

rvie

ws

follo

wed

with

18co

nsum

ers

repr

esen

ting

3of

4cl

uste

rs

FTpu

rcha

seFT

cons

umer

sha

vegr

eate

rle

vels

ofgl

obal

cogn

itive

orie

ntat

ion,

feel

soci

ally

resp

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ble,

and

trus

tin

NG

Os.

Agl

obal

cogn

itive

-ori

ente

dco

nsum

erde

fined

asth

eco

nsum

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elin

gac

coun

tabl

efo

rth

eim

pact

ofhi

spu

rcha

ses

onth

ew

orld

Not

e.U

S=

Uni

ted

Stat

es;U

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Uni

ted

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gdom

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nong

over

nmen

talo

rgan

izat

ion.

a Age

,gen

der,

race

,fam

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men

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e,so

cial

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ploy

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itals

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ffec

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cycl

ing

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vior

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itica

lact

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soon

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ifes

tyle

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sona

lity,

mot

ivat

ion,

valu

es.

204

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nloa

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vers

ity]

at 0

6:27

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Oct

ober

201

4


a less simplistic approach to understand who the ethical consumer is. For instance, certain behav-iors, such as recycling, are also influenced by institutional factors such as the access to recyclingfacilities (Haanpää, 2007).

An important observation is that the conceptualization of ethical consumer behavior is incon-sistent across these studies. There is a clear need to develop specific constructs for measurement.This would be the only feasible way to compare across studies. Nevertheless, the general impres-sion is that each successive article takes its own specific approach to defining what ethicalconsumer behavior is. For example, for Bhate and Lawler (1997), ethical consumers frequentlypurchase and use environmentally friendly products. However, Diamantopoulos et al. (2003)suggested that ethical consumers not only purchase green products but also recycle, engagein pro-environmental political action, and demonstrate high levels of environmental knowledgeand concern. This disparity in definitions leads to disjointed knowledge. Hence, further researchshould be undertaken to more precisely understand ethical consumers and how they can be moreaccurately conceptualized and operationalized.

Modeling the Ethical Consumer

Different authors propose various models of ethical decision making (see Table 2). With theinitial focus limited to green behaviors, frameworks were applied in the contexts of the pur-chase of recycled products (Diamantopoulos et al., 2003), of reduced use of air conditioning(Osterhus, 1997), or of the purchase of reusable cloth baby diapers (Follows & Jobber, 2000).Later, attention was broadened with an emphasis on the context of Fair Trade (FT) groceryproducts (Ozcaglar-Toulouse, Shiu, & Shaw, 2006; Shaw & Clarke, 1999; Shaw & Shiu, 2003).

The models present similarities in the constructs used (social norms, personal norms,perceived behavior control) and their hierarchical structure. Most models follow the attitude–intention–behavior order, whereas some propose the addition of values (Follows & Jobber, 2000;Mostafa, 2007a). The theory of planned behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1991) appears to be the mostinfluential framework (36% of the selected studies). In fact, many frameworks were built on thebasis of the TPB (see Follows & Jobber, 2000, for discussion), although variations of the ini-tial framework have been encountered that incorporate new constructs. The inclusion of moralconcerns is argued to be important for the prediction of human behavior (McEachern, Shröder,Willock, Whitelock, & Mason, 2007; Shaw & Shiu, 2002). Shaw and Shiu (2002, 2003) addedself-identity and ethical obligation with an improvement in the predictive ability of the frame-work. Later research that examines other types of behaviors reveals the need to readjust theframework. Shaw, Shiu, Hassan, Bekin, and Hogg (2007) modified the initial framework of TPBby incorporating the constructs of desire and plan in order to examine the avoidance of sweatshopclothing.

Apart from the TPB, other models are proposed (Follows & Jobber, 2000; Osterhus, 1997;Thøgersen, 1999). In Osterhus (1997) and Thøgersen (1999), the models include two levels ofnorms that define behavior: the broad social norms and the specific personal norms, consid-ered internalized social norms. Both frameworks were influenced by Schwartz’s (1977) modelof altruistic behavior. Follows and Jobber (2000) proposed a model of environmentally respon-sible purchase behavior that is based on the teleological evaluation of ethics. They argued thatan environmentally responsible purchase is defined by the consequences of such purchase on theenvironment and on the individual.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

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rson

Uni

vers

ity]

at 0

6:27

10

Oct

ober

201

4

TAB

LE2

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elin

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avio

r(2

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tudi

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text

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elC

onst

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dolo

gyTy

peof

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avio

rM

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erhu

s(1

997)

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nom

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tura

land

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ativ

ein

fluen

ces

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pred

ictio

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vior

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nesu

rvey

of79

8ho

useh

olds

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ucin

gus

eof

air

cond

ition

ing

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ctur

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ces

dono

tdefi

nebe

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or.

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hre

spon

sibi

lity

attr

ibut

ions

can

incr

ease

the

effe

ctof

pers

onal

norm

son

beha

vior

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afat

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al.(

1999

)G

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KT

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avio

r(T

PB).

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odel

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ains

mor

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ple

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ciou

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stre

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adop

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ifica

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)U

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206

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Rye

rson

Uni

vers

ity]

at 0

6:27

10

Oct

ober

201

4

Cha

n(2

001)

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(200

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ical

cons

umer

”

Boy

cott

swea

tsho

pap

pare

lA

ttitu

deim

pact

sin

tent

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thro

ugh

the

mot

ivat

iona

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re.T

hem

odifi

edfr

amew

ork

has

incr

ease

dex

plan

ator

yab

ility

McE

ache

rnet

al.

(200

7)U

KT

PBw

ithin

clus

ion

ofm

oral

oblig

atio

nan

dsi

tuat

iona

lvar

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es.I

n-de

pth

inte

rvie

ws

with

30co

nsum

ers

and

post

alsu

rvey

of1,

000

cons

umer

s

Free

dom

food

purc

hasi

ng(a

void

ing

anim

alcr

uelty

)

Mor

alob

ligat

ion

and

situ

atio

nalv

aria

bles

such

aslo

catio

npr

ovid

ebe

tter

pred

ictiv

eca

pabi

lity

toth

em

odel

(con

tinue

d)

207

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nloa

ded

by [

Rye

rson

Uni

vers

ity]

at 0

6:27

10

Oct

ober

201

4

TAB

LE2

(Con

tinue

d)

Art

icle

Det

ails

Con

text

Mod

elC

onst

ruct

s/M

etho

dolo

gyTy

peof

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avio

rM

ain

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ding

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ul-M

uhm

in(2

007)

Saud

iAra

bia

Env

iron

men

talc

once

rnan

dpe

rcei

ved

psyc

holo

gica

lcon

sequ

ence

sas

ante

cede

nts

ofw

illin

gnes

sto

perf

orm

envi

ronm

enta

llyfr

iend

lybe

havi

ors.

Surv

eyof

232

cons

umer

s

Will

ingn

ess

tope

rfor

men

viro

nmen

tally

frie

ndly

beha

vior

s

Past

envi

ronm

enta

lbeh

avio

raf

fect

spe

rcei

ved

psyc

holo

gica

lcon

sequ

ence

sof

actio

ns.T

hese

are

rela

ted

toth

ew

illin

gnes

sto

perf

orm

envi

ronm

enta

llyfr

iend

lybe

havi

ors

Mos

tafa

(200

7b)

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ptN

atur

alen

viro

nmen

tori

enta

tion,

perc

eive

den

viro

nmen

talk

now

ledg

e,an

dne

wen

viro

nmen

talp

arad

igm

asan

tece

dent

sof

gree

npu

rcha

seat

titud

es,i

nten

tion,

and

acce

ptan

ce.S

urve

yw

ith1,

093

cons

umer

s

Buy

ing

gree

npr

oduc

tsIn

gene

ral,

findi

ngs

confi

rmth

ehi

erar

chic

alst

ruct

ure

ofth

eva

lues

–atti

tude

–int

entio

n–be

havi

orm

odel

Cha

net

al.(

2008

)C

hina

Mod

elba

sed

onH

unta

ndV

itell’

sth

eory

ofm

arke

ting

ethi

cs.S

urve

yof

250

cons

umer

sB

ring

your

own

bag

prac

tice

Man

-nat

ure

orie

ntat

ion

and

colle

ctiv

ism

posi

tivel

yin

fluen

ceat

titud

e,in

tent

ion,

and

beha

vior

Mic

hael

idou

&H

assa

n(2

008)

UK

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lthco

nsci

ousn

ess,

ethi

cals

elf-

iden

tity,

and

food

safe

tyco

ncer

nas

ante

cede

nts

ofat

titud

ean

dpu

rcha

sein

tent

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gani

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Surv

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222

cons

umer

s

Org

anic

food

buyc

ottin

gFo

odsa

fety

posi

tivel

yaf

fect

sat

titud

eto

buy

orga

nic

food

,whe

reas

ethi

cals

elf-

iden

tity

pred

icts

both

attit

udes

and

inte

ntio

nto

buy

orga

nic

food

Fara

j&N

ewm

an(2

009)

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anon

TPB

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dom

ized

syst

emat

icsa

mpl

eof

500

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istia

nsan

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uslim

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pret

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sity

stud

ents

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cotti

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havi

orA

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ast

rong

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edic

tor

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Not

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Uni

ted

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Uni

ted

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gdom

.

208

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Rye

rson

Uni

vers

ity]

at 0

6:27

10

Oct

ober

201

4


Although existing ethical consumer decision-making models such as the modified theory ofplanned behavior have a satisfactory predictive ability, there is still much unexplained informa-tion (Ozcaglar-Toulouse et al., 2006). These frameworks are social cognition models that assumethat attitudes will translate into behavioral intentions (Chatzidakis & Mitussis, 2007). However,this is not always the case and, as Follows and Jobber (2000) argued, it could be a matter ofrefining these models. To achieve this, improvements in understandings the ethical consumer arenecessary (Shaw, Grehan, Shiu, Hassan, & Thomson, 2005). Moreover, the applicability of themodels was tested in specific cultural contexts (mostly the United Kingdom), a fact that questionsthe generalizability of the models.

Exploring and Understanding Ethical Consumer Behavior

In this category many studies are exploratory in nature. This clearly shows the need to sourcemore in-depth information on the ethical consumer. The most commonly addressed topics aremeanings of consumption, types of practices involved in ethical consumer projects, motivation,identity construction, and decision-making processes.

Table 3 explains the focus of each of the selected studies. Half of these aim to identify thedrivers of ethical consumer behaviors. In terms of meanings, a common finding is that ethicalconsumers do not wish to bring about social change but try to be authentic and real with their eth-ical self (Cherrier, 2009; Zavestoski, 2002). Findings on identity construction suggest that ethicalconsumer practices serve as a way of constructing an ethical self and to distinguish them fromother consumers (Carey, Shaw, & Shiu, 2008; Kozinets & Handelman, 1998). Visible objectssuch as green bags become symbols of belonging to certain groups, thus sharing a collectiveidentity (Cherrier, 2006). Cherrier (2007) argued that “voluntary simplicity embodies a socialmovement because it connects different members of a society through a similar arena of inter-ests, norms, personal meanings or values” (p. 327). Shaw, Newholm, and Dickinson (2006) alsodiscovered that ethical consumers perceive themselves as a part of imagined larger communities.

Research was conducted to identify what voluntary simplifiers do in order to cut down ontheir consumption levels (Huneke, 2005; Shaw & Newholm, 2002) or to minimize their wastegeneration levels (Bekin, Carrigan, & Szmigin, 2007). Findings show that they tend to cut downon impulse purchases and hedonic consumption, prefer secondhand products, and avoid privatetransport. Ethical practices are adopted by consumers gradually over time (Szmigin, Carrigan, &McEachern, 2009).

Ethical decision making is examined in five studies, with much attention placed on informa-tion search and decision-making criteria (e.g., Carrigan & Attalla, 2001; Shaw & Clarke, 1999).Grønhøj (2006) and Carey et al. (2008) examined how this takes place within families and foundthat ethical consumer decisions are the result of renegotiation between the family members.

In general, studies tend to focus on certain ethical consumer projects such as green and ethicalconsumption, Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB) and Waste Management in Voluntary SimplifiedLifestyles. Table 3 classifies the selected studies according to their focus. This classificationenables us to conceptualize ethical consumer behavior on the basis of the types of consumerpractices that have been studied in the literature, as outlined next:

1. Buycotting: This term describes the act of choosing and buying certain productsand services over others, due to social considerations (Ozcaglar-Toulouse et al., 2006;

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Rye

rson

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vers

ity]

at 0

6:27

10

Oct

ober

201

4

TAB

LE3

Exp

lorin

gan

dU

nder

stan

ding

Eth

ical

Con

sum

erB

ehav

iors

(24

Stu

dies

)

Art

icle

Det

ails

Con

text

Met

hodo

logy

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sM

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cotti

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ion

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inet

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delm

an(1

998)

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cybe

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ning

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vior

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pres

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dual

ityan

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ese

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ealiz

atio

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ets

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2)U

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ngth

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day

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ning

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proj

ect

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crip

tion

ofth

epr

ojec

tan

dm

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wor

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ting

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cons

umer

have

ane

gativ

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rth

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urni

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anpr

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stru

cted

outs

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the

mar

ket,

offe

ring

asp

ace

for

part

icip

ants

tobe

true

with

them

selv

esE

thic

alan

dgr

een

buyc

ottin

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oope

r-M

artin

&H

olbr

ook

(199

3)U

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ost

udie

s:Su

rvey

of79

unde

rgra

duat

esan

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uden

ts;S

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142

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ical

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ered

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;rel

igio

n,an

imal

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ts,l

abor

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atri

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rity

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ical

cons

umpt

ion

expe

rien

ces

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sugg

este

dto

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rke

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9)U

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mer

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labe

ling,

and

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rtis

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n&

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lla(2

001)

UK

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of10

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they

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.(20

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etal

.(20

06)

UK

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with

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210

Dow

nloa

ded

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Rye

rson

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vers

ity]

at 0

6:27

10

Oct

ober

201

4

Car

eyet

al.(

2008

)U

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-dep

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mem

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dth

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sw

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thor

itativ

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etal

.(2

009)

UK

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with

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dco

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iden

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volu

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,par

ticip

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seek

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rau

then

ticity

whi

chca

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besa

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hco

nsum

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(con

tinue

d)

211

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Rye

rson

Uni

vers

ity]

at 0

6:27

10

Oct

ober

201

4

TAB

LE3

(Con

tinue

d)

Art

icle

Det

ails

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text

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logy

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ing

Focu

sM

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(200

5)U

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late

dto

volu

ntar

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with

113

resp

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Prac

tices

,mot

ivat

ions

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ives

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logi

calc

once

rn,m

ore

cont

rolo

ver

lifes

tyle

s,an

ticon

sum

ptio

nat

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Shaw & Clarke, 1999; Shaw & Shiu, 2002, 2003). Half of the studies found focus onethical shopping, often of FT products and environmentally friendly products.

2. Boycotting and participation in anticonsumption events: Consumers may also expresstheir social concerns by avoiding certain actions or by not purchasing a product.Companies that commercialize certain products may have an unethical social record(company-oriented boycotting) or because their products are unsustainable (product-oriented boycotting; Harrison, Newholm, & Shaw, 2005).

3. Voluntary simplicity/Ethical simplifiers: Ethical simplifiers are consumers that choose tocut down on their overall consumption levels and to adopt a simpler lifestyle due to socialand environmental considerations (Shaw & Newholm, 2002). This ethical lifestyle per-meates all aspects of behavior (e.g., running a home, raising a child, managing finances;Huneke, 2005).

4. Sustainable consumer habits: Ethical consumer behavior also refers to individual postpur-chase and other behaviors related to how products are used and disposed of. This includesrecycling and waste management by ethically-minded consumers (Grønhøj, 2006) andthe practice of BYOB to reduce plastic bag use (Cherrier, 2006). This category refers toindividual or singular behaviors, as opposed to the previous category which refers to anoverall lifestyle.

Although the insights gained from this line of research are useful, these studies examine onlyspecific fragments of a consumer’s ethical lifestyle while disregarding other ethical projects thata consumer might be involved in. In other words, the focus is on the specific behaviors chosenby the researcher. Hence, there is a lack of a holistic understanding of the ethical consumer andof the wide range of strategies and behaviors that he or she might adopt throughout daily life.

Methodological Approaches in Ethical Consumer Literature

Different types of methodologies and research techniques predominate in each of the identifiedresearch categories: profiling, modeling, and understanding. In the first two categories, quanti-tative methodologies are most common. In profiling, about 90% of studies employ surveys tocollect data, whereas the rest use either a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques(Goig, 2007; Shaw et al., 2005) or panel data (Roozen, 2007). In modeling, all of the studies usedsurveys to test the models proposed. In some cases, pretests were carried out (Fraj & Martinez,2007) or in-depth interviews (Ozcaglar-Toulouse et al., 2006) were used to refine the final surveyquestionnaires.

In the third category, researchers place a growing emphasis on the use of qualitative meth-ods (87.5% of total studies are purely qualitative). The most commonly employed qualitativemethods are in-depth interviews, whereas novel methodologies such as netnography (Kozinets &Handelman, 1998) and consumer essays (Autio, Heiskanen, & Heinonen, 2009) are also adopted.Furthermore, they tend to focus on smaller purposive and more intensive samples (e.g., Cherrier,2006; Shaw & Clarke, 1999), unlike the first two categories where convenient samples, oftenstudents, were usually the unit of observation (Bhate, 2001; Kim & Choi, 2005; J. A. Lee &Holden, 1999; Straughan & Roberts, 1999).

There is some disagreement as to the most suitable methodological approaches when studyingethical consumer behavior, especially because consumers who claim to be ethically concerned do

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not always buy according to these concerns. This is often referred to as the words–deeds incon-sistency (Wong, Turner, & Stoneman, 1996). Ulrich and Sarasin (1995) argued that consumerswill always give misleading answers and hide their true opinions. Other authors are more spe-cific as to which methods are unable to offer reliable empirical evidence. Auger, Devinney, andLouviere (2007) heavily criticized the traditional survey methods. The problems related to thesurvey method are the emergence of social bias, generally common in the social sciences (Fisher,1993), and the limited ability of numerical and rating scales to express consumer opinions. Toovercome these limitations, more in-depth and richer data are necessary to better understandthe ethical consumer (Tallontire, Rentsendorj, & Blowfield, 2001). Hence, qualitative research issuggested as more suitable when the focus is consumers’ ethical views (Clavin & Lewis, 2005).

The dynamic evolution of the phenomenon requires a greater methodological variety. Indeed,a look at the employed qualitative methodologies shows that most empirical evidence is static,representing consumer opinions in a specific moment.

The Context of Research: Culture

The cultural context of research on ethical consumer behavior is important because it shapesethical beliefs and moral values. Indeed, Cherrier (2005) argued that the perceived rightness orwrongness of consumer decisions depends on the context (time and place) where one lives.

The review led to two main conclusions on context. First, many studies were conducted inAnglo-Saxon countries (United Kingdom, Australia, United States, Ireland) with some excep-tions found in central and northern Europe (especially France, Belgium, Finland, and Denmark).Indeed, 75% of research on understanding the ethical consumer was undertaken in the UnitedKingdom, Ireland, the United States, and Australia. Newholm and Shaw (2007) claimed thatmost of the research was conducted in affluent countries where certain ethical practices, like FT,were pioneered.

Second, ethical consumer literature in general does not consider the cultural implicationsof the research context. In most cases, the choice of context is not even justified. This gap isidentified by Carrigan, Szmigin, and Wright (2004), who suggested that it would be of interest toconduct research beyond the United Kingdom to see if nationality and culture have a significantinfluence upon the ethical purchasing behavior.

DISCUSSION AND AGENDA FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

This section discusses the gaps identified and proposes future lines of research to fill them.

Providing and Updating the Definition of the Ethical Consumer

The review showed that ethical consumer behavior is a highly complex phenomenon charac-terized by a wide diversity of ethical concerns and actions. Currently, there are no normativeprescriptions or operational measures that treat ethical consumer behavior as a single, coher-ent behavioral approach. This article offers a conceptualization of ethical consumer behavior onthe basis of ethical consumer practices already studied, but there is a clear need to agree on adefinition and measure to ensure consistency in findings.

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Furthermore, given that ethical consumers constitute a dynamic and evolving tendency, morepractices may exist but currently remain unidentified. Some practices, like recycling and BYOB,become more standardized, whereas new forms of expression arise and new ethical consumercollective spaces emerge, such as permaculture villages, cooperatives and cohousing movements,virtual communities, or the slow food movement. These could be interesting new areas to explorein relation to ethical consumer behaviors, so that the conceptualization of ethical consumers cankeep up with reality and merely draw from previous research.

Exploring Collectively-Shared Identities

Ethical consumers perceive themselves as part of a larger collective group that is guided bythe same moral principles (Cherrier, 2006; Shaw et al., 2007). Further insights would be usefulin terms of examining the extent to which ethical consumers define their identity in relationto social groups. We suggest exploring whether and how consumers construct their identities byassociating with ethically-minded consumers and by disassociating themselves from nonethicallyconcerned consumers. Meanings, feelings, stereotypes, and social constructions should also beexplored in more depth.

Ethical Consumer Behavior as a Process

The process of becoming an ethical consumer has not yet been thoroughly examined, althoughevidence suggests that ethical consumers go through a slow process of change when adoptingethical lifestyles (Szmigin et al., 2009). Future studies should explore the changes that take placein this process, how gradually they occur, and the implications for the individual.

Socialization With Regards to Ethical Consumer Values

There are some efforts to understand ethical consumer decision making in the context of families,an important line of investigation given the social context. Further research could explore social-ization with regards to ethical consumer values and the interactions taking place within families(ethical values transmitted from parents to children, and vice versa) and their surrounding socialsettings (school, work, etc.).

Achieving a More Holistic Understanding

Past research on ethical consumer behavior is fragmented and mainly researcher driven. Existingfindings often refer to specific expressions of ethical consumer behavior such as FT shopping,BYOB practicing, and boycotting acts, among others. Hence, we recommend that research gobeyond the narrow examination of specific ethical projects and adopt a more open, qualitativeapproach that allows us to observe the ethical consumer experience in its totality.

Employing Rigorous Methodologies to Further Understand the Ethical Consumer

Qualitative approaches seem more appropriate to get insights into a phenomenon that is stillevolving (Hanson & Grimmer, 2007). In particular, we recommend that future research should

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place more emphasis on the topic of ethical consumer behavior over time, because consumerdecisions are taken on a daily basis. Furthermore, longitudinal empirical evidence can pro-vide more complete answers on research areas previously recommended, such as the processof becoming an ethical consumer or the study of socialization with regards to ethical values.Researchers could expand the arsenal of research methodologies by adopting original techniquessuch as online focus groups, consumer diaries, or content analysis of Web sites, forums, andethical consumer publications. Given that social desirability bias may equally affect qualitativemethods or quantitative methods, methods that can convey data in naturalistic settings and the useof multiple data sources or methods triangulation should be used to overcome the emergence ofbias (Crane, 1999). Finally, to achieve rigor, quantitative studies must move beyond the relianceon convenience sampling and toward representative sampling.

Exploring Ethical Consumer Behaviors Across Cultures

Research needs to be expanded to other cultural contexts. Very specific cultural contexts arestudied, mainly those that represent pioneers of the ethical consumer movement (such as the FTmovement in the United Kingdom and the United States). So, little empirical evidence was foundon countries with a more modest growth in the ethical consumer movement, such as southern andeastern Europe. Therefore, it would be of interest to see whether and how nationality and culturedefines ethical consumer opinions, actions, and the attached meanings and later compare this tothe existing empirical evidence.

Generating a Grand Theory of Ethical Consumer Behavior

Finally, it is important to highlight the fact that there is little effort so far to generate a grandtheory of ethical consumer behavior. This is required to establish the theoretical foundations andto facilitate the integration and coherence of further research on the topic.

Despite the lack of a grand theory, many advances were made in terms of identifying andunderstanding the ethical consumer. In this article we have integrated these advances, and indoing so we have established the groundwork for the development of a grand theory.

MAIN CONTRIBUTIONS AND OUTLOOK

Ethical consumers constitute a consumer group of growing importance. In spite of the increasingamount of research conducted over the last 20 years, little effort focuses on bringing togetherthe existing research as a reference point for future researchers in the field. We identify themain research categories in this arena (i.e., profiling, modeling, and understanding the ethicalconsumer). We hope this will foster the emergence of a grand theory. We provide detailed infor-mation on methodologies, sampling techniques, context, and findings of the selected studies andmake suggestions in terms of methodology, content, and context of future research.

In addition, we provide a classification of practices that are studied as ethically valid in theliterature (i.e., buycotting, boycotting, voluntary simplicity, sustainable consumer habits). In lightof the evolving nature of ethical consumer behavior, it is important to note that researchers shouldremain aware of the emergence of “new” ethical behaviors and incorporate these into future

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research. Finally, we identify new avenues for empirical studies while underlining the need forresearch that can contribute toward theory building.

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mapping ethical consumer behavior: integrating the empirical research and identifying future...

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