An assessment of ethical obligation and self‐identity in ethical consumer decision‐making: a structural equation modelling approach

Research has supported the addition of ethical obligation and self‐identity to models of consumer decision‐making in ‘ethical’ contexts. The particular placement of ethical obligation and self‐identity within a model of ethical consumer decision‐making remains unclear. Are these measures an antecedent to attitude or behavioural intention? This paper presents findings from a large scale survey of ethical consumers that explores, through structural equation modelling, the specific placement of these measures within a validated model of ethical consumer decision‐making, which uses the theory of planned behaviour as an initial framework. This research is examined within the ‘ethical’ context of fair trade grocery purchasing. (Fairly traded products are those purchased under equitable trading agreements, involving co‐operative rather than competitive trading principles, ensuring a fair price and fair working conditions for the producers and suppliers.)     

Theory‐based approach to factors affecting ethical consumption

The main objective of this study is to introduce and validate a new model of ethical consumption intention with the aim of identifying salient factors that influence consumer's attitude and purchase intention towards ethical products. For this purpose, this study introduces an extended model of the theory of reasoned action, which embraces the emotional component (positive anticipated affection) and socially oriented value component (altruism), as predictors of ethical consumption attitude and intention. Using a questionnaire‐based survey, the data were collected from 343 respondents who had previously purchased ethical products. The result showed that ethical obligation, self‐identity and altruism were positively related to consumer attitude towards ethical consumption. Also, ethical obligation and altruism were found to positively influence ethical consumption intention. Further, attitude and positive‐anticipated affection positively affected ethical consumption intention.     

The role of health consciousness,food safety concern and ethical identity on attitudes and intentions towards organic food

The paper examines the roles of health consciousness, food safety concern and ethical self‐identity in predicting attitude and purchase intention within the context of organic produce. A conceptual model is derived and tested via structural equation modelling. Findings indicate food safety as the most important predictor of attitude while health consciousness appears to be the least important motive in contrast to findings from some previous research. In addition, ethical self‐identity is found to predict both attitudes and intention to purchase organic produce, emphasizing that respondents' identification with ethical issues affects their attitude and subsequent consumption choices.     

Desire to be ethical or ability to self‐control: Which is more crucial for ethical behavior?

Promoting ethical decisions and behaviors is challenging for any organization. Yet managers are still required to make ethical decisions under conditions which deplete their self‐control resources, such as high stress and long hours. This study examines the relationships among symbolic and internal moral identity, self‐control, and ethical behavior, and investigates whether self‐control acts as the mechanism through which moral identity leads to ethical behavior. Findings indicate that internal moral identity overrides symbolic moral identity in the relationship with self‐control and that self‐control fully mediates the relationship between internal moral identity and ethical behavior. The implications for organizations is that while rules, procedures, and ethics training are useful, managers with a strong moral compass will be more likely to practice self‐control leading to more ethical behaviors.     

Towards an understanding of consumer recycling from an ethical perspective

Recycling is a post‐purchase consumer activity where the consumer usually considers not only individual but also social goals, ideas and ideologies. Accordingly, ethics is an inherent part of recycling; however, very few studies have explored this behaviour from an ethical point of view. The purpose of this paper is to explain consumer recycling by taking a multifaceted ethical approach. The conceptual model builds on theoretical underpinnings related to ethical consumption by exploring the extensions of the theory of planned behaviour, Jones' ethical decision‐making model and Holbrook's conceptualization of ethical consumption. Thus, the attitude‐intention framework incorporates three ethics‐related concepts: (1) moral obligation, i.e. the level of guilt to perform the behaviour, (2) moral intensity, i.e. the moral issue characteristics, and (3) collectivism, i.e. an individual‐level value orientation. The data were collected from a sample of Slovenian consumers, using an online consumer panel. The sample reflected the Slovenian population in terms of gender and age. The proposed conceptual model was tested using structural equation modelling. The results suggest the proposed ethical concepts play a significant role in the attitude‐intention framework. The more collectivistic individuals have more positive attitudes towards recycling. Moreover, the more consumers perceive recycling as morally intense, the more favourable their attitudes are. In turn, attitudes positively affect intentions to recycle. In addition, higher levels of moral obligation positively influence intentions to recycle. The only hypothesis that is not supported in this study refers to the influence of moral intensity on intentions to recycle. The implications for public policymakers and social marketers stem from a complex interplay of the antecedents of recycling behaviour. Future studies could go in several directions by extending the model to other moral issues, conducting a study in a cross‐cultural setting or taking a longitudinal approach.     

Exploring consumers’ purchase intention towards green products in an emerging market: The role of consumers’ perceived readiness

Consumers’ awareness of green products has increased in the last few years, but studies show that the demand for green products has been stagnant. The purpose of this study is to explore the roles of consumers’ perceived readiness to be green and subsequently, how readiness to be green affects consumers’ purchase intention towards green products in an emerging market, Indonesia. A total of 916 survey responses were collected in three universities, two major shopping malls and several housing areas in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The findings reveal that consumers’ attitude (ATT), subjective norm, perceived behavioural control (PBC), pro‐environmental self‐identity (PEI), ethical obligation and consumers’ readiness to be green are the determinants of intention to purchase green products. Consumers’ readiness to be green mediates the effects of ATT, PBC, PEI and perceived sense of responsibility on purchase intention. The study provides further insights into the discrepancy between professed positive attitudes towards the environment and the slow uptake of green behaviour in an emerging market.     

Psychological drivers in the adoption of morally controversial innovations: the moderating role of ethical self‐identity

The present article conceptualizes morally controversial innovations as a category of innovations that raise ethical issues due to their potentially undesirable long‐term consequences on society or the natural environment. Then, it analyzes the case of biofuel crops by applying an extended version of the theory of planned behavior, which includes moral norm (i.e. the personal convictions of what is wrong or right for society) and ethical self‐identity (i.e. the extent to which one perceives himself/herself as an ethical person). The obtained results show that attitude and subjective norms are positively related to farmers' intention to grow biofuel crops. Yet the intention of those farmers with a higher ethical self‐identity is also influenced by perceived behavioral control and moral norm. In particular, moral norm negatively affects their intention to grow biofuel crops, thus restraining the adoption of this innovation. Implications for theory, as well as for policymakers interested in promoting the diffusion of morally controversial innovations, are discussed.     

Impacts of peers’ unethical behavior on employees’ ethical intention: Moderated mediation by Machiavellian orientation

Research suggests a direct negative relationship between peers’ unethical behavior and employees’ ethical intention. But several possible mechanisms might explain this relationship in more detail. For example, Machiavellianism is a personality trait characterized by interpersonal manipulation and the use of unethical means to achieve certain self‐interested ends, whether useful or pleasant. This article adopts an Aristotelian understanding of philia, related to three goods on which human relationships rest: useful, pleasant, and honest. We propose that Machiavellianism, a self‐interested, pragmatic personality orientation, might explicate the relationship between peers’ unethical behavior and ethical intention. The results of a structural equation model applied to a sample of 436 banking employees in Spain reveals that Machiavellianism partially mediates the relationship between peers’ unethical behavior and employees’ ethical intention. We also find that with a greater level of peers’ unethical behavior, the negative effect of Machiavellianism on ethical intention increases, and that when peers’ unethical behavior is nonexistent, the negative effect of Machiavellianism on ethical intention disappears. These findings advance current literature by revealing that unethical peers can indirectly influence ethical intention, through shaping Machiavellianism. Our study is also the first to show that pairing high Machiavellians with ethical peers can help to cancel out the negative influence of Machiavellianism on ethical intention.     

Antecedents of attitude and intention towards counterfeit symbolic and experiential products

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of price consciousness, perceived risk, and ethical obligation on attitude and intention towards counterfeit products. Data were collected from a sample of 200 respondents via an online questionnaire. A conceptual model was derived and tested via structural equation modelling in the contexts of symbolic and experiential counterfeit products. Findings show differences in the factors (and weight thereof) impacting attitude and purchase intention in the two product contexts. Specifically, ethical obligation and perceived risk are found to be significant predictors of attitude towards both symbolic and counterfeit products, while price consciousness is found to predict only attitude towards experiential products, but not purchase intention in either counterfeit product context.     

The impact of ethical concerns on family consumer decision‐making

Ethical consumerism and family consumer decision‐making, including the influence of children in this area, are spheres of consumer behaviour in which a substantial amount of academic research has already been undertaken. However, the crossover of these two areas is as yet under‐researched, as well as the level of pester power parents are subjected to from children aged 3 and under. This paper uses qualitative methods to investigate the issues surrounding the ethical consumer decision‐making process with families who have children aged 3 years old or under. This research found that the motivation to pursue an ethical lifestyle varied across the sample, but the emergence of an ‘inheritance factor’, where parents are awakened to ethical issues because of the birth of their child, was prominent. Other issues that transpired from this research include the prominence of ethical trade‐offs in consumer decision‐making, ethical choices as normalizing behaviour and finally the presence of pester power in the ethical context. Ethical consumerism strongly emerged as an integral part of the parent's identity construction, especially for the mothers as they struggled to adapt to their new roles. Further research delving into the role ethical choices have on identity construction and the parental response to pester power would be a valuable addition to the overall context of this research.     

Do gender identities of femininity and masculinity affect the intention to buy ethical products?

This study shows that gender identity affects ethical intentions. We investigate the intention to purchase ethical products through a survey study among young consumers in Italy. Measures of planned behavior, internal ethics, self-identity, and moral harm, together with proxies for individual gender identities of femininity and masculinity are included in our model of intention to purchase ethically. Results show that femininity significantly increases ethical intent, whereas masculinity has an opposite effect. These findings are robust to gender. In fact, the relations of femininity and masculinity on the intention to consume ethical products hold when the subsamples of males and females are considered. This study relates to the ongoing debate regarding the determinants of ethical decision-making and the feminine stereotype by extending the understanding of the attitude-intention gap in ethical consumption among young consumers in Italy. Finally, implications and avenues for further research are discussed.     

Ethics support through rapport: Elaborating the impact of service provider rapport on ethical behaviour intention of the tourists

Tourism research is concerned about increasing tourist visits yet simultaneously reducing the negative impact of tourism activities for the local communities by promoting the ethical behaviour of the tourists built upon the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, this research aims to test the influence of tourism service provider rapport on ethical behaviour intention of the tourists. Specifically, we propose that service provider rapport induces happiness that broadens moral cognition and build personal resources to perform ethical behaviour. Using a scenario-based survey, we found that happiness induced by service provider rapport can improve ethical behaviour. Moreover, happiness also elevates tourist's moral identity centrality, leading to ethical judgment and ethical behaviour intention. Thus, moral identity and ethical judgment are not stable for an individual. The theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed further.     

The Effects of Attitudinal and Demographic Factors on Intention to Buy Pirated CDs: The Case of Chinese Consumers

This study examines the impact of attitude toward piracy on intention to buy pirated CDs using Chinese samples. Attitude toward piracy is measured by a multi-item scale that has been shown to have a consistent factor structure with four distinct components, namely, social cost of piracy, anti-big business attitude, social benefit of dissemination, and ethical belief. Our findings reveal that social benefit of dissemination and anti-big business attitude have a positive relationship with intention to buy pirated CDs while social cost of piracy and ethical belief have a negative relationship. Among these components, ethical belief tends to most strongly predict intention to buy pirated CDs. Demographic variables such as gender and age also help explain the respondents' intention to buy pirated CDs. In addition, those respondents with experience of buying pirated CDs would tend to be more likely to buy pirated CDs than those without such experience. The results are discussed with a view to helping copyright businesses to effectively suppress piracy, and directions for future research are suggested.     

Exploring how and when ethical conflict impairs employee organizational commitment: A stress perspective investigation

Previous studies demonstrate the detrimental effect of ethical conflict (i.e., incompatibility between ethical values of employees and organizations) on employee organizational commitment. However, few studies have assessed the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions that may contribute to a deeper understanding of how and when the detrimental effect manifests. Drawing on the transactional model of stress and literature on the moral self, our study examines the psychological strain as a key intermediate mechanism that channels the negative relationship between the ethical conflict and organizational commitment. Furthermore, we posit that employees with different levels of moral identity and moral efficacy may suffer differently from ethical conflict. We tested our research model with two-wave lagged data obtained from 265 healthcare employees and found that the indirect, negative effect of ethical conflict on organizational commitment via psychological strain is strongest among employees with high moral identity and low moral efficacy. Interestingly, results show that employees with low moral identity and high moral efficacy do not suffer from ethical conflict. These findings suggest that ethical conflict is differentially harmful to employees and that a more nuanced understanding of its contingent effects is needed.     

Unit (non)response in Web‐based access panel surveys: An extended planned‐behavior approach

The decision process when requested to participate in a Web survey is understood most appropriately by applying a psychological theory of human action. Consequently, this study utilized an extended version of Ajzen's theory of planned behavior to predict and explain the number of participations in a five‐wave Web‐based panel study. Based on this model, the determinants of unit nonresponse in Web‐based surveys are one's attitude toward participating in Web surveys, internalized social pressure, perceived behavioral control, and extent of moral obligation toward participating. The results indicate a satisfactory predictive power of the model. Perceived behavioral control and attitude toward participation predict the intention to participate best, followed by internalized social pressure and moral obligation. The theoretical perspective pursued proved to be valuable in terms of its predictive and explanative power as well as its practical value for Web‐based survey research. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Perceived moral intensity,ethical perception,and ethical intention of American and Malaysian managers: a comparative study

In this study, differences in perceived moral intensity, ethical perception, and ethical intention of managers from the United States and Malaysia are investigated. Models are proposed with perceived moral intensity, ethical perception, and ethical intention as dependent variables, the country of residence of the managers as the independent variable, and gender and age of the managers as covariates. By using scenarios involving ethical situations, it is found that American managers perceive higher levels of moral intensity than Malaysian managers on the components that relate to the extent of harm done to the victim. However, there are no significant differences between the two groups on those components that relate to social pressure. Also, the ethical perception and ethical intention of American managers are higher than those of Malaysian managers. An explanation for the direction of the differences is offered based on the divergence of the United States and Malaysia with respect to the societal moral climate, organizational culture, cultural factors, and cognitive moral development. Implications and suggestions for future research are also offered.     

Family firms’ identity communication and consumers’ product involvement impact on consumer response

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the image transfer theory and the elaboration likelihood model can provide a theoretical framework capable of assessing the influence of consumers’ product involvement and family firms’ identity communication through websites on consumer responses. This research conducted an experiment using an eye‐tracking technique measuring attention to family and nonfamily corporate websites. The procedure involved 120 participants. Consistent with the image transfer theory, family firms’ identity through websites positively impacts attitude toward the website and intention to buy. Additionally, the attitude toward the website affects the relationship between family firms’ identity through websites and the intention to buy. In line with the elaboration likelihood model, consumers’ product involvement negatively impacts the relationship between family firms’ identity through websites and intention to buy.     

Incorporating consumers' motivations into the theory of reasoned action

Consumers are motivated to engage in activities for many varied reasons. The present study broadens the theory of reasoned action model to include three variables reflecting motivations: hedonic involvement, self‐expressive involvement, and self‐concept congruity. It is suggested that eagerness to engage in a behavior encapsulates emotional commitment, and including this affective variable would further broaden the cognitive approach taken to model a consumer's intention to engage in a behavior. A model that links hedonic involvement, self‐expressive involvement, self‐concept congruity, subjective norm, and attitude toward the behavior to both intentions and eagerness is proposed. In addition, eagerness is posited as a mediator linking these three new variables to intentions. The models are tested with the use of data from 717 adults. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Values,socially conscious behaviour and consumption emotions as predictors of Canadians’ intent to buy fair trade products

Over the last two decades, a growing concern about ethical behaviour has been observed among consumers. Ethically minded consumers are more inclined towards the consumption of ethical goods, such as green products and fair trade (hereafter, ‘FT’) products, organic products and local products. Establishing the motives that predict FT consumption behaviour provides ground for understanding how consumers make purchase decisions. This research postulates that the intention of buying FT products is influenced by socially conscious behaviour, consumers’ values and emotions. The study, conducted among 268 Canadian consumers, shows that the high intention of buying FT products is linked to high levels of pride, enthusiasm, satisfaction, happiness and joy related to FT product consumption. The FT consumption experience provides consumers with hedonic gratification. It shows that the higher the levels of self‐centred, equality and social justice values are, the higher the intention of buying FT products. An increase in socially conscious behaviour generates an increase in intention of purchasing FT products. The research contributes to a preliminary analysis of the role of emotions in this field and calls for the development of cognitive‐affective models of purchase and consumption behaviour. Understanding the dimensions of hedonic values and the significance of pleasure experience is essential to the development of the theory and practices of FT consumption.     

Economic rationality and ethical behaviour: ethical business between venality and sacrifice

This paper argues that economic rationality and ethical behavior cannot be reduced one to the other, thus casting doubt on the validity of assertions such as 'profit is ethical' or 'ethics pays'. In order to express ethical dilemmas in a way which opposes economic interest with ethical concerns, we propose a model of rational behavior that combines these two irreducible dimensions in an open but not arbitrary manner. Behaviors that are neither ethical nor profitable are considered irrational (non-arbitrariness). However, behaviors that are profitable but unethical, and behaviors that are ethical but not profitable, are all treated as rational (openness). Combining ethical concerns with economic interest, ethical business is in turn seen as an optimal form of rationality between venality and sacrifice. Because everyone prefers to communicate that they act ethically, ethical business remains ambiguous until some economic interest is actually sacrificed. We argue, however, that ethical business has an interest in demonstrating its consistency between communication and behavior by a transparent attitude. On the other hand, venal behaviors must remain confidential to hide the corresponding lack of consistency. This discursive approach based on transparency and confidentiality helps to further distinguish between ethical and unethical business behaviors.