Ethical consumerism: a view from Finland

Business ethics and corporate social responsibility have gained more attention in recent years. However, the consumers’ perspective on ethics is still a little researched area. This study reports a survey (n = 713) on the views of Finnish consumers about ethics in trade. Consumers’ willingness to promote business ethics as well as the obstacles to ethical consumption are investigated. The results of the study show that while the majority of the respondents regard business ethics as important, this attitude does not translate into their choice behaviour. Consumers are uncertain about which products and firms follow ethical rules and which do not. The most important obstacles to ethical consumption were difficulties in obtaining information, problems in product availability and high prices of ethical products.     

Consumer ethoses in Finnish consumer life stories – agrarianism,economism and green consumerism

This article examines Finnish consumer ethoses and the moral rules that include them. We argue that Finnish consumers legitimize their consumer and spending practices, and constitute themselves as moral agents through three culturally dominant and historically constructed consumer ethoses: agrarianism, economism and green consumerism. The material of the study consists of 53 consumer life stories collected between September 2006 and May 2007 using a writing competition. Through our material, we are able to illustrate how consumers negotiate, produce, transform and contest these three ethoses. We interpret life stories as socially constructed stories. Thus, our aim is to analyse the culturally shared and historically transformed meanings, rather than to reveal the motives or intentions of the individual consumer.     

Organic consumerism: A comparison between India and the USA

This study is an investigation of consumer perceptions relating to organic food products based on the factors of the theory of planned behaviour and protection motivation theory with consideration of the variances in culture and economic conditions in two different countries viz. India and the USA. The study also examines how these factors affect consumers purchase intention of organic food in developing (India) and developed (USA) countries. Results of multi-group moderation and multi-group moderated mediation analysis with the data collected from India (n = 714) and the United States (n = 656) using an Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) show the existence of significant difference in the proposed relationships viz. Responsive efficacy → Attitude, Responsive efficacy →Purchase intention, Responsive efficacy → Perceived behvioural control, Attitude → Purchase intention, and Perceived behvioural control → Attitude with respect to the country type (i.e. India and USA). Further, attitude and perceived behavioural control perfectly act as mediators for both the country samples. Outcomes of this study recommend for marketers and promoters of organic food products to consider the consumer culture and settings behind the landscape they live in.     

对人类消费行为的再认识

随着人口的不断增长与人类进入大规模消费的时代 ,全球资源、环境与生态问题日益突出。对于中国这个拥有 13亿人口的大国来说 ,要保证社会经济的可持续发展 ,不仅要严格地控制人口增长 ,而且还需要从经济发展、生态平衡、社会发展等多个角度重新审视我们的消费行为 ,给予消费正确的价值判断 ,并在实现可持续消费的问题上达成共识     

Socio‐demographic basic factors of German customers as predictors for sustainable consumerism regarding foodstuffs and meat products

An important step in promoting sustainable purchase behaviour is to explore the understanding of responsible consumerism from the consumers’ point of view. For this purpose, a study among 1040 German consumers was carried out using a two‐pronged approach. First, open‐ended questions were used to explore the characteristics of sustainable food consumption in general as well as the willingness and meaningfulness of a low‐meat diet from the consumers’ point of view. After that the interactive structure behind the term was studied using a quantitative empirical method. As standard of evaluation the four underlying socio‐demographic factors gender, age, wealth and education are used. Apart from the consumers’ financial situation, the applied statistics show significant correlations of the propensity for sustainable consumerism to each of the above factors. Women, middle‐aged and well‐educated consumers show a greater tendency to purchase environmentally and socially sustainable products. Accordingly, the suitability of socio‐demographic factors is confirmed in this study. The open‐ended questions fathom what attributes consumers connect with sustainable food consumption, in particularly with regard to the consumption of meat. It is clear that attributes that affect consumers directly and attributes which can be directly influenced by their actions are better perceived by the consumer. Altruistic factors or abstract aspects of food consumption (e.g. climate protection) are generally of less significance. Conversely, factors which concern the value added chain, like for example, origin and processing, have priority. To conclude, the findings enable the identification of the variables determining the sustainability construct. This allows policy makers to develop customized incentive systems. Similarly, private sector stakeholders are enabled to adapt marketing activities and their product mix to consumer demands.     

Socio‐demographical antecedents of responsible consumerism propensity

The paper analyses consumers’ propensity for socially and environmentally friendly products through socio‐demographic indicators. Although the topic has been object of a wide literature, most of the previous studies suffered from methodological or sampling limitations. Hence, the present work addresses such limitations and proposes a study based on a wide heterogeneous sample of 5098 consumers, observed in their real settings. Results show the most responsible consumers are older, well‐educated and wealthy, while gender is not a significant antecedent. The in‐depth analysis of findings thus confirms the usefulness of socio‐demographic variables to understand and determine the profile of responsible consumers. However, the study denies that the propensity to buy responsible products relates to the different sensitiveness of men and women, whereas it underlines that age, education and wealth have a positive relationship. Moreover, the analysis identifies four different profiles of consumer based on the different levels of propensity towards responsible products, which confirms the influence of the socio‐demographic variables. This also allows identifying relevant indications on consumers’ decision making, useful to draw indications on possible effective marketing strategies for responsible products.     

A green Lewis development model

This paper develops an environmental extension of a Lewis dual economy model, in which the interaction between environmental quality and economic growth, in one of its several dimensions, is explicitly modeled to explore long-run effects of a pollution abatement rule in developing economies. The government requires the modern sector to dedicate a fraction of its output to pollution abatement, with such profitability-reducing fraction being endogenous to the level of environmental quality. Meanwhile, the level of environmental quality positively affects labor productivity, profits and, therefore, savings, which has a positive impact on capital accumulation. It is shown that this pollution abatement requirement, by affecting profitability in the modern sector both negatively and positively, makes for the emergence of an ecological development trap from which a developing dual economy, if left to the free play of its structural forces, never escapes. Fortunately, however, this economy can be released from such a trap not only through a standard Big Push, in the spirit of Rosenstein-Rodan, but also by means of what we call an Environmental Big Push.     

WTO争端解决机制在“贸易与环境”问题上的裁量标准——对“中国—原材料出口限制案”的思考

WTO争端解决机制在处理与环境问题有关的贸易争端方面已具备一定经验,但近年来,国际环境情势的变迁,使这一机制不得不考虑其作为人类事务逻辑链上一环的作用,认真审度"贸易与环境"问题的裁量标准,"中国—原材料出口限制案"或是一次挑战性的尝试。本案中,该机制既要依循WTO规则保障申诉方的贸易权益,也要考虑被诉方国内环境政策的目标和价值,为此,须着力解决好一些左右其裁量标准、进而影响其裁决结果的根本性问题。     

建立西部能源企业环境会计体系的构想

随着国内经济的迅速增长，能源的供给压力不断加大，使得西部能源企业在未来一段时间内的发展速度不断加快，但这些企业的可持续发展形势却不容乐观。本文试图从环境会计相关科目的设置、环境成本尤其是外部环境成本的核算以及环境信息披露等方面，来说明如何在西部能源企业中引入环境会计核算，以环境会计为工具促进西部能源企业的可持续发展。     

Construction of consumer choice in the market: challenges for environmental policy

Drawing from the literature on the analytics of government, the paper discusses marketing as a form of government, elaborating and illustrating the many ways in which consumer choice is shaped, modified and directed in the market through practices and techniques of consumer marketing. The aim is to critically reflect upon and render problematic the individualistic ideas of the green consumer as a powerful market force and to provoke discussion on the conceptualization – and construction – of consumer subjectivity and social problems in marketing. Taking examples particularly from the fashion and clothing industry, the paper discusses the ways in which marketing activities come to shape consumer conduct by operating through the choice of individuals who freely pursue their needs and desires, and by working on the environment within which this freedom of choice is exercised. The paper contributes to the literature on green consumerism by systematically interrogating and elaborating on the modes and practices of marketing thought and expertise through which consumers and consumption are rendered intelligible and actionable in the market.     

Teaching Business Ethics: A Case Study Of An Ethics Across The Curriculum Policy

The faculty within the undergraduate businessdepartment at Nova Southeastern University hasinstituted an Ethics Across The Curriculum Policy. This paper shares the steps the faculty followed inthe development and adoption of this policy. It isour hope that sharing our experiences concerning thispolicy implementation will help others consider asimilar policy. Recommendations are provided forpolicy development.     

我国绿色物流发展研究

绿色物流作为新兴的服务产业,在我国尚处于起步阶段,还面临许多重大而紧迫的问题。本文通过对我国与发达国家绿色物流发展现状进行分析,找出我国绿色物流发展中存在的问题,并提出加快发展我国绿色物流的建议。     

Ambiguous framings of political consumerism: means or end,product or process orientation?

For dealing with various societal problems, ‘political’/‘ethical’/‘responsible’ consumerism is often discussed as an effective democratic and participatory tool. However, political consumerism – along with its tools, such as product labelling – is often conceived and discussed in oversimplified ways. Instead, the tension between scientific complexity, knowledge uncertainty and a codified, standardized label involves extensive political strategy, interest conflicts and simplified framings of the consumers’ roles as political decision makers. The purpose of this paper is to analyse how criteria for organic food labelling have been simplified, or framed, within various versions of political consumerism in policy debates. The more general purpose is to examine variations of what consumerism may entail theoretically and practically. Examples are chosen of organic food labelling in the US. The analysis is based on framing theory. The first distinction is made between framings surrounding the extrinsic and intrinsic values of consumerism (i.e. consumer empowerment towards an external goal, or as an overriding principle of democracy). The second distinction is between product‐ and process‐oriented consumerism (i.e. consumer empowerment with regard to the purchased goods or concerning the ‘invisible’ production and disposal processes). These distinctions may facilitate critical examinations of criteria, processes and communication of consumer‐related policies.     

尚未出生的后代的环境权探析

以可持续发展战略为思维的起点 ,综合国内外学者们的观点 ,对尚未出生的后代的环境权加以界定 ,提出未出生的后代的环境权这一概念 ,承认它是一种法律上的权利 ,具有重要的理论意义和深远的实践价值     

日本农业可持续发展的经验借鉴

实现可持续发展是我国现代化建设的一项战略方针,其中又以农业的可持续发展为重中之重,为此我国政府高度重视农业可持续发展,已经明确提出农业和农村可持续发展是我国经济可持续发展的根本保证和优先领域。本文主要结合日本经验探讨我国农业的可持续发展之路。     

生态伦理视角下的民族地区可持续发展研究

民族地区可持续发展是我国构建和谐社会的迫切要求,是国家生态文明建设和解决贫困问题与民族问题的需要。生态伦理观与民族地区的可持续发展具有内在一致性:生态伦理观为民族地区物质文化和精神文化发展提供借鉴;生态伦理的"公平原则"是实现民族地区可持续发展的首要原则;可持续发展观蕴涵和谐共生的生态伦理精神。我国民族地区应在坚持科学发展观的前提下,运用生态伦理理念构建经济可持续发展的运行机制,实现生态文明建设与经济持续和谐发展。     

我国环境生态瓶颈的实证分析与治理构想

环境生态危机已经对我国的环境生态安全乃至国土安全构成严重威胁。实证分析提供了一个更清醒认识其对经济发展制约程度的依据。环境生态资源因其公共资源属性,自然地对行为人产生一种经济上的搭便车激励,不宜通过市场机制生产出来。解决我国环境生态问题的根本出路在于设计一组有效的激励安排,依靠某种集体行动或政府行动过程激发行为个体或组织自发地提供环境生态资源。     

Consumers’ green commitment: indication of a postmodern lifestyle?

Green consumer behaviour is one of the key focuses of contemporary research on the sociology of consumption. The constant presence of environmental issues related to consumption and the changes consumer society has faced during the 20th century are presumed to reflect on present consumer behaviour. The focus of this paper is twofold: first, the postmodern elements of consumer society will be discussed; second, the study analyses to what extent these elements of postmodernism fit with the phenomenon of contemporary green consumerism. The empirical part utilizes Finnish consumer behaviour‐related data from 2003, which were analysed by applying various statistical methods. In this part, the study reports of the connection between lifestyle and green commitment. Lifestyle is measured by consumption styles and green commitment by certain environment‐related consumption choices. The results suggest that different lifestyles explain green commitment better than traditional socio‐economic background variables. The effect of postmodernism on green consumer behaviour is, thus, discussed.     

跨越绿色——企业未来战略

在环境问题越来越受到关注的趋势下,基于绿色战略的可持续发展将成为企业发展的必然选择。绿色战略分为污染防治、产品责任/清洁生产和清洁技术三个阶段。企业实施绿色战略有三个步骤,即建立可持续发展的愿景、明确绿色战略所处的阶段和战略的具体实施。     

我国环保投融资问题研究

环境保护投资是表征一个国家环境保护力度的重要指标,在国家将加强环境保护作为落实科学发展观的重要内容的指导思想下,我国环境保护的投资规模日渐增长.但是,由于环境保护的特殊属性,现有的投融资体制难以满足越来越多的环保投资要求,亟需构建多渠道的环境保护投融资体系,来实现经济的可持续发展与环境承载能力的和谐增长.