1
CONSUMPTION OF ETHICAL
PRODUCTS: A META-ANALYSIS OF
THE DETERMINANTS AND
BARRIERS
Abstract: The literature on ethical consumption, fair trade and eco-labels is
abundant, but researchers have taken a lot of different approaches on the topic. The
author conducts a meta-analysis on the determinants and barriers to ethical
consumption by examining 68 studies and empirical researches (involving 21
Journals and 3 databases).
The aim of this research is first of all to make concise summary of the empirical
studies, and to highlight the common factors. Depending on the preliminary results
found, a cross cultural analysis could be made, if different regions show significant
differences.
Keywords: meta-analysis – ethical consumption – fair trade – empirical studies
2
1. INTRODUCTION:
Ethical consumption, corporate social responsibility, protection of the environment…
Consumers have a growing interest in the ethics of their products, services and the
companies producing them. As Newholm and Shaw observed (2007), the rise of the
trend can be explained by the “increased media coverage”, “increased levels of
information” and the “greater availability of ‘alternatives’” (p 254).
Consumers are under the pressure of consuming products and services that answer
to care, solidarity and collective concern (Lewis & Potter, 2011). But as Lewis and
Potter note in their book on ethical consumption, the trend of ethical consumers do
not share politics or values, it isn’t a set of practices but rather “a convenient catch-
all phrase for a range of tendencies within contemporary consumer culture today”
(2011). They also explain that ethics aren’t a stable external framework but rather “a
pluralized and privatized moral universe” (p 10).
Ethical consumption translate into the purchase of products which have a label
certifying that the product was made under fair working conditions and/or with higher
environmental standards (Loureiro & Lotabe, 2005). It was first very popular for
farmers harvesting coffee and bananas, under the label of Fair Trade, a federation
founded in 1994 (Loureiro & Lotabe, 2005).
Fair Trade has seen last year a downfall in its sales for the first time in the UK,
dropping by 4%. While the British newspaper explain this by the rise of discount
supermarkets such as Lidl and Aldi, who now own 10% of the market, the academic
research shows a variety of determinants and barriers to ethical consumption. This
paper aims at making a comparison of these studies.
3
2. LITERATURE REVIEW:
Ethical consumption, a literature review:
Bray, Johns and Kilburn point out that although consumers take into account ethics
in their purchase decision nowadays, there is still an important difference between
their intention to consumer ethical products or services and their actual purchasing
behavior (2011). This gap between consumer’s expressed values and purchasing
intentions and the position of ethical product on the market is the start point of this
paper.
A clear “Ethical Purchasing Gap” exists (p597), as the study by Cowe and Williams
demonstrate (As quoted by Bray, Johns & Kilburn, 2011). Their study, for the co-
operative bank, showed that a third of British consumers consider themselves as
ethical consumers, yet Fair Trade products only had 1 to 3% of market shares at that
point. They named that the “the 30:3 phenomenon” (P597), where 30% of
consumers express their interest and care in ethical standards, but only 3% actually
translate it into a purchase.
Ethical behavior, ethical retailing and ethical consumption are difficult to define, Bray,
Johns and Kilburn point out (2011), but the common practices are Fair Trade,
organically grown and processed food and materials, working practices in developing
nations and the protection of natural resources.
From their qualitative research, the authors observed numerous reasons that stop
people from consuming ethically, such as purchasing habits that wouldn’t let the
consumer consider new products or services, personal constraints, perceived
negative image of the quality, a negation of social responsibility or finally the feeling
that one’s action won’t change anything (Bray, Johns & Kilburn, 2011). They have
also identified seven key factors that intervene between the consumers’ attitudes
and intentions and their actual behavior: price sensitivity, personal experience,
ethical obligation, quality, lack of information, quality, inertia and cynicism. These
factors imply a purchasing behavior that will lead an ethical purchase, a boycott or
self-interest leading to post consumption guilt.
4
The theory of planned behavior by Ajzen (1991) is often used to model ethical
consumption. This model supposes that consumers behave according to their
attitudes and subjective norms while considering the barriers to successfully achieve
that behavior. Shaw and Clarke (1999, as quoted by Newholm and Shaw, 2007))
applied this model in an ethical context and found that the barriers were information,
choice and availability. Several authors took the same model to study ethical
consumption following this work, adding the dimensions of ethical obligation and self-
identity to the model (Shaw et al., 2000, as quoted by Newholm and Shaw, 2007).
Moreover, Shaw et al. found out in a study that desire and plan can also be
precursors as valid as intention (2006).
Consumers can also choose ethical products for the political gesture it represents;
Newholm and Shaw (2007), argue that in our “affluent societies” (p 254), consumers
are freed of their basic needs and therefore become responsible for their behavior,
and therefore responsible for their purchase behavior. The authors take as
justification a study from Brooker and the pyramid of Maslow that linked socially
conscious people with a high score on the self-actualization dimension (1976). They
also quote the study of Mintel (1994), in which the author reports the “willingness” of
consumers to modify their buying patterns under the influence of ethical issues such
as “oppressive regimes, human rights, labor relations, land rights, the environment,
irresponsible marketing, fair trade, nuclear power, armaments, animal testing, factory
farming and political donations” (p 255). Lewis and Potter (2011), point out that
political consumerism isn’t the same, as political consumption takes the forms of
activism, boycott or consumer organizations.
5
3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
AND METHODOLOGY:
As the discussion of the literature review shows, researchers have presented their
results on the determinants and the barriers to ethical consumption in several ways.
The following analysis will follow the approach of Card and his book of Applied Meta-
analysis for Social Science Research (2012). Card defines a meta-analysis as a
statistical analysis of effect sizes of a research synthesis of literature’s research
results.
The software that will be used will be Microsoft Office Excel, as Card defines it as a
“good spreadsheet program” (p13), and the author doesn’t recommend using
specific software for the “beginning meta-analyst” (p14) as they may “encourage
erroneous use when [one isn’t] adequately familiar with the techniques” (p14).
The objectives of this review are multiple. First – as in any review – it seeks to give
an overview of existing literature on the topic (RO1) and we will attempt to highlight
the common determinants and barriers researched by the authors (RO2). The third
objective consists in the examination of whether the statistical results show regional
differences in the two variables (RO3) that will be therefore emphasized in a final
conclusion.
It is to be noted that no meta-analysis on this topic has been found on the databases
chosen for the literature search. The only similar analyses found talked about CSR
and financial performances, and the structure of this review is inspired by these
studies.
Searching the literature:
The methodology of Card was followed to choose the studies to be included in the
meta-analysis. The search strategy was initially organized two sets of key words,
“ethical consumption” and “Fairtrade”. Once the first research done, several
keywords were added to be sure to include all the literature existent: “Ethics Labels”
– “Fair Labels”, but these keywords did not result in new articles. The keyword “Eco-
label” was successful and added another 11 articles to the study.
6
Three databases were chosen based on their notorious reliability; Web of Science –
Business Source Premier Ebsco Host – Google Scholar.
Only empirical contributions made to academic journals were taken into
considerations. Several studies were taken into consideration:
Studies on the consumer’s ethical or green purchasing attitude or intention of
purchase (including personality – motivation – values – emotion –
awareness);
Studies on which contextual factors influence consumer’s purchasing attitude
or intention of purchase;
Studies on the characteristics of green products that appeal to consumers;
Studies on the characteristics of ethical/organic/green/eco labels that
influence consumer’s purchasing attitude or intention of purchase;
Cross-cultural studies on the topic;
Studies of the influence of green marketing and advertisement on consumer’s
purchasing attitude or intention of purchase
The initial research gave 495 results, and the secondary another 93 results, which
gives a total of 588 articles that were reviewed. The research gave great attention to
pick studies made in different regions, and particularly in developing or emerging
markets. It must be noted that only English papers were considered, because other
meta-analysis explained that “in order to avoid any bias towards the countries whose
language the author of this paper is capable of understanding, it was decided to
include solely publications in the international lingua franca of science, namely
English.” (Fifka, 2015, p5).
To finish, it has to be said that this study doesn’t pretend to include all existing
studies on the studied topic, considering the great number of existing studies.
Final list of articles:
Out of the 588 results that the initial research proposed, 68 empirical studies relevant
to the topic were found. The source of the articles was checked on the base of the
SRJ SCImago ranking:
7
SCImago Rank Name of journal Number of studies
Q1 Total: 29
Journal of Advertising 3
Business Strategy and the Environment 1
Ecological Economics 1
European Journal of Marketing 2
International Marketing Review 1
Journal of Business Ethics 17
Journal of Consumer Psychology 2
Journal of Economics and Management
Strategy
1
Journal of Marketing 1
World economy 1
Q2 Total: 28
International journal of consumer studies 24
Journal of Marketing Management 2
Journal of Strategic Marketing 1
Psychological Record 1
Q3 Total: 2
American Journal of Economics and
Sociology
1
Q4 Total: 2
Advances in Consumer Research 1
International Social Science Review 1
Unknown Total: 7
Journal Agriculture Environmental Ethics Impact factor 0,935
3
Journal of Consumer Affairs Impact factor 1,677
2
Journal of Global Academy of Marketing Science Impact factor: unknown
1
Journal of Management Research 1
Total: 68
The SRJ SCImago ranking provides a ranking of academic journals based on the
quality of published papers and the number of published papers. According to
Bornmann and Moya Anegón (2013) and Jacsó (2009), it is a reliable tool to use to
classify papers for university students.
8
Conceptual framework:
Authors who have researched ethical consumption and purchasing of Fairtrade
products have approached the topic from different perspectives. This gives the
impression of confusion and bewilderment to the general consensus on the theme.
The meta-analysis aims at reconciling the issues and synthetizing the research.
Figure 1 below shows the conceptual framework of this research, summarizing the
different approaches of the studies to understand the topic and the characteristics of
the models in the researches:
1) the identity of consumer and the influence on their purchasing habits. How do
individual factors, such as the wage or education, or cultural values affect the
consumption of ethical products?
2) the personality of consumers. How do ethical values or other dimensions such as
a sense of obligation towards the world, the perception of the time horizon, or a
feeling of guilt affect consumer’s purchasing behavior of ethical products?
3) the environment of consumers and how contextual factors such as the social
circle, the circumstantial influences or the general ethical awareness of the location
of the consumer affect their purchasing behavior.
The other dimension of the meta-analysis is the translation of all studies’ statistics to
be able to compare them. This include 4) the different type of measures in the
chosen articles, including for example measure of consumer’s motivation,
purchasing habits and level of involvement in ethical issues on one side, but also
measure of which product feature is most attractive on the other hand.
9
Figure 1 – Conceptual framework
1) Identity of consumers
Individual factors
Cultural values
2) Personality of consumers
Ethical values
Various other dimensions
3) Environment of
consumers
Contextual factors
Product features
ETHICAL CONSUMPTION
4) Types of measures in the studies
Values or motivation
Purchasing behavior
Product features
Consumer involvement
5) Model characteristics
Endogeneity
Heterogeneity
Different models of consumer
behaviors
10
4. TIMELINE
October 20th Final choice of topic
October 27th Draft of choice of articles for meta-analysis
November 3rd Final choice of articles for meta-analysis
Handing the Exposé
November 10th Finish the literature review
November 17th Finish the methodology presentation
50% of data translation
November 24th Finish data translation
December 1st 50% analysis
December 8th Finish analysis
December 15th 50% writing results
January 4th Finish draft of final thesis
January 11th Final thesis
January 12th – 26th Preparation of oral defense
11
5. OVERVIEW OF CHAPTERS
Abstract
Table of contents
Table of figures
Table of abbreviations
I. Introduction
II. Literature review
III. Research objectives and methodology
IV. Presentation of results
V. Scientific and managerial implications
VI. Conclusion and limitations
Bibliography
Appendix
12
6. REFERENCES
Excluding articles selected for the meta-analysis
Ajzen I. 1991. The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human
Decision Processes 50: 179–211.
Bornmann L. & Moya Anegón F. (2014). What Proportion of Excellent Papers Makes
an Institution One of the Best Worldwide? Specifying Thresholds for the
Interpretation of the Results of the SCImago Institutions Ranking and the Leiden
Ranking. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology,
65(4):732–736.
Bray J., Johns N., Kilburn D., (2010), ‘An exploratory Study into the Factors
Impending Ethical Consumption’, Journal of business Ethics, 98:597-608. DOI
10.1007/s10551-010-0640-9
Brooker G. (1976). The self-actualising socially-conscious consumer. Journal of
Consumer Research 3(2): 107–113.
Burke P., Eckert C. & Davis S. (2014), Segmenting consumers’ reasons for and
against ethical consumption. European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 48 Iss 11/12 pp.
2237 - 2261. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/EJM-06-2013-0294
Card N. (2012), Applied Meta-analysis for social sciences. The Guilford Press ISBN
978 1 60918 499 5
Cowe, R. and S. Williams: 2000, ‘Who are the Ethical Consumers?’, Ethical
Consumerism Report, Cooperative Bank. Retrieved from
http://www.cooperativebank.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?c=Pageandcid=1139903089615a
ndpagename=CoopBank%2FPage%2FtplPageStandard
Deng X. (2015). Understanding Chinese consumers’ ethical purchasing decision-
making process: A combination of qualitative and quantitative study. Geoforum,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.03.018
13
Dowd K., Burke K. (2013), The influence of ethical values and food choice
motivations on intentions to purchase sustainably sourced foods. Appetite 69 (2013)
137–144. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2013.05.024
Fifka M. (2013), Corporate Responsibility Reporting and its Determinants in
Comparative Perspective – a Review of the Empirical Literature and a Meta‐analysis.
Business Strategy and the Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 22, 1–35. DOI:
10.1002/bse.729
Gupta R., Sen S. (2012), The effect of evolvin g resource synergy beliefs on the
intentions– behavior discrepancy in ethical consumption. Journal of Consumer
Psychology 23, 1 114 – 121 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2012.07.004
Jacsó P. (2009), SCImago Journal Rank, Worldmapper, Atlapedia. Retireved from
www.onlinemag.net
Lewis T., Potter E. (2011), Ethical consumption - a critical introduction. Routledge
ISBN 13:978-0-415-55824-2+A22
Loureiro M., Lotabe J. (2005). Do fair trade and eco-labels in coffee wake up the
consumer conscience? Ecological Economics 53 (2005) 129– 138.
doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2004.11.002
Mintel. (1994). The Green Consumer, Vols. 1 and 2. Mintel Research: London.
Newholm T., Shaw D. (2007). Studying the ethical consumer: a review of research.
Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 6:253-270. DOI: 10.1002/cb.225
Shaw D, Shiu E, Clarke I. (2000). The contribution of ethical obligation and self-
identity to the theory of planned behaviour: an exploration of ethical consumers.
Journal of Marketing Management 16(8): 879–894.
Shaw D, Shiu E, Hassan L, Hogg G, Bekin C. (2006). Intending to be ethical: an
examination of consumer choice in sweatshop avoidance, Advances in Consumer
Research, conference, Florida
Starr M. (2009), The social economics of ethical consumption: Theoretical
considerations and empirical evidence. The Journal of Socio-Economics, 38 916–
925 doi:10.1016/j.socec.2009.07.006
Top Related