Saturday, 27 March 2010: 10:00
INTRODUCTION
Ethical consumer behaviour has been gaining increasing attention among both practitioners and academic researchers in recent times. This trend is evident in the increasing number of papers published on the topic. Nevertheless, most empirical research tends to focus on specific expressions of ethical consumer behaviour such as Fair Trade shopping, Bring Your Own Bag practicing and boycotting acts among others. These studies only examine specific fragments of a consumer’s ethical lifestyle and disregard other ethical projects that a consumer might be involved in. In other words, previous studies shed light only on the ethical behavioural aspects that the researcher chooses. The implication is a lack of a holistic understanding of the ethical consumer and of the wide range of strategies and behaviours that he/she might adopt. Furthermore, most empirical findings are drawn from specific cultural contexts with an emphasis on the United Kingdom and the United States.
OBJECTIVES
This manuscript has set the following research objectives: 1) To go beyond the narrow examination of specific ethical projects and adopt a more open, qualitative approach that allows observing the ethical consumer experience in its totality, 2) To provide empirical findings that represent a different reality than UK and US, keeping in mind that the perception of ethics might be culturally-bound and 3) To employ a combination of research techniques that can offer a novel perspective in the study of the ethical consumer behaviour.
DATA/METHODS:
A qualitative approach was employed due to the sensitive nature of the topic. Four types of research methods were used; Focus groups, in-depth interviews, online and traditional observation and documentary analysis. The fieldwork took place over a 14-month period in communities of ethical consumers in the Spanish region of Catalonia.
RESULTS:
The findings suggest that a wide diversity of behavioural strategies can fit under the same ethical lifestyles. Furthermore, an answer is given to the ongoing debate as to whether ethical consumerism should be the means for change seen as a form of political pressure or it should be seen as immoral and feeding the capitalistic system of overproduction and consumerism. The data reveal that the modern sophisticated consumers can be placed in-between both positions and adapt according to the circumstances. Additionally, a new definition of the ethical consumer emerges from the data.
Ethical consumer behaviour has been gaining increasing attention among both practitioners and academic researchers in recent times. This trend is evident in the increasing number of papers published on the topic. Nevertheless, most empirical research tends to focus on specific expressions of ethical consumer behaviour such as Fair Trade shopping, Bring Your Own Bag practicing and boycotting acts among others. These studies only examine specific fragments of a consumer’s ethical lifestyle and disregard other ethical projects that a consumer might be involved in. In other words, previous studies shed light only on the ethical behavioural aspects that the researcher chooses. The implication is a lack of a holistic understanding of the ethical consumer and of the wide range of strategies and behaviours that he/she might adopt. Furthermore, most empirical findings are drawn from specific cultural contexts with an emphasis on the United Kingdom and the United States.
OBJECTIVES
This manuscript has set the following research objectives: 1) To go beyond the narrow examination of specific ethical projects and adopt a more open, qualitative approach that allows observing the ethical consumer experience in its totality, 2) To provide empirical findings that represent a different reality than UK and US, keeping in mind that the perception of ethics might be culturally-bound and 3) To employ a combination of research techniques that can offer a novel perspective in the study of the ethical consumer behaviour.
DATA/METHODS:
A qualitative approach was employed due to the sensitive nature of the topic. Four types of research methods were used; Focus groups, in-depth interviews, online and traditional observation and documentary analysis. The fieldwork took place over a 14-month period in communities of ethical consumers in the Spanish region of Catalonia.
RESULTS:
The findings suggest that a wide diversity of behavioural strategies can fit under the same ethical lifestyles. Furthermore, an answer is given to the ongoing debate as to whether ethical consumerism should be the means for change seen as a form of political pressure or it should be seen as immoral and feeding the capitalistic system of overproduction and consumerism. The data reveal that the modern sophisticated consumers can be placed in-between both positions and adapt according to the circumstances. Additionally, a new definition of the ethical consumer emerges from the data.