RM&C - t5 in search of the ethical consumer

in search of the ethical consumer

who is the ethical consumer; what stops consumers being ethical; moving to ethical consumption

who is the ethical consumer

ethical consumption: acting beyond self interest, deliberate & conscious C choices that consider - environmental protection/social justice + workers rights/animal welfare/future generations; C role: everyone is C & can’t avoid consuming, active not passive pps in marketing system (Saren 2006); types of EC: green, responsible/mindful, socially aware/citizenship-based, patriotic/conscious, problems with typologies: no neat categories, C might not self-identify that way, over-focus on individuals ignores systems/structures; dimensions of EC (Carrington et al 2020): self-oriented (motivation: personal benefit - health/identity/status, C framed as solution, may involve performative ethics), other-oriented (motivation: greater social/environmental good); moral orientation: internal moral motivation: duty-based ethics (e.g. Immanuel Kant), outcome-focused ethics (utilitarianism/ethics of care, focus on consequences); ethical market: ethical spending grew 35% 2021 to £141.6b, food/finance/eco-travel = high awareness/concern but; ethical consumption paradox: 89% express concerns, 30% affects intentions, 3% actually buy = attitude-behaviour gap

what stops consumers being ethical

attitude-behaviour gap: fail to translate intentions into behaviour (misalignment = persistent & widespread); practical barriers: info overload & confusion/difficulty comparing ethical claims/ambiguity (vague)/limited availability, affordability, geography/time, money, image, convenience barriers; emotional & social barriers: rational info not enough, C want emotionally & socially connected, cynicism & distrust (greenwashing); “locked in” (Jackson 2005): c constrained - habits & routines/social norms & expectations/restricted market choices/inequality in access/incentive structures = ethical choice structurally limited not free; 4 factors causing misalignment (Carrington et al 2014): 1 prioritisation (c can’t act on all ethical concerns, ethical paralysis avoided by prioritising primary concerns), 2 plans & habits (ethical c more likely planned in advance, habit formation supports consistency), 3 commitment & sacrifice (ethical choices require: higher prices/less convenience/social negotiation - commitment more likely for primary ethical concerns), 4 modes of shopping (pre-meditated: planned/habitual, effortful: confusing in-store decisions, spontaneous: situation/sporadic); trade-offs & justification (Hillier & Woodall 2019): ethical decisions involve TO between - price/function/identity/lifestyle/values, TO justified after purchase not rationally planned, e.g. Barbour: durability/repairability/UK production, ethical/emotional/identity-based reasoning combined; structural critique: c blamed for unethical outcomes, corporations control supply chains & choices, ethical failure framed as personal failure - focus on gap deflects responsibility from powerful actors

moving to ethical consumption

how ethical behaviour develops (Carrington et al 2014): commitment to primary concerns/planning & sacrifice/over time = habits/habits become automatic & effortless = leads: more consistent ethical consumption; rethinking EC: ethical action situational & flexible not fixed, C responsibility varies by product & context, Carrigan & Bosangit 2016: C know behaviour unsustainable but persist; beyond individual C: consumption social & cultural not just individual choice, focusing solely on C ignores: market power/corporate control/structural inequalities - consumption embedded in social interdependencies; criticisms of EC: middle-class & individualised/replaces collective action/reinforces capitalist consumption rather than challenging; change: remove barriers & create incentives, make ethical choices default option, shift responsibility back (corporations, policymakers, market structures) - EC alone can’t solve systematic problems; EC = inconsistent/contextual/constrained (illusion: customer sovereignty), A-B gap structural not personal failure, real changes require system-level transformation not just better C