Deirdre Shaw and Kathleen Riach
Literature examining resistant consumer behaviour from an ethical consumption stance has increased over recent years. This paper aims to argue that the conflation between ethical…
Abstract
Purpose
Literature examining resistant consumer behaviour from an ethical consumption stance has increased over recent years. This paper aims to argue that the conflation between ethical consumer behaviour and “anti‐consumption” practices results in a nihilistic reading and fails to uncover the tensions of those who seek to position themselves as ethical while still participating in the general market.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts an exploratory approach through semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with a purposive sample of seven ethical consumers.
Findings
The analysis reveals the process through which ethical consumption is constructed and defined in relation to the subject position of the “ethical consumer” and their interactions with the dominant market of consumption.
Research limitations/implications
This research is limited to a single country and location and focused on a specific consumer group. Expansion of the research to a wider group would be valuable.
Practical implications
The impact of ethical consumption on the wider field of consumption can be witnessed in the “mainstreaming” of many ethical ideals. This highlights the potential movements of power between various stakeholders that occupy particular spaces of social action.
Originality/value
Understanding the analysis through Bourdieu's concepts of field and the margins created between spaces of consumption, the paper focuses on the theoretical cross‐section of practice between ethical and market‐driven forms of consumption, advancing discussion by exploring how self‐identified “ethical consumers” defined, legitimatised and negotiated their practices in relation to consumption acts and lifestyles.
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Research has consistently revealed an increasing demand for “ethical” choices in the global marketplace. However, very little has been published about the decision‐making…
Abstract
Research has consistently revealed an increasing demand for “ethical” choices in the global marketplace. However, very little has been published about the decision‐making processes of these “ethical” consumers and the implications for marketing. Given the shortfall in research that addresses ethical consumer choice, this paper outlines results from a large scale national UK survey of known “ethical” consumers. To examine this important and neglected area, reliability analysis and structural equation modelling techniques were used to explore the relationships between important factors influencing ethical consumer choice. Using two data sets, a model of decision‐making was developed and cross‐validated. Results of the study reveal the improved ability of this new model of ethical consumer decision‐making in the explanation of intention to purchase fair trade grocery products. Implications of these findings for marketing practitioners are discussed.
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Deirdre Shaw, Terry Newholm and Roger Dickinson
Increasing numbers of consumers are expressing concerns about reports of questionable corporate practices and are responding through boycotts and buycotts. This paper compares…
Abstract
Purpose
Increasing numbers of consumers are expressing concerns about reports of questionable corporate practices and are responding through boycotts and buycotts. This paper compares competing theories of consumer empowerment and details findings that examine the applicability of the theory to “ethical consumer” narratives. The nature and impact of consumer empowerment in consumer decision making is then discussed.
Design/methodology/approach
The study takes an exploratory approach by conducting semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with a purposive sample of ten consumers. These were recruited from an “ethical product” fair in Scotland.
Findings
Results indicate that the participating consumers embraced a voting metaphor, either explicitly or implicitly, to view consumption as an ethical/political domain. Setting their choices within perceived collective consumer behaviour, they characterised their consumption as empowering. This results in an ethical consumer project that can be seen as operating within the market. It, therefore, suggests some tensions between consumer power and sustainable living.
Research limitations/implications
This small‐scale study relates to a single country and location. A particular group of accentuated consumers was recruited. Studies of the narratives of other consumer groupings would clearly be valuable.
Practical implications
To the extent that political democracy is perceived as failing, it appears that the profile of the market as a site of consumer engagement is raised. Marketers would be wise, therefore, to take increasingly account of “empowered” consumers.
Originality/value
Little attention has been paid to the theory of consumption as voting. However, a continuing rise in the consideration of ethics among consumers and producers suggests its rehabilitation and further exploration would be worthwhile.
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Increasingly, reports of consumers are witnessed expressing their concerns regarding corporate practices through behaviours of boycotting, buycotting and voice. The theory of…
Abstract
Purpose
Increasingly, reports of consumers are witnessed expressing their concerns regarding corporate practices through behaviours of boycotting, buycotting and voice. The theory of consumer votes suggests that such consumers may view their purchases as “votes” in the marketplace. The purpose of this paper is to explore consumer voting within competing theories of community.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts an exploratory approach through semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with a purposive sample of ten ethical consumers.
Findings
Findings reveal that consumers adopted a voting metaphor in their approaches to ethical consumption. While choices were mainly individual in nature they were characterised as part of a wider, largely imagined community of like‐minded consumers.
Research limitations/implications
This research is limited to a single country and location and focused on a specific consumer group. Expansion of the research to a wider group would be valuable.
Practical implications
Findings reveal consumers active in registering their discontent towards companies considered to be unethical, while rewarding those considered ethical. This has important implications for marketers interested in appealing to this group. Findings also reveal consumers taking responsibility through marketplace actions for ethical/political issues. This view of consumer votes as being more effective than political votes is pertinent, given reports of a decline in engagement with traditional political participation.
Originality/value
Limited empirical attention has been given to consumption as voting explored within the context of community. However, with reports of a rise in consumer ethical concerns and reports of a search for community in society this suggests that further exploration of this area is worthwhile.
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Deirdre Shaw and Jennifer Thomson
Although consumption of spirituality and growth of the market in this area have been well documented, it has been largely neglected in marketing. Existing literature exploring…
Abstract
Purpose
Although consumption of spirituality and growth of the market in this area have been well documented, it has been largely neglected in marketing. Existing literature exploring spirituality has suggested consumers in this area can experience uncertainty, but lacks clarity as to whether this uncertainty results in negative or positive affective states. The aim of this paper is to explore the theoretical concept of consumer uncertainty.
Design/methodology/approach
The research adopts a qualitative exploratory approach through the use of interviews. It explores the theoretical concept of consumer uncertainty and its impact on affect.
Findings
The research reveals that consumers of spirituality did indeed embrace many of the products and services offered by the market in this area and they also experienced uncertainty, however, rather than negative as much of the literature surrounding uncertainty suggests, the uncertainty they experienced resulted in positive affective states.
Research limitations/implications
It is acknowledged that the current research is limited by its exploratory nature, however, it highlights that consumer uncertainty should not always be viewed as negative and provides important insights into the consumption of spirituality.
Originality/value
The current research makes a number of contributions. First, consumption of spirituality in marketing is under researched. The current research found that individuals did embrace the market in this area and enjoyed the uncertainty inherent in many of the products/services on offer. Second, uncertainty as pleasure is under researched generally in the literature. The current research has contributed to this literature through findings which reveal that uncertainty can result in positive effect and this is stable even when individuals do not know that the outcome of uncertainty will be positive or that their uncertainty will be reduced.
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Belief formation is a neglected part of research in consumer behaviour and a potentially valuable area of study for helping to clarify the conditions under which they relate to…
Abstract
Belief formation is a neglected part of research in consumer behaviour and a potentially valuable area of study for helping to clarify the conditions under which they relate to actual patterns of behaviour. Outlines the results of qualitative research undertaken as part of a major study of readers of the UK Ethical Consumer magazine, which used focus groups to explore issues of major concern to ethical consumers – such as fair trade – and an elicitation questionnaire with a broader sample to ascertain the nature of factors influencing their beliefs on this subject.
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Mike Lee, Dominique Roux, Helene Cherrier and Bernard Cova
‘WHY MUST EVERYBODY IN IRELAND’, says Sean O'Faolain, in one of his recent flashes of inspiration, ‘live like an express train that starts off for heaven full of beautiful dreams…
Abstract
‘WHY MUST EVERYBODY IN IRELAND’, says Sean O'Faolain, in one of his recent flashes of inspiration, ‘live like an express train that starts off for heaven full of beautiful dreams, and marvellous ambitions and, halfway, Bejasus, you switch off the bloody track down some sideline that brings you to exactly where you began?’ Such highly coloured comment might equally well be applied to the characters and situations we find in the plays of that Dublin genius—the centenary of whose birth we are commemorating this year—John Millington Synge. The writings of both authors, incidentally, are characterized by a rueful, amusing, gently self‐mocking tone about Ireland and the Irish. Both adopt a wider, detached, almost continental view of their country. Synge, in particular, refers to Ireland as the furthermost corner of Western Europe and himself as an Irish European.
Louise May Hassan, Edward Shiu and Miriam McGowan
Prior research consistently found maximizers to experience greater regret over their choice than satisficers. Moreover, research also found maximizers to be trapped in a…
Abstract
Purpose
Prior research consistently found maximizers to experience greater regret over their choice than satisficers. Moreover, research also found maximizers to be trapped in a “maximization-regret-maximization” cycle. This paper aims to assess the role of construal level theory in alleviating regret felt by maximizers.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examine the construal level theory (CLT) in conjunction with the choice context (comparable and non-comparable choices). Three experimental studies tested our assertion that a match between CLT mindset and choice set relieves regret for maximizers.
Findings
The authors show maximizers experience similar levels of regret compared to satisficers when considering comparable options in a concrete mindset, and non-comparable options in an abstract mindset. However, maximizers experience heightened regret in comparison to satisficers when considering non-comparable (comparable) options in a concrete (abstract) mindset. Choice difficulty mediates our effect.
Research limitations/implications
Future research is needed to replicate our results in real-life settings.
Practical implications
If marketers think that their product is likely to be compared with other comparable products, they should adopt product-specific information that focusses on how the product would be used. However, if marketers think that consumers will compare across non-comparable products, then they should focus on why their product is the most suitable to fulfil consumers’ needs.
Originality/value
This research represents the first attempt at reducing regret for maximizers and answers the call for an examination of the relationship between maximization and CLT. The research adds to the maximization literature by evidencing a CLT-based strategy that attenuates the negative experience of regret for maximizers.