Literature Review on Ethical Consumerism in the Automobile Industry

This literature review explores the impact of ethical consumerism on the automobile industry, focusing on the positive effects of consumer behavior on business practices.

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LITERATURE REVIEW
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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction...........................................................................................................................2
1.1 Purpose of the literature review.............................................................................................2
1.2. Research question.................................................................................................................2
1.3 Efficacy of the literature review............................................................................................2
2.0 Methods.....................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Literature finding approach...................................................................................................3
2.2 Criteria of the paper...............................................................................................................3
3.0 Body...........................................................................................................................................4
3.1 Key themes............................................................................................................................4
3.2 Critical analysis.....................................................................................................................4
3.3 Key theories...........................................................................................................................8
4.0 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................8
4.1 Summary of the main themes................................................................................................8
4.2 Research gap..........................................................................................................................9
5.0 Reference.................................................................................................................................10

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1.0 Introduction
1.1 Purpose of the literature review
Ethical consumerism is considered to be a moral standpoint that compels the consumer to
buy products or goods on the basis of moral purchasing. In other words, it can be argued that
the role of the ethical consumerism is associated with the customer behaviour to choose
products which do not have an adverse impact on the society or environment. With the
increasing trend in the environmental deterioration, it becomes an important responsibility
for the consumers to buy products carefully. It is more like casting vote for the products that
have positive impact in the environment. In this regard, the purpose of this report is to deliver
an in-depth analysis on the ethical consumerism in automobile industry. The reason behind
choosing the automobile industry as the case study is that the automobile industry is directly
responsible to affect the environment by high amount of carbon emission. In this regard, the
topic of this research is resembled with the influence of ethical consumerism on automobile
industry.
1.2. Research question
Therefore, the research question is Does the practice of ethical consumerism leave any
positive impact on the business in automobile industry?
1.3 Efficacy of the literature review
The literature review intends to focus on the research question and tries to find out the
positive impact of ethical consumerism on automobile industry. In this regard, at first the
literature review tries to find out the link between ethical consumerism and business. Based

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on that understanding the significance of the ethical consumerism on effective business
practice of the automobile industry.
2.0 Methods
2.1 Literature finding approach
Choosing of relevant literatures for constructing an effective literature review is
considered to be one of the major aspect for this research. Therefore, this literature review tries
to choose the articles and journals carefully. In this context, the researcher opts for the literature
search strategy that segregated the process into four distinct stages in terms of the find out the
key words. For this literature review, key words like ethical consumerism, automobile industry
and environmental impact are referred as the important key words. After that choosing the online
and offline literature mode is crucial. This literature review relies on the online database to
identify the accurate and relevant journal articles. The next step is associated with collecting the
literature as per the needs. Therefore, this literature review also puts emphasis on the content of
the journal articles and measure the content of those articles. Finally the authenticity of the
literatures are also taking into considerations to bring a justifiable background of the topic.
2.2 Criteria of the paper
Based on this the criteria of the literature review is based on the peer reviewed journals
and articles. Besides this, the content of the literatures are also scrutinised in order to solidify the
arguments in the discussion. The purpose of choosing the peer reviewed articles is due to the
authenticity of the research outcome and the used data. Moreover, the researcher also puts
emphasis on the publication year of those articles and intends to use articles not older that the

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year 2014. As a result of that, the researcher feels to project current data and information into the
empirical resource analysis.
3.0 Body
3.1 Key themes
In this regard, this research tries to portray the relationship between ethical consumerism
and business orientation of the corporate organisations. Understanding the practice of ethical
consumerism as an important consumer behaviour is one of the major theme of this literature
review. Besides this, the literature review further puts a great deal of effort on the impact of
ethical consumer on current business activities of the business organisations. Based on this, the
literature review helps to know that the ethical consumerism is an important aspect that affects
the effective business orientation of the companies. Moreover, the relevance of ethical
consumerism on current business has been illustrated extensively.
3.2 Critical analysis
While discussing the importance of the ethical consumerism it is pertinent to define
ethical consumerism in the light of globalisation. According to Yeow, Dean and Tucker (2014,
95) ethical consumerism is a practice that help the customer to buy the right products. On the
other hand, Carrington, Neville and Whitwell (2014, 2763) argued that the concept of ethical
consumerism is highly related to the purchasing intention of thee consumer aligned with the
environmental considerations. In other words, it can be argued that the ethical consumerism
influences the customers to buy products that have positive environmental value. Moreover, from
the research of Gunderson (2014, 110) it can be pointed out that ethical consumerism was a
social movement that helps the mainstream consumers to express concern about ethicality and

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the choice of products upon environment. On the contrary, Burke, Eckert and Davis (2014, 2250)
mentioned ethical consumerism as an intention to purchase products that have minimal impact
on humans, nature and the animals. From this understanding, it can be derived that ethical
consumerism is based on two facets. One determines the rights or freedom of the customers to
choose right products. On the other hand, the second element determines the impact of the
product on living beings and environment. On the basis of this assumption the consumer will go
for ethical purchasing and skipped those items that have adverse impact on the environment and
human life.
In course of discussing the importance of ethical consumerism Tran (2014, 297) opined
that it embolden the responsible approach of the consumers to make better society and
environment as well. It is important for the consumers to share the responsibility of the
safeguarding the environment as the current business organisations are doing. This share of
responsibility is highly beneficial for both the corporate firms and the customer in order to
establish better sustainability framework. As a result of that it will be effective to generate
effective measure to safeguard the environment from further degradation.
On the other hand, Burgoon and Fransen (2017, 50) put some light on the humanitarian
approach that bestows within the concept of ethical consumerism. It is associated with render
equality and sustainability with the society. In this regard, the role of ethical consumerism helps
the individual to take decisions positively. The underlining advantage of ethic in consumerism
makes the people to differentiate between right or wrong. Therefore, it becomes effective to set
some principles that are highly appropriate to generate effective social environment. It is also
beneficial for understanding the efficacy of the ethics and its implementation in social cause.

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Besides this, due to the advent of globalisation, the profitability of the big business firms
are also increased in a rapid pace. As a result of that those companies are always looking for
more revenue earning in order to establish in the market more intensely. However, often it can be
found that the companies are using unethical practice that can cost life of the human beings and
damage the environment rampantly (Cabrera and Williams 2014, 363). Despite of having a series
of government initiatives and regulatory frameworks it is not possible to curb down and prohibit
the unethical business practices of the global organisations. In this regard, the consumers play
significant role in order to push the corporate firms to practice ethical business activities
otherwise the consumers will never buy their products.
Moreover, building a consumer power is also an essential part that focuses on the social
aspect in the context of this discussion. Apart from safeguarding the environment from the evil
practice of the corporate organisations it is also pertinent for the consumers to influence the
companies so that the corporate houses will respect the vision of the buyers. It will be wrong to
consider that the business organisations are always putting their consumers atop and planned the
policies as per their requirements (Pecoraro, Grazia and Uusitalo 2014, 59). However, in the
monopolistic world where less competition and stronger power of any business organisation can
evade the importance of the consumers, the ethical consumerism approach can play a strategic
and efficient role to stop those companies to do business at their will only.
In course of discussing, the effectiveness of ethical consumerism on the business
environment, it can be stated that notion of ethical consumerism is highly resembled with the
theory of Utilitarianism. According to Wooliscroft, Ganglmair-Wooliscroft and Noone (2014,
69) utilitarianism manifested greatest good for most number of people. Therefore, it is obvious
that the ethical consumerism partakes to usher novel approach for the benefit of the people and

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the environment. It is in fact guides the business organisation to choose the right path of doing
ethical business practice otherwise the organisation will face huge obstacle as people are no
longer interested in buying products of that company. Henceforth, the presence of ethical
consumerism in the context of global business is highly relevant and effective enough to affect
the business orientation of the corporate organisations positively or negatively.
On contrary to the role and effectiveness of ethical consumerism some scholars have
argued that the ethical consumerism framework is irrelevant in the modern business context
where the business companies are aware of the fact that sustainability is a core business practice
in high competitive market. Therefore, putting emphasis on the sustainable business practice
which is intricately associated with developing the future of the world healthy and happy, is one
of the important aspects of those business organisations (Tilikidou, Delistavrou and Sapountzis
2014, 430). As a result of that the prospect and relevance of ethical consumerism is no longer
effective in the context of current business environment.
Furthermore, the research of Summers (2016, 322) stated that it is essential for the
consumer to have a great deal of knowledge on ethical consumerism. The concept is vast and
based on a number of elements. Lack of ability to address the elements can create a dilemma
among the consumers to identify the ethically good product. Therefore, the prospect and purpose
of the ethical consumerism will be in vain if the customers are unaware of the detailed concept of
ethical consumerism. It is also associated with the fact that not all the consumer have enough
idea about the specification and effect of every products. Therefore, the concept of ethical
consumerism is very limited and complex enough to understand.

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3.3 Key theories
Subsequently, the practice of ethical consumerism erects questions regarding the efficacy
and significance of the practice in global business practice. In this regard, there are two
perspective that clearly go against the foundation of ethical consumerism. First of all the power
of the capitalist business organisations and secondly the role of globalisation in current business
context that paves the way for the business organisations to encapsulate the market aggressively.
The capitalist business organisations do not care about the notion of suitability and
environmental issues. Profitability is their main priority and target (Govind et al. 2017, 13).
Therefore, it is ineffective for the customers to influence those business organisations to
influence them adequately. Moreover, apart from the positive impact of globalisation it can be
stated that the process makes the business organisations highly vulnerable and powerful enough
to influence the customers through creative marketing and business strategies. Therefore, not all
the consumers are concerned enough to introduce ethical consumerism. Rather than they become
the puppet of the big business organisations. In response to this, Summers (2016, 307)
questioned the importance and relevance of ethical consumerism.
4.0 Conclusion
4.1 Summary of the main themes
From this point of view, this literature review tries to point out the pros and cons of
ethical consumerism in a global business context. The pros deals with the benevolent approach
of ethical consumerism to deal with the environment friendly business practice and usher a
healthy framework for the people as well. Moreover, ethical consumerism also develops a power
of the buyers that helps further to influence the business activities predominantly. On the other

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hand, the empirical evidences also refute the importance of the ethical consumerism in present
business context. The complexity of the paradigm and lack of infrastructure to implement the
ethical consumer create huge obstacle for the consumers to set ethical consumerism.
4.2 Research gap
However, this literature gap is not free from drawbacks. At first, it can be stated that the
empirical evidences are discussed the importance or flaws of ethical consumerism in a general
manner. There is no particular business industry or sector is identified in course of the
discussion. Therefore, this gross discussion creates huge problem for the research to understand
specific issues and advantages that the ethical consumerism can impose on the automobile
industry. Besides this, lack of judgement and clarity are also referred as significant problem for
the literature review.

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5.0 Reference
Burgoon, Brian, and Luc Fransen. "Support for Ethical Consumerism and Welfare States in the
Global Economy: Complements or Substitutes?." Global Policy 8 (2017): 42-55.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1758-5899.12407
Cabrera, Sergio A., and Christine L. Williams. "Consuming for the social good: marketing,
consumer citizenship, and the possibilities of ethical consumption." Critical
Sociology 40, no. 3 (2014): 349-367.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0896920512458599
Carrington, Michal J., Benjamin A. Neville, and Gregory J. Whitwell. "Lost in translation:
Exploring the ethical consumer intention–behavior gap." Journal of Business
Research 67, no. 1 (2014): 2759-2767.
http://www.iranakhlagh.nipc.ir/uploads/n022_13086.pdf
F. Burke, Paul, Christine Eckert, and Stacey Davis. "Segmenting consumers’ reasons for and
against ethical consumption." European Journal of Marketing 48, no. 11/12 (2014):
2237-2261. https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/32929/4/Segmenting
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%20Consumption.pdf
Govind, Rahul, Jatinder Jit Singh, Nitika Garg, and Shachi D’Silva. "Not walking the walk:
How dual attitudes influence behavioral outcomes in ethical consumption." Journal of
Business Ethics (2017): 1-20. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10551-017-
3545-z.pdf

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Gunderson, Ryan. "Problems with the defetishization thesis: ethical consumerism, alternative
food systems, and commodity fetishism." Agriculture and human values 31, no. 1
(2014): 109-117. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10460-013-9460-8
Pecoraro, Maria Grazia, and Outi Uusitalo. "Conflicting values of ethical consumption in
diverse worlds–A cultural approach." Journal of Consumer Culture 14, no. 1 (2014): 45-
65.
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Summers, Nik. "Ethical consumerism in global perspective: A multilevel analysis of the
interactions between individual-level predictors and country-level affluence." Social
Problems 63, no. 3 (2016): 303-328.
http://www.academia.edu/download/48615263/Summers2016.pdf
Tilikidou, Irene, Antonia Delistavrou, and Nikolaos Sapountzis. "Customers’ ethical behaviour
towards hotels." Procedia Economics and Finance 9 (2014): 425-432.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212567114000446
Tran, Ben. "The psychology of consumerism in business and marketing: The macro and micro
behaviors of Hofstede's cultural consumers." In Handbook of research on consumerism
in business and marketing: Concepts and practices, pp. 286-308. IGI Global, 2014.
https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/the-psychology-of-consumerism-in-business-and-
marketing/105841
Wooliscroft, Ben, Alexandra Ganglmair-Wooliscroft, and Abigayle Noone. "The hierarchy of
ethical consumption behavior: the case of New Zealand." Journal of

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Macromarketing 34, no. 1 (2014): 57-72.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0276146713508560
Yeow, Pamela, Alison Dean, and Danielle Tucker. "Bags for life: The embedding of ethical
consumerism." Journal of Business Ethics 125, no. 1 (2014): 87-99.
http://repository.essex.ac.uk/12925/1/B4L%20paper_Repository%20version.pdf